Video game addiction is a growing problem affecting the lives of millions of youths around the world, but in extreme cases, it can be fatal. A Taiwanese nurse recently shared the case of a university student who suffered a ruptured cerebral artery after playing games for four days straight.
Many youths plan to spend their winter vacation playing their favorite video games, but in the extreme case revealed on social media by Taiwanese ICU nurse Lin Ting, one student literally spent every moment of his free days in front of the monitor, with disastrous consequences.
Despite his mother’s best efforts to convince him to turn off the computer and get some rest, the unnamed youth kept playing an online game almost continuously, with short bathroom and snack breaks. However, after four days and three nights of gaming, the youth collapsed.
Photo: Unspalsh
According to the boy’s mother, he tried going to the bathroom in the middle of the night, but he suddenly screamed in pain and fell to the floor unconscious. He was rushed to the hospital, where he was diagnosed with a ruptured cerebral artery, which had caused massive bleeding.
Doctors performed emergency surgery to save the youth’s life, but their prognosis was reserved. The student became dependent on life support and required medication to raise his blood pressure. His family kept hoping that he would eventually wake up, but after several months, they made the painful decision to let him go.
Lin Ting recalled the heartbreaking moments when the youth’s family said their final goodbyes, and hoped her followers would heed this cautionary tale as a warning that cerebral hemorrhage isn’t a risk only for the elderly. Overwork, chronic sleep deprivation, smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, and excessive stress can all weaken cerebral blood vessels, potentially causing them to rupture even without high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or high blood sugar.
