Mother Has Not Eaten A Meal In Almost Two-And-Half-Years
After being misdiagnosed with a stomach bug, then with anorexia, former healthcare assistant Natalie Roux-Bean was finally told she was suffering from a rare condition, which has caused paralysis to her stomach called gastroparesis. Gastroparesis is a condition that reduces the ability of the stomach to empty its contents.
Prior to gastroparesis, Roux-Bean had just suffered the loss of her grandmother and married her childhood sweetheart; when she began to endure overbearing stomach cramps in January of 2010. Physicians continued to dismiss Roux-Bean's cramps as less than serious; it was in the summer of 2011 when a doctor in London noticed something more serious. Not only was she diagnosed with gastroparesis, but also doctors noticed she has a tissue disorder called Ideopahtic Ethers-Danlos Syndrome, which is caused by a genetic defect and may have triggered her stomach’s paralysis.
Due to her condition, Roux-Bean has not been able to consume foods on her own for the past two years. She is now fed twice a day through a tube full of nutrients into her small intestine totaling 400 calories a day.
Her condition, which doctors believe is the effects of disrupted nerve signals to the stomach, has forced her to drop down to a dress size of zero, from a 12. Roux-Bean is unable to keep down anything more than a biscuit or cracker. As a result of her condition she was forced to quit her job and will soon need the assistance of a wheel chair. No longer filled with energy, the mom of two can no longer participate in activities with her daughter Emily, 10, and son Leon, eight.
Roux-Bean, who has not eaten a meal in about two-and-half-years frets she will never be able to enjoy the taste of food. Although her weight has improved from the former Body Mass Index (BMI) of 14, Roux-Bean states her weight has improved but she is still weak.