A British woman told how she was forced to check into a psychiatric hospital after suffering hallucinations caused by a "toxic" bracelet she bought on eBay.
Jo Wollacott, 40, also suffered abscesses and hives after wearing a Jequirity bean bracelet containing the deadly toxin abrin, which is so strong it is banned under the UK Terrorism Act.
The jewelry, made from the Peruvian Jequirity bean, sparked a public health scare last year when it was revealed to contain the poison, the Western Daily Press reported Thursday.
Wollacott, from Bridport, southwestern England, said she became ill soon after she bought a batch of the beaded "love" bracelets for £1 ($1.60) each on eBay in April 2010, but thought she had caught a "bad bug."
The mother-of-two did not connect her illness with the jewelry and her condition worsened to the extent she was left in a hallucinogenic-like state -- leading to her being checked into a psychiatric hospital in December the same year.
Wollacott, who split from her boyfriend and lost her mosaic-design business, said, "I feel like I have lost two years of my life to this bracelet. It has been a nightmare."
Her symptoms began to clear only after she stopped wearing the bracelets in November last year -- a month before the product was recalled.
She added, "When I found out hallucinations were part of the side effects of the bead poisoning I started to piece things together."
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