How Much Gum Can You Chew Before You Can't Walk Anymore

A teenager died shortly after being brought to the hospital with seizures, never waking up from her coma. Her mother thought it might have been her daughter’s excessive consumption of chewing gum, but would that be a possibility? Do sweeteners cause an electrolyte imbalance? What really happened in Sam’s stomach? Let’s get into it.

Sources:

[The Story of Samantha Jenkins]

[Electrolyte Imbalance and Seizures]

[Magnesium Deficiency]

[Xylitol Overdose?]

[Sorbitol]

[Diarrhea and Dehydration]

[Other Sources]

[Brew’s intro song]
Manhattan Twist by Avocado Junkie

[Music Licensing]
Code: UDKSPMTJGSIUIGWL, 0KCUYRNB6OLHFOYE, XUO4WCXFPYNLDZ2I, SP1KHLUZYMPEFWBE, 7OELNGKLZSE3CA4C, IENHXJJUARTE7BQD, L6FVHY5PJEPFLJWO, VOM14K1MVDOW6HUA, ZWYHU4QCDHF3CX9I, SZBGOQW6UPUKCRHR

[Movie_Games]

I once ate a whole bag of zero sugar Hershey chocolates. The next day I couldn't stop farting. Ground shaking farts every 3 minutes for the whole day.

[exploding_pineapples]

She had hypergumemia, hyper meaning high, gum meaning gum, and emia meaning presence in blood

[AlphabetSoup]

As soon as you mentioned 'sugar free chewing gum' I felt certain that we are dealing with someone who had disordered eating, possibly even some kind of disorder. Sadly we will never know for sure, but if she was starving herself in some manner, swallowing sugar free gum might have been something she thought of so she wouldn't feel so hungry.

[anna-fiyy]

I dealt with an eating disorder that was at its peak around the summer of 2019. I used to chew through packs of gum (up to around 50 pieces) throughout the entire day to deal with my hunger, because I didn't want to eat actual food as that meant I'd be consuming calories. I would feel extremely sick and bloated throughout the day whenever I did this. It was terrible. Also endless farting and feeling super nauseous.

[soccerchamp]

Another possibility is that she was using gum to help her "diet" and not eating enough food to keep her electrolytes balanced. Let's say that she was only eating one meal a day for dinner when she was at home, and she didn't eat anything else but gum for the rest of the day. Her mom would probably have had no idea that she wasn't eating anything at school. Only eating one meal plus the possible diuretic effects of the sorbitol could have definitely cleaned out the electrolytes in her system pretty quickly. My other question, though, is why did she swallow so much gum instead of spitting it out?

[sashamercier]

Hey Brew, just a little correction. The equalisation of unequally proportioned solutions in a container or similar is diffusion, not osmosis. Osmosis is water crossing a semi-permeable barrier.

[Serenity_Dee]

what did I learn from this video? that when you keep detail to a minimum and proportions on the neotenic side, nobody having a nose is just adorable, but realistic proportions and greater detail means that people not having noses is terrifying

[DucktorQuackers]

that old wife's tale that gum stays in your stomach for 7 years maybe was a good thing to keep. it definitely kept children from swallowing it.

[ChemoshKamos]

I'm not mad at Brew for getting sponsored. But going from "This person died a horrible death from a seizure" to "play mech arena!" is more than a little jarring.

[christopherpeery]

*Hospital fails trying to save child

Also hospital: that will be $382, 000

[carlthehuman]

Nevermind chewing the gum, they found clumps of it in her stomach.
I want to know why she was *swallowing* all of that gum.
Like, on a mental health and/or psychology level, what compelled her to do that?

I feel like understanding why she did that to such an excessive extent, *and* swallowing it on top of that, is the answer to what may have saved her, not analyzing if chewing gum is dangerous or not.

[birdgirl]

This happened to a man in Germany many years ago. He went on a diet and would consume a lot of sugar free foods, he’d chew lots of gum to suppress his hunger. Turned out he was very sensitive to the artificial stuff, leading to really bad diarrhoea. He ended up in the hospital but recovered and I never bought sugar free gum ever again.

[labtechsuperstar]

That poor girl. I'm also wondering what could have caused her "addiction" to gum. Because that level of consumption is IMO an addiction.

[Adrastia]

My mom was a nurse and worked in a hospital ward where they kept people who were basically dying. She said they called an extreme electrolyte depletion "lights out". I believe it's what caused Terri Schiavo to end up in a persistent vegetative state.

[geegedwah]

My friend: “what’s the scariest thing you’ve ever seen?”
Me: *”Brews realistic faces with no nose”*

[mooselove]

Is it possible she had an ED as well? Seems unlikely that gum would do this without improper nutrition. Also gum is used by people with ED to quell hunger and keep the mouth busy to not think about eating.

[tinkrtailr]

I have gastroparesis - basically its partial paralysis of the gastric system. The stomach doesn't empty like it should. People who suffer from if can suffer from vitamin deficiency and malnutrition; I did originally, but thankfully my case has gotten less severe as I've aged. Her stomach not being able to empty efficiently, with other factors, could very well have been what ended that poor girls life.

[duckies]

Bro. Bro. Bro. I was literally about to do this science fair thing with my friend. I was gonna be the guy who was the test subject, i chew like a hundred pieces of different gum. We were gonna make a chart about every brand, every flavor. 😳 This might've saved my life

[sirawesomenessi]

Brew: this video is sponsored by Mech Arena.
My brain: 💃 Macarena 💃

[davidarundel]

The "gum-bergs" located in the girls stomach, instantly got me an image of a "fatberg" .
Any man made chemical, wether a sugar substitute or a non dairy creamer, sweeteners & pharmacutical products, generate adverse reactions for myself, when taken in excess, which can be anything from one pill 💊, or a couple of teaspoons of non-dairy creamer. Even certain foods, generate adverse reactions - grains, for instance.