Gastroparesis: Wolverhampton woman living off biscuits due to rare condition

Talia Sinnott said severe symptoms of gastroparesis came on this year after she caught a virus

A woman who is living off a diet of digestive biscuits is trying to raise £80,000 so she can eat a full meal again.

Talia Sinnott has been diagnosed with gastroparesis, which means her stomach struggles to process food.

The condition sometimes leads the 25-year-old, from Tettenhall, Wolverhampton to vomit when she tries to eat.

"It is a very difficult condition to live with," she said.

"If I eat or drink pretty much anything at the moment I am often left in a lot of pain or with severe nausea or just throwing up."

It means she is almost totally reliant on a feeding tube to provide the nutrients she needs.

Her symptoms began in 2018 but Ms Sinnott told BBC Radio WM the condition was so rare doctors did not seem to know what was going on.

"I would eat a meal and it would almost feel like it was sat in my chest for ages after I had eaten, I almost felt I needed to be sick to relieve the pain," she said.

The 25-year-old has to be fed through a tube other than a biscuit "here and there"

In January, she caught a virus and said it seemed to attack her digestive system and left her with her current severe symptoms.

After a lot of research, her father, Peter Sinnott, said he found a specialist in London.

"The problem with gastroparesis is there is no cure, but there is a pathway of treatment," he said.

The family are looking to fund the treatment by raising £80,000, as it is currently not routinely available on the NHS.

Doctors would fit Ms Sinnott with what is known as a gastric pacemaker which she said would send impulses to her stomach muscles to allow her to digest food.

Otherwise she can only have a couple of biscuits "here and there".

"But that's pretty much it so that's why I am reliant on my tube to give me all the nourishment I need," she said.