Plastic straws are a symbol of unnecessary waste that ends up in oceans, harming wildlife, and they essentially never decompose. Thankfully, many people have switched to reusable options, like stainless steel, silicone, cardboard, and one that leads us into a recent viral topic…
No, seriously, it’s a pretty frightening encounter. The experience comes from TikToker _colorful__chaos_ who shared her story on the platform, racking up nearly 40 million views.
“Don’t use the glass straws. It’s not worth it. They had to put me to sleep to take it out. By the time they got me to gastro, they couldn’t find it,” she shared from her hospital bed.
When _colorful__chaos_ was back home from the hospital, and thankfully healed, she explained more on TikTok. “I was drinking my water with a glass straw, and I swallowed something. And I was like, ‘What was that?’ I looked at the straw, and there’s a shard about that big missing,” she said, holding up her fingers to show the size:
“So, I kind of freaked out a little bit. But then, you know, I was like, hey, well, I don’t feel anything, so we’ll see. And then about two hours later, I burped really big, and my mouth had blood in it. And so I went to the emergency room. At first, I really don’t think that they were taking me seriously. They were not trying to get me back quickly. But then, when the doctor spoke to the gastro, he said, ‘You need to expedite a CAT scan immediately and get her going.’ He saw peace in my stomach, so they rushed me to put me to sleep and put the tube down my throat to try to get it,” she continued.
However, by the time she got to the room where the removal procedure was going to be performed, they realized the shard had already left her stomach and was in her intestines. “They said to watch for bleeding over the next two days and to check my poop, and hopefully it just passes easily. They said, because it already went through my esophagus and my stomach, that you know, most likely it will be fine…Don’t use glass straws,” she concluded in her viral video.
Right away, some people rushed to the comments to share similar experiences with glass straws:
LOTS of others admitted they currently use them.
And that they were currently using them while watching the video.
In fact, some people ONLY use glass straws.
On the other hand, there are those who immediately saw red flags before buying them.
Either way, the PSA was much appreciated.
Because we gotta look out for each other!
A review by the BfR Federal Institute for Risk Assessment says that while glass straws “are suitable” as food-contact items, there is a risk that they can break, and fragments might end up in the drink, which can lead to injury if swallowed. So, as an alternative to glass, stainless steel, and silicone straws are great options.
We have reached out to _colorful__chaos_ to see how she is doing and ask if there is anything she wants to add. We will update you if we hear back!