It used to be that Kandra Burleson couldn't eat, or even leave the house.
"Not going anywhere, not eating anything. Just laying in bed or running to the bathroom," she said.
Kandra's stomach couldn't digest food. Nothing helped.
Her last resort was surgery to give her a new kind of stomach stimulator. Surgeons implant a generator in the abdomen. Electrical signals suppress the nausea.
"It's nothing painful or anything like that, but you can feel it sending the movement into your stomach, yes," said Kandra.
It's not a cure, but studies show the implant can reduce chronic nausea and vomiting by more than 80 percent and reduce hospital visits by up to 70 percent.
"By suppressing the nausea, it will work well enough that they can continue to keep the food down. They can avoid the malnutrition, the dehydration, and they can get on with their lives," said Dr. Todd Wood.
Five months later, Kandra's gained 15 pounds and is doing a little better each day.
"I promised myself that if I could get my life back, I would make the best of it, and that's what I'm doing," she said.
The most common known cause of the condition is type one or type two diabetes. Other causes include viral infections, anorexia nervosa or bulimia.
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