Leita's Story

Leita, a student studying for her PhD in cellular and molecular biology, woke up one day with an earache and nausea. Within 3 days she experienced vertigo and nausea, and couldn’t keep down food or drink. “When you love food so much and it becomes your enemy,” she says, “it’s heart breaking.”

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Arlene's Story

Arlene always prided herself on taking good care of her health. So when she started having troubling symptoms that affected her digestion, she “knew there was something going on.” Her weight plummeted from 108 to 82 pounds.

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Molly's Story

As someone who has had type 1 diabetes since age 6, Molly was diligent about monitoring glucose levels and taking insulin. Beginning in her 20s, her glucose levels began to dip dangerously low, especially in the middle of the night. These episodes often sent her to the emergency room, and left her wondering what was wrong. “What I didn’t know was that my dinner wasn’t digesting at all,” she says.

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Jim’s Story

Jim was beginning to lose hope for a normal life when his doctors prescribed gastric electrical stimulation. Soon, Jim could eat small mouthfuls of food. Eight weeks later, his diet was closer to normal.

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Lynn’s Story

At the start of her senior year at a Connecticut college, Lynn was on the road to achieving her dreams. As the fall semester progressed, however, Lynn developed a chronic gastrointestinal condition that baffled her doctors. “I was vomiting 10 to 15 times a day, every day,” says Lynn. Eventually, Lynn was diagnosed with gastroparesis.

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Karen’s Story

Karen, a 47-year-old mother of three, loves to participate in activities with her large extended family – from school events to church functions to birthday celebrations. In late 2001, however, Karen was diagnosed with gastroparesis, a condition characterized by chronic nausea and vomiting. The condition left her bedridden.

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