Bad seafood causes woman to throw up so violently that she tears a hole in her bladder

A woman vomited so violently after eating bad seafood that she tore a hole in her own bladder.

The patient, who was treated at a west Hertfordshire hospital thought to be Watford General, began feeling unwell shortly after eating dinner at a restaurant.

She was sick at the restaurant and continued to feel ill after returning home.

The frequency and force with which she threw up caused a 3cm tear to open up in her bladder, according to experts writing in the British Medical Journal.

More vomiting later that night caused her to bleed heavily from her vagina. It was at this point that she decided to seek medical attention.

Doctors found a large build-up of fluid in her peritoneum – the membrane lining the inside of the abdomen and covering the abdominal organs.

A minor operation repaired the hole and allowed the patient to recover completely within three months.

Experts writing about the “unusual” case in the journal said it demonstrated that even a healthy bladder could rupture during “episodes of high intra-abdominal pressure”.