Woman in Kunming becomes deathly ill from eating this popular winter dish
Source: Southern Metropolis Daily, December 4, 2017
When it gets cold, there's nothing more satisfying than hot pot.
For a girl named Zhang in her 20s who loved to eat spicy hot pot, however, this satisfying dish recently turned dangerous.
Zhang works at a bank in Kunming, Yunnan Province. She is notorious for loving to go out for hot pot with her friends, and she used to eat it at least three times a week. When eating, she loved to take a bite as soon as her food was cooked. The food was still very hot and often burned the back of her throat, but she continued to eat this way.
Earlier this year, Zhang began to occasionally experience a choking feeling. At first, she only felt it when she drank water. The problem slowly got worse, however, and she began to feel it whenever she ate anything.
Despite this, Zhang continued to eat hot pot several times a week.
By July, the problem had become very serious. Every time she finished a meal, she would begin feeling like she was choking and had to throw up. The upper part of her stomach would also swell and become very painful.
Zhang thought she simply had an upset stomach and took some medicine from her local pharmacy, but it didn't have any effect. In October, she couldn't eat anything without throwing it back up, and she finally went to the Gastroenterology & GI Surgery Department of the Yunnan University Hospital.
The doctor there, Zeng Yujian, told her that a hernia had developed in her esophagus, and that as a result, part of her stomach had expanded into her chest cavity.
Dr. Zeng performed a series of tests on Zhang including an endoscopy and esophageal manometry, which confirmed that she had a hernia. This hernia had created a hole nearly 4 cm long in her esophagus, causing part of her stomach to expand into her chest.
Zhang felt like she led a fairly healthy lifestyle, and in addition to going out for hot pot 3-5 times per week, she didn't have any other bad habits. She often went to the gym, and she rarely stayed up late, so how could she have developed a hernia?
Dr. Zeng told her that it did not develop because she loved to eat hot pot, but rather because she ate her food when the temperature was too hot. It was this hot food that caused the hernia.
According to Dr. Zeng, eating hot food long-term can irritate of the esophageal mucosa, which can lead to chronic esophagitis. This causes frequent vomiting, which creates pressure in the abdomen and causes the hole in the esophagus to further expand. This means that the stomach will eventually begin pushing up through this hole into the chest cavity.
After hearing this, what hot pot-lover wouldn't begin to tremble?
Fortunately for Zhang, Dr. Zeng was able to perform a minimally invasive surgery and repair this "keyhole-sized hole" in her esophagus.
Two weeks later, Zhang was again able to swallow food, and the choking symptoms had also disappeared.
Dr. Zeng said that due to the popularity of hot pot, he had seen a growing number of cases like this in the last few years. If the problem becomes serious enough, he said, it can even lead to esophageal cancer. He advised people remember to let their food fully cool before they eat it. Food should normally be eaten at a temperature of 10℃~40℃. 50℃~60℃ is the hottest temperature at which food can safely be eaten, and anything over 65℃ has the potential to burn through the esophageal mucous membrane.
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