Swedish man had ‘stick’ in stomach for 25 years

A 65-year-old man from Lycksele in northern Sweden had been complaining from stomach pains for 25 years. Recently doctors found the cause of his complaints – a six centimetre long wooden “stick” with sharp edges lodged in his bowels. “I have been admitted to hospital more than a hundred times over the years for the pain,” said Ove Sohlberg.

Sohlberg thinks that the object was left in his body after a surgical procedure 25 years ago, when he was treated for stomach ulcers. He had to go through six operations before he was pronounced well again, but symptoms kept returning and he suffered from recurring constipation and soreness.


Photo from here.

“I felt like there was something in there and I was in constant pain,” Sohlberg said. But last weekend, a surgical team finally found and removed the object from Sohlberg’s abdomen.

It measured six centimetres and resembles a toothpick with sharp and jagged edges. Sohlberg is happy to finally be rid of it after a quarter of a century of pain and troubles. “But it seems a pity I had to live with it for so many years,” he said.