Meet The Woman Who Looks 9 Months Pregnant Whenever She Eats Anything
Imagine what it's like to have your insides stuck together.
Getty Images It's a horrible sensation when you feel like you have no control over the health of your body.
When no matter how much you exercise or how serious you are about your diet, you still experience pain and suffering.
For Rachael Harley, her body was a stranger to her.
Every time she'd eat something, her stomach would swell up so much that Harley would appear to be nine months pregnant and would be in agonizing pain.
Rachael Harley had abdominal adhesions (bands of tissue that form between organs and causes them to stick together).
Most of the time, this tissue occurs after surgery of some kind; hence, the reason it's known as scar tissue and can happen with people suffering from appendicitis, endometriosis, infections, and STIs.
Harley's doctors believe that she may have been born with the condition.
I also suffer from abdominal adhesions. I can tell you that they're extremely painful and can make ordinary activities like bending over excruciating.
RELATED: Psych Meds Saved Me From Mental Illness — And I'm Not Ashamed
Harley says, "In April 2013 I suddenly took ill. I went through a considerable amount of tests and scans, baffling doctors and coming up with no diagnosis. Luckily, on the 5th of July, they decided to undergo investigative surgery as a final resort. From this, we discovered that I had adhesions attached to my bowel and appendix that had grown from having appendicitis."
Although Harley's adhesions were cut out, they returned, causing her stomach to swell.
"Unfortunately, in many cases, adhesions return. And now a little down the line, mine sadly have and we are back to square one. Day by day they cause further damage to my bowel, stomach, gallbladder and fertility organs. When they cause regular partial obstructions, I become unable to eat much and deteriorate."
The good news is that Harley, through crowdfunding, was able to travel to London from her home in Scotland to have a specialist treat her.
According to her Facebook page, she's doing well and will be starting her midwifery studies in September.
Check out the video below to learn more about Rachel Harley's story:
Christine Schoenwald is a love and entertainment writer.
Editor's Note: This article was originally posted on March 23, 2016 and was updated with the latest information.