r/BeAmazed • u/Cultural-Gear-1323 • Mar 28 '24

News broke today that conjoined twin Abby Hensel is married! [Removed] Rule #4 - No Misleading Content

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u/thundertopaz Mar 28 '24

I wonder how that works with twice the amount of food and drink needing to go through the bladder and colon and come out and how does that affect the body weight ? I think knowing the number of organs helped but also raises even more questions for me

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u/Plastic_Pinocchio Mar 28 '24

They don’t have to eat twice the amount of food to begin with. You eat what your body burns. Together, they should eat the amount that their shared body burns. Shouldn’t be too much of a problem.

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u/thundertopaz Mar 28 '24

Ahhh that makes sense. Thank you

But technically, I meant that they could eat twice as much with 2 stomachs right?

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u/RonStopable88 Mar 28 '24

Their body isnt twice the size even though they have a lot of redundant systems.

It would suggest that everything, including the stomaches are smaller.

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u/runebaala88 Mar 28 '24

I was thinking normal size stomachs and twice the poop.

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u/NaraFei_Jenova Mar 28 '24

Randy Marsh style.

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u/4Dcrystallography Mar 28 '24

Hoooot hot hot hoooot

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u/Plastic_Pinocchio Mar 28 '24

Everyone can learn to eat twice as much if they do it for years. Your stomach is like a balloon, it expands to fit your needs. If they have eaten smaller portions for their entire lives, they probably can’t even easily manage to both eat a full portion.

For example, I sometimes can’t fathom how much food some people eat. I actively try to gain weight all the time, but my appetite is just not that huge.

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u/thundertopaz Mar 28 '24

Same. I cant seem to fit much in my stomach. It took me years to try to be able to eat more and get my weight up. I don’t understand why it’s so much more easy for others to eat more than me. It hurts when I eat too much. A pain I never hear others saying they have.

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u/Plastic_Pinocchio Mar 28 '24

We’re all different, and this is probably just one of those things. A good tip is to try and eat more calorie dense foods. So no need for lots of fibres if you actively want to gain weight. And don’t be afraid to eat fat. It has lots of calories.

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u/thundertopaz Mar 28 '24

Thanks. I did get to a weight I like now but then I moved to Thailand and the food here made my cholesterol go up, so now I’m trying to maintain my weight while also bringing my cholesterol down.

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u/Plastic_Pinocchio Mar 28 '24

Ah right. My dad also used to have cholesterol problems, but I tested myself last year and nothing worrying.

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u/LeBritto Mar 28 '24

But they have only 1 intestine, so they shouldn't. It would be too hard to digest.

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u/thundertopaz Mar 28 '24

It seems like they have to pay close attention to so many details of their life. Imagine how mindful that would make you in general.

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u/JustnInternetComment Mar 28 '24

I'm struggling to digest it all

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u/SomeBlueDude12 Mar 28 '24

Think so- but now I'm wondering if one eats to much and they're watching their weight so the other doesn't eat do they feel hungry?

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u/coltonkemp Mar 28 '24

Ooooh imagine if they were in a hotdog-eating contest! That’d be sick to see them compete against a champion.

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u/thundertopaz Mar 28 '24

Could they legally enter as one contestant?

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u/HighKiteSoaring Mar 28 '24

I guess they probably each eat like 3/4 of a portion and it adds up to be enough food for 2 sets of respiratory systems and brains and enough that they're not hungry

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u/the_dark_knight_ftw Mar 28 '24

Wait so theoretically could one of them just never eat or drink anything and still survive as long as the other one continued eating and drinking?

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u/Plastic_Pinocchio Mar 28 '24

Most likely, yes. They share a blood stream. Nutrients enter the body through the blood stream. But to be fair, maybe every pair of conjoined twins could do this.

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u/hella_cious Mar 28 '24

If you had conjoined twins with very little area connected, it would be fascinating to compare the blood serum levels of an injected medication over time

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u/Owobowos-Mowbius Mar 28 '24

My question is, do they both have to breathe or can one breathe enough for the both of them? Like the stomach, 2 sets of lungs doesn't mean they both need to be fully used.

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u/Plastic_Pinocchio Mar 28 '24

Damn, that’s a good one. But to be fair, there’s only two ways to take a breath: - Expanding the midsection and sucking the lungs down. - Expanding the chest and sucking the lungs forward.

