'Snake Man' Freaks Out Internet After Unhinging Jaw to Eat Sandwich at Work

A man with a "strange" ability to unhinge his jaw and swallow food almost "like a snake" has set off a storm of debate on Reddit.

Many people said he should go to the doctor about it after seeing the viral post on Reddit, where he said: "I unknowingly unhinged my jaw in front of a coworker while eating food, now she barely talks or even looks at me after seeing it."

In the post, shared under the username Noir_A_Mous, which had received 9,123 upvotes and 936 comments at the time of writing, the man said his body is "kinda weird," claiming that he has several "double jointed" body parts, including his jaw.

Having grown up in a household where whoever finished last had to do the dishes, the Redditor said he used his "strange body" to swallow food quickly to avoid doing dishes and has eaten this way ever since.

He said he tries "not to eat like this in public" and therefore, usually takes lunch later than everyone else at work.

One day, a female coworker entered the break room while he was shoving an "8 inch, fully packed, extra meatball sub sandwich" into his "gaping" jaw.

The original poster said: "With an audible pop my jaw unhinged and she just stood there, not making a noise, watching as I just packed this sandwich into my mouth like some sorta demented serpent in human skin. I didn't notice her until I had already gotten the sub more than halfway in my mouth.

"We made eye contact and just stared at each other. I felt like a little kid caught with his hand stuck in the cookie jar until she just walked out of the break room," he said, later adding: "I'm totally not a snake man guys."

The Cleveland Clinic, a nonprofit academic medical center, notes there's actually "no such thing as being double-jointed."

The clinic explains: "What people think of as double-jointedness is actually hypermobility, or joints that can move beyond the typical range.

"Your joints are made up of connective tissue and a protein called collagen. If connective tissue is a building, collagen is the bricks. Hypermobility results from the variation in how those bricks come together," the clinic added.

Chewing food before swallowing is important as it's the "essential first step of digestion," explains a WebMD article by Kathleen M. Zelman, a registered dietitian (RD) and previous director of nutrition for WebMD.

Food needs to be chewed in order for it to be swallowed easily and be properly digested when it arrives into the stomach. The chewing process allows the food to be small enough for the gastric juices in the stomach to break it down even further to a microscopic size. "This allows the nutrients and fluids to be absorbed into your gastrointestinal tract," Zelman said.

Your digestive system is vital as it is "uniquely constructed to do its job of turning your food into the nutrients and energy you need to survive," says the Cleveland Clinic.

Several Redditors expressed concern for the original poster's health and the potential implications of the user's jaw condition.

In a comment that received 4,900 upvotes, user FlamingButterfly said: "Dude you gotta stop eating food so quickly, your digestive system will start to hate you." The original poster replied: "You're probably right but it's hard to break a habit," which got 1,900 upvotes.

Irritable Bowel Syndrome

FlamingButterfly added: "While being able to deep throat an 8 inch meatball sub is impressive your digestive system won't agree in the future," in a comment that got 2,300 upvotes and the original poster replied: "That explains my ibs [irritable bowel syndrome] a bit," in a comment that received 1,200 upvotes.

In a later comment, the original poster said: "I've had ibs since I was really little, my guts have always been sensitive to certain foods and I get gassy easily, though eating like this probably doesn't help."

Wildest12 then replied: "Really little? like the same age you started eating like a snake to avoid doing dishes???," in a comment that got 1,100 upvotes.

IBS refers to two conditions—Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis—which are marked by chronic inflammation of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. Prolonged inflammation results in GI tract damage, explains the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Symptoms include persistent diarrhea, abdominal pain, rectal bleeding/bloody stools, weight loss and fatigue.

User binaryisotope warned: "Go get that checked out now. I thought I had IBS. Turns out it was way worse and wound up needing surgery. It could have killed me. Gut issues are no joke."

User meimzi said: "Hey hey! Crohn [Crohn's disease] person here! IBS is horrific and the more you chew and digest your food the better! Please take good care of your gut health, cause take it from me it can get 'shitty'."

Connective Tissue Disorder

Some suggested there could be other reasons for the original poster's condition.

User ac1485 said: "If you have a lot of joint hypermobility and food sensitivities, you could have a connective tissue disorder and MCAS [Mast Cell Activation Syndrome] (they often go together). I thought I had IBS for years, but it turned out to be all histamine-related."

MCAS sees mast cells (a type of white blood cell found in connective tissues) cause allergy symptoms in response to triggers that aren't typically considered to be harmful.

User HoleInMyLeatherySoul said: "I was going to say the same. There's a strong overlap between hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome and IBS."

Hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome is an inherited connective tissue disorder caused by collagen defects, explains the Genetic and Rare Diseases Center of the U.S. National Institutes of Health.

In a later update, the original poster said: "I honestly didn't know this was really a problem or could be a sign of something dangerous," adding "I promise to talk to a doctor as soon as I'm able."

Newsweek has contacted the original poster, Noir_A_Mous, for comment.