Former Emmerdale star Gemma Oaten has opened up about the terrifying moment she learnt she has "dangerously high" calcium levels in her body due to taking Rennies and magnesium supplements.
The former Rachel Breckle star, who is now in recovery, appeared on ITV's Lorraine this morning to speak of the ordeal, that saw her rushed to hospital "only two months ago."
However, unbeknownst to Gemma the life-threating condition was years in the making and came as a result of her struggles with acid reflux due to her battle with anorexia.
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The star explained: "I had not been feeling well for a while to be honest but I didn't practice what I preached and I just sort of ignored it - I just put it down to stress and anxiety in all honesty.
"We'd had a big funding cut for the charity that I am CEO of and I'd put it down to stress and the pressure of that. I was also doing a morning breakfast radio show so I was getting up early at half past four and doing my full time job and then auditions so I just put it down to nausea, feeling tired."
It was only when Gemma contracted Covid that the "serious kidney syndrome" was unearthed, Milk-alkali syndrome is a condition in which there is a high level of calcium in the body.
The 38-year-old discovered in hospital that she had developed the condition due to years of taking too much calcium carbonate through self-medicating the damage she had done to her oesophagus with Rennie tablets and later magnesium supplements.
The Emmerdale star said: "I was poorly from the age of 10 with anorexia. That anorexia then led into bulimia and I was struggling for 13 years. I used to take Rennies every single day due to the acid reflux.
"I was so scared of relapsing and being sick so I started to take those, sorry to be graphic but it's not a glamorous illness that's the reality of an eating disorder, so I used to take those, not a high amount.
"And then I started to take magnesium about four weeks before I went in to hospital because yet again I was tired, stressed and there is also calcium carbonate in magnesium supplements.
"And I had no clue that any of this was happening but my calcium levels went to a dangerously high point, so effectively my body was poisoning itself and I had no idea until the ambulance came."
Oaten ended up having eight percent kidney function and 20 percent oxygen upon admission to hospital. Whilst now in recovery Gemma has since learnt about more ways in which the lasting effects of her former eating disorder have had on her body.
Gemma who is a part of eating disorder charity Seed spoke of how even when the eating disorder is gone, the lasting effects carry on for a very long time.
She continued: "I think this is the sad part about an eating disorder, early intervention is key and vital and if it was implemented more people wouldn't be suffering for as long as they are and I don't share my story for a woe is me or the violin strings, I share it because I don't want anybody to go through what I am.
"Even though I have been well for like 15 years, this last year I have found out I don't know whether I can have children, I have had the milk alkali syndrome diagnosis because I was trying to do something that I thought was right but actually it wasn't.
"And then tomorrow I go in for major dental surgery because my teeth are falling apart from years of damage, it's such a difficult and toxic illness to battle but it's a mental health illness and I think a lot of people think it's about vanity and it's about just social media - it's not.
"It's about a human being struggling with pain, I always say that words that hurt us can push us to stay silent and pain is always expressed, and if we don't have that hands on holistic approach and the support of charities like seed were never going to help people early enough because they have to get to crisis point before that help is implemented and waiting for the change won't change what's there."
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