14 DAY TRIAL // When the pain of arthritis was getting too strong to bear, a 65-year-old woman from South Korea decided to turn to acupuncture for relief. Her unconventional practitioner convinced her that by leaving small gold needles inside her joints, he would cure her pain, but she ended up at the hospital in agony.
The woman suffering from osteoarthritis, the most common form of the illness, was enduring pain caused by the inflammation of the joints, damaged cartilage and bone-like growths causing friction and pain when moved.
After trying to cope with the pain with the use of painkillers and anti-inflammatory medicine that still didn't offer her the relief she needed, the desperate woman sought treatment with acupuncture. The therapy revolved around needles inserted into parts of the body that stimulate the organism and relieve pain or treat various diseases.
Her “healer” convinced her that, by leaving needles inside the knees, the healing would be a continuing process. The woman agreed, believing that the foreign objects left in her body would provide the continuous stimulation she needed to get rid of the pain after the treatment was over.
Despite her belief, the pain just got worse and she ended up at the hospital, where doctors were baffled at the sight of hundreds of needles making it difficult for them even to interpret the X-rays. MRI scans were out of the question because of the magnets that could have caused the movement of the needles and artery damage, Dr. Ali Guermazi explained according to Live Science.
When doctors examined the woman's X-rays, they literary found a “gold mine” with hundreds and hundreds of gold needles. Whatever treatment it may involve, foreign objects in one's body are never a good idea, and you don't have to be an expert to know that. This type of case can end up with patients suffering from all kinds of swelling, infections, abscesses and complications.
The woman's case was reported in the New England Journal of Medicine as one of the 14 Oddest Medical Case Reports.