The Girl Who Eats Only Tic Tacs

She must have terrible constipation. Excrement like porcelain!

There are a lot of details missing from the story, most notably: how did she not starve to death when she was younger?

Mystery illness = nice way of not having to say she has an eating disorder.....

It's a shame that most of these kids and their parents lie to themselves to keep from getting the help they need. Too many young girls die that way.

@sparge: The article states that she eats through a tube. Ostensibly her intestines are able to absorb food but her stomach won't hold it.

@Gerry: except she does eat. Through a tube. Is there a pathology where people are willing to eat via a tube but not orally?

I highly doubt that it is something as well documented as anorexia, not only because of the peculiarity of it, but also her apparent willingness to demonstrate the peculiarity. I mean, anorexia is not about displaying weirdisms, it's about hiding them.

Anyway it could be a psychosomatic illness, but if it is, it's coming from something more deep and more traumatizing than body image.

my mother was very ill recently and has a tube in her stomach. what they do is pour in liquid nutrition drinks (which can be taken orally too). It kept her weight up and fulfilled all her nutritional needs and daily caloric intake. the downside is that it filled her stomach immediately and caused terrible nausea.
the tube probably goes into her stomach but since the diet is liquid, does not stay there long.
And the article said the food comes up immediately, so I don't think it even makes it to her stomach to begin with.
I feel bad for her and felt bad for my mom. there's almost nothing more agitating than not being able to eat when you're hungry.

I'm sorry but to me this sounds purely psychological. I would think she really needs to have some sort of aversion therapy, because there is a major health concern of not eating (yes I realize the feed tube, but that is no way to live) I would think something like electric shock therapy may help.

Pairing her vomiting with the shock should extinguish the reflex in her body, as it has been used with infants with similar problems ingesting milk.

I'm a graduate student in speech-language pathology, and this girl's case sounds very much like a disorder called achalasia that was recently discussed in my dsyphagia class. It's not psychological; it's caused by the failure of the lower espohageal sphincter to relax, which means food can't pass from the espohagus to the stomach, leaving it nowhere to go but up and out. It's often misdiagnosed as an eating disorder, and can go undiagnosed for many years.

why don't they just mix in some veggies and protein with her tic tacs, a la 'deceptively delicious'? and if it is psychological, then she should smoke some weed, because when you're high you'll eat anything. believe that!

That girl has got to have the best breath EVER. Cute too.

@SuperJdynamite: Well, I don't know about pathological, there are cases where young kids who are used to tubes either can't, or in most cases don't want. Saw a documentary about a British girl who had been using tubes her whole life, and followed her to Germany where she was to be put on a starve. Problem was, her tube was right into her intestines and not the stomach, so she didn't know what either feeling hungry or full meant. She did at least lick her pizza in the end...

But what doctors should do is to put a contrast into a bit of food (besides tic tacs) and x-ray to see what actually happens when she swallows. That's what they did in the documentary to map the girl's swallowing reflex.

I have to agree with Akiro. It sounds psychological. If it were achalasia, then the tic tacs would most likely not be able to go down either as they would be pushed back up as well. The size really shouldn't matter, it's almost the action of swallowing that causes the reaction. I would want to know if she has always been this way - and I mean since birth. Aversion therapy is extremely affective and should be tried.

"Pairing her vomiting with the shock should extinguish the reflex in her body, as it has been used with infants with similar problems ingesting milk."

@ Akiro: What scary place do you live in where they use electric shock on infants?

I wonder if this girl has been tested for parasites. That could explain the vomiting... especially if this has been going on for years.

Well, thankfully the tictacs will take care of her puke breath...

For those that say this is psychological should go back to medical school and get re-certified - oh wait- you don't have a medical degree? Oh, then here is a nice cup of steaming STFU.

Just because there is a huge disparity of medical knowledge concerning eating/digestion does not automatically mean that it's "psychological."

My thanks to those people who have left kind and supportive comments, and my disgust to the rest who have either passed this off as psychological, or some kind of 'hoax'.
Natalie is a personal friend of mine, and having known her for a large number of years, i know it to be true that her illness is not only genuine, but can be very stressful for herself, her family, and her friends. She has been examined by some of Britains top doctors, and surely i would think that many of you would realise that if it were psychological, at least one of them would have picked up on it.
Natalie has always been a fantastic girl, who is always ready to have a laugh with her friends, and does her best not to let this illness rule her life.
So maybe anyone who isn't prepared to think of her as an unfortunate teenage girl, should think twice about dismissing her as a girl who is just vying for attention

I have looked frantically for this story ever since I have heard about it... I have a 16 year old son that is going through the same thing. Everything he eats comes right back up. It started out as a very small clear liquidy usbstance, but now it is everything he just ate. This has been going on for 4 months and he has lost over 40 pounds. I have been able to get ENSURE down him and stay... The tests have been cruicial and so stressful for all of us. Psycological testing has been done as well and every therapist says.. " This is a mystery to me.." So please do not accuse these kids of " Having an eating disorder" and Pray for them and their families...

TIna

Tina

Hi i'm Nat's anutie when she was a baby she used to smell of sick all the time, then the food would not stay down. Now can i correct a lot of people she is not sick as in reaches sick, it just runs back out the same way it goes down like an over flow pipe, she would joke and say she gets to tast her food twice. They have done so many test on the poor girl, but she has keep up with her school work, even though she gets very trid. She is having a very hard time finding a job which she wants so badly. Some of the media have left stuff out or put there own bit in which does not help the matter. We want her to go see another doctor a German doctor, but her doctors seem to think she is there own pet project. As her family we get very angry with them, we have asked them to do a MRI they said no wont show anything, they have'nt tested her throid they asked us to come up with ideas they the brush us off. She does see a psychologest to help her cope with the illness and all the test so i think they would have picked it up if it was in her head.

Hiya poor girl not an easy life at all. Every one seems to be an expert except the doctors. Let me guess NHS doctors. Have the family thought to bring her to doctors in the US. just a thought!! Good luck.XXX