Yep, you read that right. A Hong Kong woman temporarily lost the last 10 years of her life after she took a particularly difficult trip to the toilet in one of the rarest and strangest stories you’ll hear in a long time. Here’s what happened—but don’t worry, she’s OK!
- The unnamed woman had been constipated for a while. There’s nothing worse than being constipated—frankly, I’d rather have diarrhea! According to the woman’s son, his mother had been experiencing extreme constipation for roughly two weeks and the incident in question saw her finally able to produce a “very uncomfortable” bowel movement.
- She lost 10 years of her life. Once the woman came out of the bathroom, her family immediately realized that something wasn’t quite right. She couldn’t remember anything about her life from the past 10 years, so her family rushed her to a local hospital, where she spent the night undergoing tests.
- She was diagnosed with something called “transient global amnesia.” It’s a temporary issue, thankfully, but still a scary one. According to Hong Kong-based neurologist Dr Peng Jiaxiong, this happens “when blood flow and oxygen to the brain is compromised by the jugular vein valve,” VICE reports. The people who are most at risk of this are those who carry heavy things a lot or those under a lot of emotional stress.
- Her memory returned after about 8 hours. When the woman woke up the following morning, she found her memories were fully intact again. Whew! What’s strange, however, is that she didn’t remember the previous day at all and had no idea that she’d experienced temporary amnesia. What the hell?
- Constipation is more than just a pain in the butt. IFLScience says being a little too enthusiastic with your poop pushing can even cause something called “vasovagal syncope,” which basically causes you to black out and totally lose consciousness. This happens because your blood pressure shoots way up when you’re straining and then plummets too quickly after you stop. Yikes!
- Bottom line? If you’re constipated, get some stool softeners. Whether you suffer from IBS, Crohn’s, or other issues with your digestive system or you just ate way too much white bread and cheese and are feeling too plugged up, if you can’t poop, please don’t push it. Get some stool softeners and have patience so you don’t end up losing your memories.
