6:30 AM
Anonymous
A mother-of-two has been unable to eat a single meal for two years - after developing a rare condition that has paralysed her stomach.
Former healthcare assistant Natalie Roux-Bean, 30, has shrunk from a healthy size 12 to a zero and is permanently starving hungry.
She is unable to keep down anything more than a biscuit and is now fed 400 calories a day via a drip straight into her bloodstream.
Doctors initially told Natalie she had a stomach bug and then wrongly treated her for anorexia before she was finally diagnosed with gastroparesis.
The condition reduces the ability of the stomach to empty its contents even though there is no blockage.
The cause is unknown but doctors believe it could be triggered by a disruption of nerve signals to the stomach.
Mrs Roux-Bean was fitted with a 'stomach pacemaker' to try and ease her condition, but it had little effect.
Natalie now fears she will spend the rest of her life feeling permanently hungry. She has had to give up work as she feels so weak and is wheel-chair bound.
She said: 'These last two years have been horrible. My stomach is telling me I am hungry. I miss the taste of food every day and can’t even remember what my last supper was.
'I try to stomach a nibble of a cracker every now and then but that is the only thing I have tasted in a long time.
'Trying to fight your natural survival instincts to eat doesn’t get any easier and although I am in pain I still crave the taste of a real food.
'I am really weak and have to give up work. I can’t even take my children swimming or on bike rides anymore.'
Powered by Twitter Fan Box & Pizcar
Posted in: latest health news
