I had agonizing stomach pain — my charging cable was to blame

He’ll surely be unplugging for a while.

A 15-year-old boy baffled doctors when he came into a hospital with a USB charging cord — appearing to fit both phones and headphones — somehow lodged in his gut, the Mirror reported.

The boy, from Diyarbakir, Turkey, was rushed in by family after complaining of nausea and stomach pains. An X-ray quickly revealed the plastic-coated nightmare awaiting digestion.


A boy in Turkey baffled doctors when they found a charging cable in his stomach.
A boy in Turkey baffled doctors when they found a charging cable in his stomach.

He was thrown in an ambulance and transferred — about three hours away — to Firat University Hospital in Elazig, where a specialist was going to take a crack at the charger-dectomy.

Pediatric gastroenterologist Yasar Dogan called for an endoscope procedure to rid the boy of the cable.


A boy in Turkey had a charging cable stuck in his stomach.
A boy in Turkey had a charging cable stuck in his stomach.
@prof.dr.yasardogan/Newsflash

When he arrived, Dogan, head of the pediatric gastroenterology, hepatology and nutrition department, and his team got rid of the foreign object after performing an endoscopy procedure.

“We obviously had a hard time removing the cable, as one end of the cable had passed into the small intestine,” Dogan said.

After they finally yanked out the coiled cord — which proved to be 3 feet long — a hair tie was discovered inside the boy as well.

Doctors removed both a charging cable and hair tie from the boy.
Doctors removed both a charging cable and a hair tie from the boy’s gut.
@prof.dr.yasardogan/Newsflash
An endoscope was used to retrieve the items.
An endoscope was used to retrieve the items.
@prof.dr.yasardogan/Newsflash

It remains unclear how or why he consumed the objects.

“After the procedure was successfully concluded, the patient was sent home in good health,” Dogan added.

Last year, a similar instance occurred when a 9-year-old boy in Stirling, Scotland, almost died after eating six magnets as part of a TikTok challenge.

A 14-year-old boy in India ate 16 toothbrushes and a 3-inch nail because he thought it would cure his addiction to eating dirt.