Near-fatal bleeding, senna, and the opposite of lettuce.

摘要

In February, 2006, a 45-year-old woman went to her local hospital with diffuse abdominal pain. When the hospital realised that she might have a serious illness, she was brought by ambulance to our hospital, for insurance reasons. By the time she arrived, the pain had been present for 15 h. Her aortic valve had been replaced in 1999, but she had had no abdominal problems until mid-2005, when she developed a tendency to constipation. She had therefore taken 1-2 tablets of a senna-based laxative, once or twice a week. She had seen no need to tell her doctors about the laxative. For 3 weeks preceding her admission she had taken several tablets of laxative a day, and passed loose, watery stools up to three times a day. The day before the pain started, she had taken many tablets, after passing no stool for 2 days.