PSA: Do Not Shove A Live Eel Up Your Butt To Try To Cure Constipation

live eel butt constipation cure china

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  • A man in China narrowly avoided death after inserting a live eel into his rectum in an attempt to cure a case of constipation
  • This practice is somehow a trend in the country, as multiple people have suffered similar fates
  • Read more weird news here

A lot of people have a fairly unhealthy obsession with losing weight that has resulted in many of them harnessing equally unhealthy approaches in an attempt to shed some fat or prevent themselves from packing on a single pound.

There’s an overwhelming number of ill-advised strategies people continue to turn to in an attempt to slim down, including diet pills that usually feature the words “Anal Leakage” somewhere on the warning label and cleanses that require you to subsist exclusively on a delightful concoction of water, lemon, maple syrup, and cayenne pepper for over a week.

I don’t know if I’ve come across anything that tops the people who’ve willingly welcomed a tapeworm into their bodies to help them trims some inches from their waistline, but if we’re being a bit liberal with the definition of “weight loss,” I think there’s a disturbing trend in China that puts that method to shame.

According to Yahoo News, a man in China narrowly escaped death after he attempted to cure a case of constipation the same way most sane and rational people do when faced with some internal blockage: shoving a live eel up his butt. The unidentified patient took a trip to the hospital after the animal burrowed further inside his abdomen than he’d anticipated, but was saved after doctors conducted surgery to remove the eel (which was reportedly still alive).

I can’t believe I’m typing this, but this is somehow not even close to being an isolated incident. Letting an eel go the wrong way down a one-way street is apparently viewed as a cure for constipation among many practitioners of folk medicine in China, but if you somehow needed a reminder it’s a bad idea, I can only hope this cautionary tale will serve as one.

Connor Toole avatar and headshot for BroBible
Connor Toole is the Deputy Editor at BroBible. He is a New England native who went to Boston College and currently resides in Brooklyn, NY. Frequently described as "freakishly tall," he once used his 6'10" frame to sneak in the NBA Draft and convince people he was a member of the Utah Jazz.