Warrawong mum wants to raise awareness of gastroparesis

Sure there’s nothing left in her stomach after a few hours; but a rare condition means that message doesn’t make its way to her brain. So she just keeps retching.

‘’My condition – gastroparesis – is caused by damage to the vagus nerve in my stomach which causes the stomach muscles to stop working, or become paralysed,’’ she said.

‘’During flare-ups, the usual signals from the stomach to the brain stop connecting, so the brain doesn’t know there’s nothing left to throw up.

‘’So I can vomit for hours, days, for over a week. It’s exhausting – it gets to the point where I don’t know what day it is, whether it’s night or day.

‘’It’s almost like you are in purgatory.’’

In Mrs Alarcon’s case, the gastroparesis is a complication of type one diabetes, which she’s has since she was 16.

The stomach disorder first reared its ugly head in 2009, and has become steadily more debilitating.

‘’I have two gorgeous girls and a supportive husband but this has been very hard for us,’’ she said.

‘’I can’t make plans or go on holiday and I miss out on so many family events – taking the kids to soccer or dancing, going out to dinner, or going shopping.

‘’I never know when it’s going to hit – I’m fine one moment and the next I’m vomiting into a shopping bag.’’

Mrs Alarcon has tried different medications – even Botox injections – and brought her diet back to basics, but to little effect.

She’s been hospitalised on several occasions, only last week finishing a stint at Wollongong Hospital where a nasal feeding tube was attached.

Now back home, she’s feeding herself a liquid diet through the tube which bypasses the stomach, to give it a bit of a break.

‘’The liquid goes straight into the small intestine at 100 mls an hour because my body can’t handle any more than that,’’ she said.

‘’I’ve chosen to attach it from 8pm to 8am so at least I’m not attached to a feeding machine all day.

‘’I’m trialling this for six weeks to give my stomach a rest as it’s so inflamed from all the vomiting and constant irritation.

‘’I’m hoping after that I will be able to start introducing some food though it will have to be a slow process.’’

Mrs Alarcon said she was speaking up about the condition to raise awareness for other sufferers.

‘’It’s a silent illness – a lot of the time you don’t look sick,’’ she said. ‘’Because I take insulin for my diabetes, my weight doesn’t drop drastically and I’ve found a lot of people don’t understand what I’m going through.’’

Mrs Alarcon’s family have set up an online fundraiser to help pay her medical bills.