Medical Question - Where Do They Go?

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Aug 5, 2003
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You're cycling along, the wind in your hair. You reach the top of a hill and speed up, because you want to fly down it. You're bent over the handlebars of your bike, trying to create as little resistance as possible as you hurtle down, faster and faster...

And then a bug flies into your nose.

There's a limit to how much nose-picking you can do when you're travelling that fast, but when you stop your finger goes straight up there to look for the offending insect.

But it's gone...

It just happened to me. I even went in with some tweezers when I got home, but I still can't find it. And I don't want to go in any deeper, in case I end up pulling my brains out.

So where the hell do bugs go when they enter your respiratory system? I've tried coughing and hawking, but it's not down there either.

:confused:
 
scheherazade_79 said:
It just happened to me. I even went in with some tweezers when I got home, but I still can't find it. And I don't want to go in any deeper, in case I end up pulling my brains out.

So where the hell do bugs go when they enter your respiratory system? I've tried coughing and hawking, but it's not down there either.

:confused:
Nothing normal happens to you. Ever. :rolleyes:

Right, there are tons of possibilities here. The bug could have exited from your mouth right after it went in your nose. If it's still in your lungs, it must be drown by now, so don't worry about it. It can't go up your brains because there are bones and ligaments to prevent that. It could have traveled down your digestive tract...and being digested atm. Don't worry, it's all protein. :p
 
They bore into your brain and lay eggs, of course, and then when the larvae hatch they feed, driving you slowly insane and turning you into a drooling vegetable. I mean, Duh! - everyone knows that, silly!

OK, OK, enough screwing around. :devil:

I don't have a clue, doll. Why don't you email our nurse friend? It's very possible that you actually did blow it out without realizing it. In any event, over the past two million years this has probably happened a few times, and I would be surprised if nature hasn't provided some procedure for, er, getting the bugs out.

Hugs to you - it must be a bit anxiety-producing. :heart:
 
There is a posibility sweets that it went through the nose hole down into the throat and into the stomach and now worries from there most of the time. If you inhaled it into the lungs you definitely would know. And then it could be stuck and you could use a saline nasal spray to flush out your nose if you get to worried.

And yes I am very much trying not to grin my ass off here right now. You have an amazing ability to have weird things happen to you. :D
 
Since I have been cleaning my house, I've kicked up a LOT of gnats.

They LOVE to fly in my nose and eyes.

Where they go I have no idea, but I never find the damn things again. Of course I usually blow my nose in an instant, so they probably get blown out then.


Keep in mind though, your nse and ears drain inot your throat, so i'd agree with the swallowing theory!
 
galaxygoddess said:
Keep in mind though, your nse and ears drain inot your throat, so i'd agree with the swallowing theory!
Unless your eardrum(s) is damaged/broken/torn, the bug(s) won't be able to get as far as the Eustachian tube to get drained into the throat. It will just get trapped in the mucus and lining in the ear canal and then fall out, or fly out on its own.
 
FatDino said:
Unless your eardrum(s) is damaged/broken/torn, the bug(s) won't be able to get as far as the Eustachian tube to get drained into the throat. It will just get trapped in the mucus and lining in the ear canal and then fall out, or fly out on its own.


Ehh true. But when I get sick they sure like to drain to my throat! ><

Also, I need to retake high scool typing cause I've gotten rather sucky >.>
 
Sometimes it just seems like they go up your nose, and they really just riccoche off into the air around you.
 
Chantilyvamp said:
*giggles* I swear to god I'm saving that for when the kid swallows a bug and asks where it went! :D
Sorry, that would be a slightly different diagram. This is only for nasal entry point.
 
