A desperate young woman has revealed she survived on biscuits for nine months whilst doctors tried to diagnose a rare health condition.
Becky Pates, 26, did not eat so much as a sandwich for most of 2023, and vomited so often that she was doing it in her sleep. But doctors repeatedly sent her home with anti-sickness medication and blamed her condition on an eating disorder she’d had ten years previously. After she was finally admitted to hospital, Becky was diagnosed with gastroparesis, a paralysis of the stomach which leads to an inability to digest food.
She spent five months in hospital, during which kind-hearted medics allowed her beloved Chihuahua, Rio, to visit. After undergoing Botox on her stomach muscles, Becky is now home, back at work, and buying her first home with her partner. She says: "I spent nine months back and forth from the GP, trying to get answers. My mum even videoed me throwing up and came with me to the surgery as a witness, to prove I was genuinely ill.
"The doctors just linked my illness back to my eating disorder despite it being nearly ten years earlier and they said my stomach pains were hunger pains. One doctor accused me of making myself sick. They couldn’t accept that this was a separate, completely unrelated illness. I was packed off with anti-sickness medication and nobody took me seriously. Now, after five long months in hospital, I can eat plain foods, I’m slowly returning to some sort of normality, and I’m able to look to the future."
Becky, a recruitment consultant from Cambridgeshire, was diagnosed with anorexia aged 14 and spent a year in hospital. She battled back to a healthy weight of 51kg. But in January 2023, she began vomiting violently, out of the blue. She says: "At first, I thought it was a sickness bug, but when it didn’t clear up, I saw my GP."
For the next nine months, Becky was back and forth from her GP’s surgery, and she attended A and E five times. By now she was vomiting up to 12 times a day. Becky says: "I was vomiting in my sleep, and sometimes I’d vomit and pass out. Mum found me unconscious in a pool of vomit more than once. The doctors said it was all linked to my eating disorder, even though it was ten years earlier. I tried to tell them I had a good appetite, and I loved my food, but they didn’t take me seriously.
"I was taken into hospital, given fluids, and sent sent home again. For those nine months whilst I tried to get help, I lived on digestive biscuits and the odd rice cake. But more often than not, I would bring it all back up. I was frightened I was going to choke on my own vomit, especially because I was losing consciousness so much. I was really weak and exhausted."
By the time she was admitted to hospital, Becky had lost 9kgs and her weight was down to 42kgs. But her stomach was hard and bloated, making her look like she was pregnant. She had become so frail that she was bed bound, and regularly vomiting blood. Doctors warned her body was shutting down and was not strong enough to function. After tests, Becky was finally diagnosed with gastroparesis in November last year. Alongside medication, she has been treated with Botox to help her stomach muscles.
She spent five months in hospital, and missed her little dog, Rio, so much, that nurses allowed him a visit on her 26th birthday. As a thank you, Becky bought the staff gifts, including donuts. In February this year, she was finally allowed home. She says: "I am still vomiting once or twice a day, but I can eat light foods like egg and cereal. I need to slowly build up my diet. I still suffer with low blood pressure, low sugars, pain and dehydration. I’m not cured, but I’m much better than I was. My stomach muscles don’t work any more and I am hoping for more treatment to stretch my stomach, as well as more Botox injections, which I may have to pay for myself.
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"I am speaking out to raise awareness of gastroparesis, to support people who may have been waiting months for diagnosis as I did. It’s a terrifying illness, I felt like I was going to die at times. I’d really like to find out more, especially other treatment options. For now, I’m just so grateful now to be able to rebuild my life."