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A woman deemed anorexic after her weight suddenly plummeted to just over 70 pounds has finally been diagnosed with a rare disorder that prevents her body from swallowing properly.
When 23-year-old Hayley Laughton first started losing weight uncontrollably, she was reportedly referred to an eating disorder specialist.
Although she constantly tried to eat and keep her strength up, eventually Hayley couldn’t even keep a sip of water down.
It wasn’t until she suffered a serious seizure in Spain with her family that Hayley’s doctors finally discovered the problem in her esophagus.
Hayley was soon diagnosed with the rare disorder achalasia, or cardiospasm, which causes the esophagus to suffer spasms that prevent food from passing through to the stomach.
Those who suffer from achalasia often throw up food that gets stuck in the esophagus because the muscles are unable to relax.
Mainly found in older women, the extremely rare condition only affects about 6,000 people in Britain.
Back in December, Hayley finally had a life-changing operation that allows her esophagus to safely pass food into her stomach.
Now weighing a little more than 125 pounds, Hayley can finally eat food without feeling sick.
“It's made a real difference and I'm able to eat and drink now, although I still struggle with things like bread,” Hayley said, The Daily Mail reported. “They have said achalasia will never go away, but this operation is a way of coping with it and improving my quality of life.”
“It's been an absolute nightmare and I just want to raise awareness about the condition to help other people who might be going through what I went through,” she added.
