A Leicester woman who collapsed after suffering from long-term excruciating pain lost seven stone after discovering the cause of her agony. Tracy Barnacle had been suffering with back pain and general spasms for some time, but the issue had been diagnosed as back pain - until her sudden collapse revealed the truth.
Tracey, who weighed 18-and-a-half stone two years ago, had never been bothered by her weight until the pains across her body developed just before the start of the Covid-19 outbreak. Doctors and Tracy both believed back pain was the cause, but as she became yellow with jaundice and unable to move, she knew it was something more serious.
The mum-of-two told LeicestershireLive: “The pain was unbelievable. It was a million times worse than labour and I would never wish it on my worst enemy. I could barely walk before the collapse as it was that bad. I don’t think anyone expected it to be what it was.”
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Tracy, of Minster Crescent, Beaumont Leys, collapsed at her mum's home in March 2020 following a worsening of her pain, and was taken by ambulance to hospital. Doctors initially told the 47-year-old that she had a gallbladder infection. Further scans then revealed that her gallbladder was full of gallstones, with one even lodged in her bile duct.
The sheer amount of gallstones had led to a series of what are known as gallstone attacks, which create and cause pain. Gallstones often have no symptoms, but can trigger a sudden, intense pain in the stomach which can last for hours, according to the NHS. They form in the gallbladder, a small, pouch-like organ found underneath the liver, which stores bile, a liquid produced by the liver to help digestion. Causes include unusually high levels of cholesterol inside the gallbladder, the health service states.
Tracy had so many, the pain was unbearable. She also displayed extremely high markers for liver issues when she was in hospital, leading doctors to insert a stent to help her body process food.
However, she faced a long wait for an operation to remove her gallbladder. Tracy said: “I was told it would be five years’ wait before it could be done. My doctors tried to make it happen sooner due to the severity of it, and got it down to 18 months, but the pain was still awful [in the meantime]."
The need to be operated on led Tracy to re-evaluate her life and her diet while she awaitied surgery. Her staples of junk food and fizzy drinks were dropped in favour of healthier eating, gentle exercise and walks, and the combination had a dramatic effect. She started to lose weight fast. By the date for her operation arrived nine months later - after she opted to go private to speed up the process - she had lost seven-and-a-half stone.
Even with that dramatic weight loss, Tracy’s operation at Kettering General Hospital was complicated, because Tracy’s gallbladder had become attached to her bowel. However, doctors managed to detatch and remove it safely, and her pain was eased at long last.
Reflecting on her weight, she said: “I was a professional dancer as a kid, but I suppose as you grow up and have two kids, you put on a bit of weight and gain a dress size here and there.
“I used to snack a lot and eat junk food a lot too, because it was so easy to fall into the trap. I always managed to hide my weight though, and it’s never been something people pointed out to me. Even when I was big, I was confident, so it’s never stopped me in that way, but I was always wary of what I could and couldn’t wear.”
That is no longer a worry for Tracy, who has dropped from a size 24 to a 10 to 12. The change has improved many aspects of her life, she said.
“Now I can go clothes shopping without having to think what will look right and what won’t, and that’s great," she said. "My dad is really proud of me as he didn’t think I’d manage to stick with it, but I have.
“Everyone is so proud. I don’t think anyone expected to lose as much as I did. I didn’t either - especially as I’ve not been going to the gym. It’s all down to me cutting out the junk food.”
Tracy said that her gallstones diagnosis had been the trigger for her losing weight, and called on others suffering from similar pain to get it checked out as soon as possible. She said: “It was the wake up call I needed, really. It made it clear that I had to lose some weight.
"When I look back at pictures now, I wonder how I got as big as I did. I won’t go back, I know that. It could be easy to treat myself to some chocolates or sweets, but I’m quite disciplined.
“I don’t blame the doctors for not spotting it straight away, it’s one of those things. If my story can help anyone suffering with pain that could be something more serious like I had, then I’ve done a good thing.”
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