GORGING on 3KG of Haribo sweets saw a man writhing “in absolute agony” and hospitalised with a life-threatening illness.
Nathan Rimmington, a 33-year-old HGV business owner who bought a bulk bag of cola bottle gummies after getting a craving for the sweets, says he’s been left with “cola bottle PTSD“.
Nathan Rimmington, from Barnsley, South Yorkshire, got a sudden craving for cola bottle sweets[/caption]
He gorged on a 3kg bag over three days and was left in agony and rivers of sweat[/caption]
Nathan ordered the Haribo sweets online as he “couldn’t be bothered” when he got a sudden hankering for them.
The 33-year-old went for a £18 3kg “bulk bag” on Amazon, normally bought by sweet shop owners, and eagerly waited for them to land on his doorstep.
After ripping open the bag, Nathan chomped down on the gummy sweets over the course of three evenings after dinner – demolishing a gut-busting 10,461 calories in total.
Days after his sugary feast, the dad-of-one started suffering with agonising stomach cramps that he initially put down to a Sunday carvery he’d eaten.
But when his condition didn’t improve, he made a GP appointment.
After the doctor clocked his soaring blood pressure and the sweat pouring off him, Nathan was referred to hospital.
Staff initially thought Nathan was suffering a nasty bout of food poisoning but when tests revealed high levels of gelatine in his system, he sheepishly confessed to his cola sweet fest.
High levels of gelatine, found in gummy sweets, can cause bowel obstructions and in serious circumstances can require surgery.
Doctors diagnosed Nathan with acute diverticulitis, sudden inflammation and infection of the large intestine, and he was hooked up to IV drips to flush out his system.
Now suffering from “cola bottle PTSD”, Nathan hasn’t touched any since the incident last year – despite a cheeky pal buying him a bag for his birthday.
Nathan, from Barnsley, South Yorkshire, said: “I just had a hankering for cola bottles.
“I went on Amazon, as I couldn’t be bothered going to the shop, and I saw this big pack of Haribo.
“It was £18 for 3kg and I thought ‘that’s alright’ so I bought it. I was right giddy about it coming.
“I haven’t really got a sweet tooth, I just fancied Haribo cola bottles.
I was literally lying on the floor in the waiting room because I had shocking sharp stomach pains
Nathan Rimmington
“I sat and ate them after my tea, it was over three days, then it was gone.
“I ate them and a week later I wasn’t feeling very well.
“Me and my mate had been to the Sunday carvery. I rang him up and said ‘do you feel well?’ and he said ‘no, me neither’, so I thought it must be that.
“The next day my stomach was in absolute agony. Wednesday came round and I couldn’t even get out of bed and was sweating, it was awful.
“I sat there thinking ‘enough’s enough I’ve got to go to the doctors’.
“I was literally lying on the floor in the waiting room because I had shocking sharp stomach pains.”
Nathan bought a bulk bag on Amazon[/caption]
His GP referred him to Rotherham Hospital in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, when they realised his blood pressure was sky high, he was sweating and had stomach cramps.
Initially baffled, doctors ran a barrage of tests and eventually discovered high levels of gelatine in Nathan’s system and quizzed him on his sweet-eating habits leading to a final diagnosis.
Nathan said: “My blood pressure and temperature was through the roof.
“I was in hospital for six days. They asked me what I’d eaten, all I could think of was the Sunday dinner, so they put it down to food poisoning.
“Then they said ‘you’ve got loads of gelatine [in your system], do you eat a lot of sweets?’
“I said I’d had some cola bottles, they asked me how many and I said ‘three kilos’. I didn’t think that was bad.
What is diverculitis?
Diverticulitis is a condition that affects the large intestine (bowel), causing abdominal pain and other symptoms.
It’s caused by small bulges or pouches in the walls of the intestine called diverticula.
In addition to infection or inflammation of the intestine, other symptoms can include severe, constant tummy pain, high temperature and bleeding or passing mucus from your bottom.
- Diverticulum: A diverticulum is a small pouch about 1cm in size which sticks out from the wall of the large bowel.
- Diverticula: This refers to more than one diverticulum. The most common site for diverticula is on the lower part of the large bowel on the left-hand side. They are permanent unless the affected part of the bowel is surgically removed.
- Diverticulitis: Diverticulitis means the condition that occurs when a single diverticulum or several diverticula become inflamed or infected.
- Diverticulosis: You may have heard the term diverticulosis, which means the presence of diverticula, this is not the same as diverticular disease. Most people with diverticulosis do not have, or go on to develop, diverticular disease. The great majority of people with diverticulosis will live out their lives never having symptoms. Having symptoms is diagnosed as diverticular disease.
“They were laughing and joking about it with me.”
After discovering the cause of his pain, doctors instructed him not to eat anything and hooked him up to IV drips during his six-day stay.
A year on from his ordeal Nathan hasn’t eaten a cola bottle sweet since, despite a pal buying him another jumbo bag for his birthday.
Nathan said: “It was my own stupid fault, I’ve not eaten a cola bottle since.
“On my birthday my best mate bought me a 3kg bag of cola bottles as a joke.
“It’s like PTSD, I see a cola bottle now and think I’m going to end up in A&E.
“My advice to avoid the same thing happening to anyone else would be just do it in moderation, don’t go full blast and get kilos of it at a time.”
Haribo declined The Sun’s request for comment.
He urged others not to go ‘full blast’[/caption]