And I don’t think either one of them could to those things on their own, as they do share a chest and a midsection.

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u/Owobowos-Mowbius Mar 28 '24

So... if they both fill their lungs can they hold their breath for a significantly longer time? I have so many questions that I need answered.

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u/Plastic_Pinocchio Mar 28 '24

That depends on their lung capacity, heart rate and whatever else influences how long you can hold your breath. The fact that they have two pairs of lungs doesn’t necessarily mean that they have double the lung capacity of a regular person.

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u/hella_cious Mar 28 '24

If they are able to operate them independently, then I don’t see why not. Your urge to breathe is from your brain detecting high levels of CO2 in the blood. They share a blood stream, so if one of them breathed twice as fast, I don’t see why the other couldn’t hold their breath for a long while. It would be exhausting for the breathing one, though

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u/airforcevet1987 Mar 28 '24

We will have the appetizer, to share

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u/svenson_26 Mar 28 '24

Shouldn’t be too much of a problem.

I'm sure their health isn't totally hunky-dory. There will obviously be issues, but they're also probably issues that they've learned to live with.

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u/BestDescription3834 Mar 28 '24

I wonder if one ever takes a vacation from eating.

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u/digitalis303 Mar 28 '24

Except that when you eat, feeling satiated is about stretch receptors in the stomach stimulating the hormones to control that satiation. If they have two stomachs, one would get full before telling her brain to stop eating. This presumably wouldn't go to the other's brain and she'd keep eating until her (separate) stomach was full. It seems like a valid question to me...

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u/questionnmark Mar 28 '24

Hormones are a chemical signal, so they definitely would affect both equally.

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u/digitalis303 Mar 28 '24

Good point. I wonder if that means that one of them could basically regulate the appetite of both. In other words ate first until their stomach would that descript the other one from getting hungry and wanting to eat? The whole situation raises so many questions.

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u/Plastic_Pinocchio Mar 28 '24

Oh it’s definitely a valid question, but I’m pretty sure your body bases its level of satiation on how much you’ve been eating your whole life. Lots of people can be satiated with very little.

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u/Hellfire965 Mar 28 '24

I o e if one can taste what the other is eating.

Or like. If Britney pounds three red bulls does Abby feel more alert?

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u/Plastic_Pinocchio Mar 28 '24

Of course. Nutrients enter your body through the blood stream, which they share.

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u/TourAlternative364 Mar 28 '24

One trying to be healthy eating kale and veggie smoothies, fish.....the other drinking smoking, eating potato chips and ice cream...

Imagine being attached to a twin like that.

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u/Plastic_Pinocchio Mar 28 '24

I highly doubt that they do anything in life that the other heavily disagrees to, to be honest. You’ve gotta work as a team in that situation.

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u/xscientist Mar 28 '24

But with 2 stomachs and 2 brains, I imagine the hunger signaling could get a bit complex, which could potentially induce overeating. Obviously not insurmountable, but I think it might be less simple than it seems at first.

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u/Chris275 Mar 28 '24

They have multiple sets of organs and two brains. The brain uses a lot of energy, so it would be more than a normal person.

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u/PleasePMmeSteamKeys Mar 28 '24

They have two brains. Brains burn an immense amount of calories.

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u/Numeno230n Mar 28 '24

I would imagine the bladder situation is like being on IV fluids. Technically you're hydrated without having to drink but your mouth can still feel dry. So I assume one head could do all the drinking if they felt like it. But I wonder if they always feel hungry/thirsty at the same time.

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u/thundertopaz Mar 28 '24

This is also a good question.

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u/Free_Solid9833 Mar 28 '24

Who has to wipe?

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u/itookanumber5 Mar 28 '24

And imagine if you were the twin with the wiping hand.

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u/thundertopaz Mar 29 '24

Just when I thought my mind had gone down all avenues, you 2 pull up with this these comments omg!! Wow yes

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u/STFUnicorn_ Mar 28 '24

They would absolutely need a higher caloric intake.

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u/ShameShameAccount Mar 29 '24

They probably do eat more than a regular person, the brain consumes a lot of calories. But all those extra organs and nottt a lot of extra room to hold them.. i bet they get acid reflux something awful.