Woman, 23, vomits 30 times a day due to 'invisible' disability bullies didn't believe

ByHollie Bone

23:50, 10 SEP 2020

A woman vomits up to 30 times a day due to an 'invisible' illness bullies and strangers refused to believe.

Beth Gallery, 23, has to be fed through a tube to combat the chronic?condition, gastroparesis, which means her stomach does not digest food and causes her to be sick.

chronic ?adj. /?kr?n?k/adj. 慢性的；長期的；習(xí)慣性的·a chronic alcoholic/depressive 慢性酒精中毒者；長期抑郁癥患者

Gastroparesis：gas-tro-pa-resis胃輕癱：因長期攝食減少、不能攝食或厭食往往導(dǎo)致營養(yǎng)不良,嚴(yán)重時可出現(xiàn)離子紊亂,威脅生命.

First falling ill with the disease aged 12, the NHS administrator spent six years with specialist doctors before she was diagnosed - leaving her malnourished?body weighing just 6st 2lb and needing a feeding tube to keep her alive.

Malnourished?/?m?l?n?r??t/ adj. 營養(yǎng)不良的；營養(yǎng)失調(diào)的 ；我們還遇到過名詞營養(yǎng)不良malnutrition

St ?stone 英石（英國重量單位，約6.4公斤）lb磅（源自拉丁語libra，約等于454克）? 6st 2lb 6英石2磅?相當(dāng)于78.6斤

But Beth, of Preston, Lancs., also suffered an emotional toll as she says school bullies would tell her to 'just die' and even strangers refused to believe she was seriously ill - causing her to feel suicidal by the age of 20.

Lancs?蘭開夏郡（Lancashire）

suicidal ?/?su???sa?dl; ?sju???sa?dl/

1.people who are suicidal feel that they want to kill themselves 想自殺的；有自殺傾向的

?On bad days I even felt suicidal. 趕上不順的日子，我都覺得不想活了。

?suicidal tendencies 自殺傾向

2.very dangerous and likely to lead to death; likely to cause very serious problems or disaster 自殺性的；有致命危險的；毀滅性的；災(zāi)難性的

?a suicidal leap into the swollen river 不顧死活地跳進上漲的河水

?It would be suicidal to risk going out in this weather. 在這種天氣冒險出去，真是不要命了。

Now, after meeting her boyfriend, James Jeffers, 22, the young blogger is refusing to let the illness hold her back.

She is?flaunting?her feeding tube on social media to show other people with hidden, chronic conditions not to be scared or embarrassed.

flaunt ?v. /fl??nt/ ?

1.to show sth you are proud of to other people, in order to impress them 炫耀；夸示；夸耀；賣弄??He did not believe in flaunting his wealth. 他不贊成擺闊。 ?

2.~ yourself to behave in a confident and sexual way to attract attention （性感地）招搖過市

3. IF YOU'VE ?GOT IT, ?FLAUNT IT：used to tell sb that they should not be afraid of allowing other people to see their qualities and abilities 有什么能耐施出來瞧瞧（是騾子是馬，拉出來溜溜）

Beth said: "Unless you see my feeding tube you would have no idea from the outside that there is anything wrong with me.

"I can vomit up to 30 times a day, I constantly feel sick and in pain and sometimes I get no warning before I need to throw up so I have to just do it in the street.

"It's really embarrassing, people think you're drunk or if I use the disabled toilets they judge me and think I'm being selfish by skipping the queue for the women's.

"I got bullied in school for my feeding tube and for the way that I looked.

"People called me anorexic, told me I was lying about my illness and told me they wished my illness would just kill me. I just felt like such an outcast.

anorexic ?n. ??n??reks?k/ a person who is suffering from anorexia 厭食者；食欲缺乏者

outcast n. /?a?tkɑ?st/ ?被拋棄者；被排斥者

"I got to a point where I didn't want to be here anymore. I couldn't see how anything was going to get any better.

"I couldn't deal with social media and feeling like I was so different to everyone else."

Beth first realised that something wasn't right when she was 12, and overnight started suffering with morning sickness which soon progressed to daily vomiting.

As well as?fatigue, joint pain, feeling full despite not eating for hours, Beth dropped to 6st 2lb and was fitted with a permanent feeding tube to get some nutrients into her body at just 16.

fatigue ?n. /f??ti?ɡ/ n. 疲勞，疲乏；雜役?vt. 使疲勞；使心智衰弱；vi. 疲勞；adj. 疲勞的

But despite countless tests and scans doctors were still unable to give her a diagnosis until she was 18.

After six years of looking for answers, experts finally discovered she had gastroparesis as well as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome?which causes pain in her joints and?PoTS?(Postural Tachycardia Syndrome) which affects her centre of balance.

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome：，慢性疲勞綜合癥

Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome：埃勒斯-當(dāng)洛斯綜合癥

又稱彈力過度性皮膚、全身彈力纖維發(fā)育異常癥，是一種有遺傳傾向、影響結(jié)締組織的疾病，與膠原代謝缺陷相關(guān)?；疾科つw彈力過度伸展，觸摸柔軟，猶如天鵝絨感。因皮膚過度伸展、易碰傷形成傷口、血管脆而易破裂、出現(xiàn)皮膚青腫，常并發(fā)關(guān)節(jié)脫臼，心血管、胃腸道可膨大呈現(xiàn)管壁瘤、胃腸憩室、膀胱憩室或破裂穿孔等。本病多見于早產(chǎn)兒、嬰兒，常有家族發(fā)病情況。早產(chǎn)兒多伴有胎膜早期破裂，嬰兒則表現(xiàn)為肌張力低下。根據(jù)臨床特點與遺傳學(xué)特征，可將本病分為11 個亞型。該病無根治方法。

PoTS (Postural Tachycardia Syndrome) 體位性心動過速綜合征

tachycardia /?t?k??kɑ?d??/ 心動過速?

Beth said: "When I first got sick I always assumed that I would just get better.

"I had countless tests from endoscopies, colonoscopies, tests for epilepsy?and eating disorders, I went on shakes and steroids,?IV treatments, but nothing worked.

endoscopy n./en?d?sk?pi/ ?( medical 醫(yī) )內(nèi)鏡檢查；內(nèi)窺鏡檢查

Colonoscopy /,k??l?'n?sk?p?/ ?n. 結(jié)腸鏡檢查

epilepsy ?n. /?ep?lepsi/ 癲癇；羊癇風(fēng)；羊角風(fēng)

Steroid ?n. /?ster??d/ 甾族化合物；類固醇

"I think I went through eight or nine specialist doctors to get diagnosed.

"When they eventually managed to diagnose me with gastroparesis I said 'okay so what can we do' and he just said 'nothing'.

"You always want to be diagnosed because the unknown is scary but for me getting diagnosed was as scary as not knowing because I suddenly realised I couldn't be fixed.

"I was in denial for so long, and when it eventually started to hit me I was so low, I lost all motivation with life.

"It wasn't until I met my boyfriend that I started to feel better about myself.

"He tells me that my illness has made me the person I am today and he says it makes me unique and that's why he loves me so much."

After coming to terms with her diagnosis, Beth has been able to get back to a healthy weight of 10st and start managing her illness with anti sickness medication and incorporating being sick into her daily routine.

Since meeting James she has even been to music festivals and Ladies' Day at the races, in a bid to not let anything hold her back.

Now Beth has set up a dedicated?Instagram?and Youtube page to share her story.

原文鏈接：https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/woman-23-vomits-30-times-22664349