Woman's UTI was actually a glass stuck inside of her for 4 years

Doctors believed that a woman had a urinary tract infection (UTI) - but she actually had a piece of glass stuck in her bladder for four years.

According to the medical journal Urology Case Reports, the 45-year-old woman from Tunisia went to the hospital with complaints of typical UTI symptoms such as leaking.

The woman had said that she was treated for cystitis (inflammation of the bladder) on numerous occasions, but the cases weren't explored.

Once doctors examined the x-rays, they noticed that there was a piece of glass inside of her bladder.

A large eight cm-wide bladder stone encased the glass. Usually, bladder stones are small at no more than a few centimeters wide.

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The report noted that the woman revealed she had used glass for "erotic purposes" some years before.

Instead of inserting the glass into her vagina, she put it in her urethral, which is the hole women urinate out of.

Although it isn't mentioned in the report, the woman might have been practicing something known as "urethral sounding."

According to Healthline, the urethral sounding is the act of "inserting a toy into the urethra.

And when done correctly, it can be a form of "sexual play."

Initially, it was a medical procedure performed to help "clear obstructions from the urethra."

The report said that the motivations "behind the presence of foreign bodies within the bladder are of a sexual or erotic nature."

The woman reportedly didn't have blood in her urine, and she wasn't suffering from urinary incontinence.

She did, however, end up having a higher than average blood cell range, which meant that her body was trying to beat the infection.

Fortunately, the doctors were able to conduct surgery to remove the bladder stone.

And when they opened up the stone, they discovered that the glass lodged inside of her was still intact.

Ultimately, the woman was medically well to go home and was discharged from the hospital on the second day.

"The best treatment remains preventive by balancing the underlying etiopathogenic disorder and by a good sex education," the report concluded.

This wouldn't be the first time that an object used for sexual pleasure had consequences. One woman on TikTok went to the hospital after her sex toy almost "killed her" when she turned up the device to its highest mode.

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