I haven’t been able to eat food for SEVEN years with rare stomach condition

AN NHS worker hasn’t been able to eat food for seven years thanks to a rare stomach condition.

Lauren Blake relies on feeding tubes to stay alive but is desperate for life-changing surgery.

Lauren has gastroparesis, a condition which prevents her stomach from digesting food and drink and causes her to vomit “at least ten times a day”.

The 22-year-old NHS call handler hasn’t eaten a proper meal since she was 15 years old, when her hellish condition began.

She said: "Gastroparesis has taken away the social side of my life.

"It's been nearly seven years since I was able to keep a meal down. It has been difficult.

"Anything I eat will remain in my stomach, but does not get absorbed, and food can sit in my stomach for more than twelve hours.

"I am sick at least ten times a day. On my worst days I can't even keep down my own saliva. It's constant, like having a stomach bug but all the time.

"My feeding tubes go straight into my small bowel because my stomach can't absorb anything and it needs to bypass my stomach.

"It's affected everything. I've lost several jobs because of this."

Lauren, who lives with her parents in Southampton, had dozens of tests to find out what was wrong with her when she first fell unwell at 15 years old. 

She said: “I was so ill for about three months before I went to hospital. I wasn't keeping anything down, I was on feeding tubes. 

“I spent four months in hospital and we had gone through every test possible. It was a bit of a shock but it was nice to get a diagnosis.”

Gastroparesis is thought to be the result of a problem with the nerves and muscles that control how the stomach empties, the NHS says.

It’s not always clear what causes gastroparesis, with some triggers to include poorly controlled diabetes, a complication of surgery or medication.

Lauren’s doctors believe her gastroparesis was the result of another condition called Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS).

EDS is a group of 13 inherited conditions that generally all cause symptoms of hypermobility, stretchy and fragile skin.

Depending on the type of EDS, it can cause unstable or weak joints and problems with digestion, the bladder and internal organs.

Lauren said she has around “80 joint dislocations a day”.

On top of this: "I'm on a variety of different medications, I'm reliant on feeding tubes still and I still get a lot of pain and sickness.”

Hope in surgery 

Gastroparesis has no cure and instead, patients are told to try and manage their diet, such as by living on soft and liquid foods, before trying other options like a feeding tube or surgery. 

After spending years on a variety of medications, Lauren is now determined to raise the money required to fund the surgery for her gastric pacemaker.

Called gastroelectrical stimulation, it’s not routinely funded by most NHS authorities.

It involves implanting a battery-operated device under the skin of the stomach which sends electrical impulses to stimulate the muscles of the stomach to work properly. 

Lauren, who is aiming to raise £18,000 for the op, said: "It's basically exactly the same as a heart pacemaker. 

“It's placed on to my stomach and gets the muscles to contract so my stomach can absorb food. It will give me the chance to actually eat and drink normally.

"I recently visited a specialist doctor in Leeds to find out more and I qualify for the surgery, but the sheer amount of money it costs means I have a lot of fundraising to do.

"I have already started my fundraising, I climbed Mount Snowden last year, I've done the world's fastest zip wire, we are organising to do another long walk and a bingo night. 

“But I often have to use a wheelchair for these because of my other condition [EDS] and how tired I get from not eating anything.”

Lauren said the gastric pacemaker would “give me my life back”.

She said: "I'm always worrying about where the nearest bathroom is or if I'm at work and my colleagues are eating their lunch and question why I'm not eating anything.

"Raising £18,000 would be life-changing. It would give me my life back and change absolutely everything for me."

To donate to Lauren's ongoing fundraiser, visit her page or search “Lauren’s Fundraiser for Gastric Pacemaker” on Facebook to keep up-to-date with her fundraising efforts.