dear god woman :D lol

i like rox's laying eggs scenario, the sulci (furrows between the Gyri- ridges in the outside of the brain) are perfect for little nests. Well incubated and protected by the 3 meninges and the cranium.

~~~

When i was on holiday, i went on a roller coaster in sea world, the 2nd time i went on it, we sat at the front, screaming with excitement the entire time. Well the first dip was the biggest, and my mouth was open wide, and i could swear i inhaled a bug. :rolleyes:
 
THROBBS said:
Sorry, that would be a slightly different diagram. This is only for nasal entry point.
lol, in my head i typed inhaled...on here i typed swallowed...hands and head are not cooperating this week at all. So yours will work lovely.
 
Chantilyvamp said:
lol, in my head i typed inhaled...on here i typed swallowed...hands and head are not cooperating this week at all. So yours will work lovely.

I wish.
ol' creaky hands... and arms are hardly Mr. Fantastic's (Fantastic Four Reference...can't reach where you are).

Nice thought, tho'.
 
scheherazade_79 said:
You're cycling along, the wind in your hair. You reach the top of a hill and speed up, because you want to fly down it. You're bent over the handlebars of your bike, trying to create as little resistance as possible as you hurtle down, faster and faster...

And then a bug flies into your nose.

There's a limit to how much nose-picking you can do when you're travelling that fast, but when you stop your finger goes straight up there to look for the offending insect.

But it's gone...

It just happened to me. I even went in with some tweezers when I got home, but I still can't find it. And I don't want to go in any deeper, in case I end up pulling my brains out.

So where the hell do bugs go when they enter your respiratory system? I've tried coughing and hawking, but it's not down there either.

:confused:

"There was an old woman who swallowed a fly. I don't know why she swallowed a fly. I think she'll die."

One of my favourite childhood books. Can't recall the author, but I'm sure it would give you the answers you need.
 
CharleyH said:
"There was an old woman who swallowed a fly. I don't know why she swallowed a fly. I think she'll die."

One of my favourite childhood books. Can't recall the author, but I'm sure it would give you the answers you need.

I bet it was that prolific author; "unknown".
But there have been many "Cover" versions since.

I was thinking along similar lines... she could yell until she got a frog in her throat. FRrog gets the bug. then....?
 
ok, time to tell you bout the chili bean incident.

I guess this happened about 11 or 12 years ago. I had made a big pot o chili. I figured it was done enough but decided to test hop it to make sure. So, I spooned out a small serving in a custard dish and went into the living room where my now ex has talking on the phone to someone.

So, I sat down on the couch and was watching the TV and sampling my efforts. It was still quite hot so I was blowing on each spoonful before eating it.

As I was watching TV and blowing on the lava like chili, I kinda noticed out of the corner of my eye that there was one chili bean precariously perched on the end of the spoon but thought nothing of it. So I'm blowing on it and then taking a deep breathe to blow some more.

Well, as I was taking a deep breathe I inhaled the chili bean. Went right into my lungs and I proceeding to cough and hack and wheez while my eyes began to water profusely. As I was rolling around on the couch I heard my ex say, "Guess I need ot go, looks like my wife may be dying."

Once he hung up he asked me what my malfuction was. I proceeded to tell him though completely embarrassed. He then got out his stethoscope and began to listen, then called a buddy of his in the emergency room.

The verdict was to bring me into the ER and scope me to remove the chili bean because it could potentially block off part of my lung and cause serious problems. I of course protested cuz I didn't want to be the laughing stock of the year.

So, then it was suggested the he stand me on my head and try to beat it out of me. Which we tried a few times. It came up or I guess down once, but when I sat upright and took a breathe it went right back down even deeper.

So, we tried it again. This time it lodges in my vocal chords and I can't breathe or nothing and I'm frantically waving my arms trying to let him know I'm choking.

Finally, he pulls me up and proceeds to perform the hiemlich manuever on me and it pops up a little, and I take another deep breathe sending back into my lungs.

After this, I decided that I will be content with death. So, he calls his buddy who says that the chili bean has probably been mushed enough that it may not cause too much problems and that my body will absorb it over next several days.

Which it did, but I also developed a resiratory infection that had me bedridden for a week.

All cuz of a fucking chili bean.
 
hmmmm.
another diagram?

It would be done already, but I am on laptop with no scanner.




reminds me of raisins rehydrating in a child's sinuses.
Of another child with a "wrap around" (throat to nose) spaghetti noodle playing hide and seek out of a nostril.
 
FatDino said:
Nothing normal happens to you. Ever. :rolleyes:

What... You're trying to tell me you've never had a bug fly up your nose, or into your eye when youre walking along? :confused:

Sometimes you can be too perfect, Dino :p :kiss:
 
Roxanne Appleby said:
They bore into your brain and lay eggs, of course, and then when the larvae hatch they feed, driving you slowly insane and turning you into a drooling vegetable. I mean, Duh! - everyone knows that, silly!

OK, OK, enough screwing around. :devil:

I don't have a clue, doll. Why don't you email our nurse friend? It's very possible that you actually did blow it out without realizing it. In any event, over the past two million years this has probably happened a few times, and I would be surprised if nature hasn't provided some procedure for, er, getting the bugs out.

Hugs to you - it must be a bit anxiety-producing. :heart:

No... just found it interesting that something could fly up there and never return - kind of like those monkeys they used to send into space, before they worked out how to travel there and back safely.

I liked your first explanation, though, Roxanne :devil: :D :kiss:
 
Chantilyvamp said:
There is a posibility sweets that it went through the nose hole down into the throat and into the stomach and now worries from there most of the time. If you inhaled it into the lungs you definitely would know. And then it could be stuck and you could use a saline nasal spray to flush out your nose if you get to worried.

And yes I am very much trying not to grin my ass off here right now. You have an amazing ability to have weird things happen to you. :D


I don't think it went into my lungs.

In which case it's probably left my system now, because there was quite a lot of olive oil on my side salad last night... :rose:
 
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