Ask Ellen

Question:

Dear Ellen,

I am on a special diet, and I recently started eating whole grapefruit. Shortly afterward I started experiencing this fist-sized lump in the left side of my neck. At about the same time, I started experiencing severe neck aches. I think I may need to go see a doctor, but I wanted to consult with you first. I can’t wait much longer!

Signed, Sister Neck Ache

Answer:

Dear Sister Neck Ache,

You came to the right place! You most likely will need to go and see a doctor. First some questions. Are the grapefruit going through whole, or are they just disappearing? Something is definitely obstructing their normal passage through your digestive tract. Are you perhaps wearing a corset?

By lacing, the internal organs of women are crowded out of their positions. There is scarcely a woman that is thoroughly healthy. The majority of women have numerous ailments. . . .Some women have naturally small waists. But rather than regard such forms as beautiful, they should be viewed as defective. These wasp waists may have been transmitted to them from their mothers, as the result of their indulgence in the sinful practice of tight-lacing, and in consequence of imperfect breathing. (The Health Reformer, Nov. 1871.)

I wrote about a case similar to yours in the Health Reformer.

At the hotel ‘Dieu,’ the great hospital at Paris, a young girl of eighteen lately presented herself to Breschet for his advice. On the right side of her throat, she had a tumor of variable size, but never larger than one’s fist. It reached from the collar-bone as high as the thyroid cartilage. When pressed downward, it wholly disappeared; but as soon as the pressure was removed, it was indolent, soft, and elastic. It was observed to be largest when the chest was tightly laced with corsets. In short, by placing the ear on it, the murmur of respiration could be heard in the tumor which proves that a protrusion of the lungs had taken place, or, in other words, that the poor girl had been laced so tightly that her lungs, having no longer sufficient space in their natural position, were squeezed out of it, and were forcing their way up along the neck. (The Health Reformer, Dec. 1871)

It sounds like you may be suffering from a similar affliction. It sounds like the grapefruit, unable to move downward through your wasp waist, are causing your lungs to force their way up along your neck. If left untreated they could erupt out of the top of your head — not the grapefruit, but your lungs. This would be serious indeed, and could end in death! I would recommend immediate corrective surgery to increase the size of your waist. Another way to increase your waist size is with the world-renown McDonald’s SuperSize diet. In the mean time don’t eat any more grapefruit until the lump in your neck disappears!

Ellen White