I was diagnosed with a mystery illness that made my stomach ‘balloon’ so much I looked pregnant – and left my tongue so swollen I could’ve suffocated

Georgina Solomon has always embraced a busy, busy lifestyle.

At 19 she moved to Britain to babysit children, then lived in Bali for five years and now, in her late 30s, she is co-owner of creative studio Prim Haus in Sydney, as well as being a freelance photographer and model.

But 2022 was one of her toughest years as she became bedridden with a mysterious illness and was in and out of hospitals.

Her stomach ‘ballooned’ making it look like she was pregnant, her lips doubled in size and so did one side of her tongue, making her susceptible to choking.

Before Christmas 2020, she was officially diagnosed with SIBO (small intestinal bacterial overgrowth) and leaky gut.

“I had never heard of it and didn’t know what it was,” she told FEMAIL.

In 2022, she suffered a number of brutal blows and no longer recognized herself when she looked in the mirror.

Georgina said her nervous system was ‘destroyed’ and her body was red with irritating hives.

Between September and December she was constantly in and out of the Royal Alfred Hospital and lost 16kg.

‘I was bedridden. It was a terrifying time, I wasn’t myself and it took days to recover. I shared what I could with my closest friends, but it was tough,” Georgina said.

Her lips and cheeks doubled in size, often on one side at a time. But every time her tongue flared up, she had to run to the doctor.

If her entire tongue swelled, there was a risk she would suffocate and die.

Georgina also did not receive much support from her family as her parents live in Adelaide, which places even more burdens and stress on her shoulders.

‘I have never felt so alone and alienated. I had no one to turn to who knew what I was going through.

To this day, doctors don’t know what caused the SIBO, but Georgina suspects it was for a number of reasons, including the fact that she had a parasite when she lived in Bali.

Now she will have to live with the autoimmune disease for the rest of her life.

Georgina noticed something was drastically wrong in mid-2020.

“I had hives and bloating was on another level – my stomach was so swollen it was huge,” she recalled.

‘GPs told me I needed to work on my stress levels, so I started doing yoga.’

Even when symptoms persisted, GPs had ‘no answers’ and had ‘minimal knowledge about gut health’.

So she was advised to start a low FODMAP diet in an attempt to identify which foods were aggravating her stomach.

FODMAP is usually a long-term process of gradually eliminating different foods and ingredients from your diet to find what eases stomach problems such as IBS.

But Georgina described this as a “tough journey” due to her social lifestyle, which involved dining out with friends and family, while still wanting to maintain a sense of a “normal lifestyle”.

“I found it very difficult and in the end it seemed like a Band-Aid approach,” she said.

‘I had no idea how to heal it and found it all very overwhelming and confusing.’

Everything went well from then on and Georgina had started a new treatment plan, but then another wave of Covid hit.

The doctor decided to fly back home to Britain, leaving Georgina and his other patients without further help.

‘He recommended a lot of other specialists to go to, but I was already experiencing a huge cash flow. “I had invested so much in my health that without proper guidance I became nervous,” she said.

‘It was like starting over. So I just quit everything and thought things would be fine. Then if it flares up again, I’ll deal with it. I didn’t want to continue taking medication without guidance.’

It wasn’t until she came across a nutritionist and gut health expert from Perth that things started to take a turn.

For six months she cut out sugar, complex carbohydrates, alcohol and caffeine. Now she still doesn’t drink alcohol or coffee.

To heal, she was put on an anti-inflammatory diet that consisted of very strict portion control and high keto foods. She also cannot eat onions, garlic, leeks, chives or shallots.

In addition to certain medications, she also opted for a holistic approach through naturopathy and kinesiology, as well as a healthy diet that suits her gut.

Dr. Zac Turner, a doctor and biomedical scientist, told FEMAIL that everyone has a combination of good and bad bacteria in their body.

But if the intestinal flora becomes ‘out of balance’, this can lead to various problems.

‘Internal and external stress can affect the nervous system – such as poor sleep, alcohol, antibiotics, poor diet or even a caesarean section can affect the bacteria in our body,’ he explained.

Georgina admitted before she was diagnosed that she was stressed in more ways than one, but always put others before herself. Now she focuses on self-care.

“I have learned that healing is not achieved by taking giant leaps, but by consistently taking small steps,” she said.

“Every day I’m still healing and learning how to navigate the world. Being so sick gave me time to learn how to create the space between where I am and where I want to be, to inspire me and others.

“I couldn’t be more grateful for where this health journey has taken me.”

Looking back, Georgina wishes she had listened to her body sooner and advocated for herself to the doctors.

“The only advice people can give is if you notice something is wrong, actually do something about it,” she said.

‘I ignored it because I have been suffering from intestinal problems for a long time and I had seen positive effects from changing small denominators before.