Leita’s Story

Living with Gastroparesis

Leita, a student studying for her PhD in cellular and molecular biology, woke up one day with an earache and nausea. She started her busy day working at the lab, but soon her symptoms worsened to include an increased heart rate, shaking in her arms, and sensitivity to light. Within 3 days she experienced vertigo and nausea, and couldn’t keep down food or drink.

Her doctors explained that bulimia, an ear infection, or meningitis might be causes, though none seemed to fit. Leita was especially troubled that they suspected an eating disorder, given her love of cooking and southern cuisine.

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A series of tests eventually revealed that Leita had gastroparesis of idiopathic origin, a condition characterised by chronic nausea and vomiting.

Leita’s health issues changed her life drastically. While she continued to cook for her family, she could not eat her favourite foods and she avoided restaurants.

“When you love food so much and it becomes your enemy, it’s heart breaking. Cooking and eating used to bring me so much joy, and now I associated it with something awful.”

Initial Treatments

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Frequent hospital stays became a way of life for Leita, as she needed feeding tubes and intravenous lines to receive nutrition.

Doctors prescribed a variety of medications to manage her condition, as well as non-traditional remedies including vertigo patches, metal-ion bracelets, acupuncture, and eating fresh ginger. “I tried everything,” Leita says, “and nothing worked.”

How Gastric Electrical Stimulation Helped Leita

When her doctor suggested she receive gastric electrical stimulation, Leita was initially cautious. “Even though I was getting more desperate, I had been burned enough along the way with bad ideas.” Her faith in her doctor persuaded her to have the surgery to implant the Enterra™ Therapy system. “After being nauseated all the time,” she says, “putting in a neurostimulator was a small thing for me to go through.”

Just a few days after surgery, Leita was eating strawberry ice cream.

“I can’t wait to eat my way across New Orleans one day,” she says.

Life with Enterra™ Therapy

While the effectiveness of gastric electrical stimulation has not been clinically proven, and results differ for each patient, it has helped Leita.

Since she began receiving Enterra™ Therapy, drinking water has been a particular source of pleasure for Leita. Water used to unsettle her stomach, but now she’s back to drinking it, as she did before she had gastroparesis.

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Leita has also resumed her studies, and is in the planning stages of launching a health foundation for gastroparesis research, awareness, and fundraising.

“My love is science, and gastroparesis has been my life, so I really feel like I should do something with the two together.”

Risks of Enterra™ Therapy (Gastric Electrical Stimulation)

Leita didn’t experience any complications with her surgery. However, some people do experience surgical complications or side effects of the therapy.

Surgical complications are possible and may include infection, bleeding, bruising, and pain at the implant site. Once implanted, the system may become infected, devices may move or wear through the skin, the lead may entangle with or obstruct the bowel, irritation/inflammation over implant site may occur. The therapy system could stop suddenly because of mechanical or electrical problems. Any of these situations may require additional surgery or cause your symptoms to return.

For a list of adverse events that have been associated with the therapy, please refer to Important Safety Information.