After accepting a challenge to eat the world’s hottest chilli pepper, a 34-year-old man from the state of New York landed in the emergency room with excruciating pain. The man told the doctors that the Carolina Reaper pepper is likely behind the pain in his neck and “thunderclap” headaches.
- The Carolina Reaper was known as the hottest chilli on the planet in 2016, when the incident happened.
- Meanwhile, two other breeds – Dragon’s Breath and Pepper X – are considered the hottest.
A research paper detailing the man’s case appeared in the journal BMJ Case Reports.
The pain the man had to endure was so severe that he went to the Bassett Medical Center’s ER in Cooperstown, NY, shortly after eating the chilli.
Man’s Condition Stabilized after 5 Weeks
Doctors explained that thunderclap headaches are not rare, and they can last for a few minutes. Such headaches are usually accompanied by vomiting, nausea, and dry-heaving. The pain can go on its own, but it often makes a comeback.
Medics looked at the patient’s MRI and CT scans and found nothing. The man told them that his eyesight or speech had not been affected. However, when doctors took a look at another type of CT scan, they found that the man’s blood vessels in the brain were narrower.
The condition is known as reversible cerebral vasoconstriction syndrome (RCVS), and the likely culprit is the thunderclap headaches. After five weeks, the brain scans showed everything went back to normal. In his condition, the man had been at a significant risk of stroke.
RCVS is usually caused by some drugs. The man’s urine samples showed that he had taken no such medication before the incident, so doctors ruled that the chilli pepper must be at fault.
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