A model who didn't poo for two weeks fainted at a photoshoot. 'Poo shy' model Emmerald Barwise said she has lived with being bloated for so long she often feels she looks pregnant at shoots.
The 36-year-old fetish and vintage model, who posts age-restricted content online, has been modelling professionally for more than eight years and often copes with working while suffering bowel pain. She also refused to use other people’s loos and would never tell anyone she was going for a poo.
The penny dropped only when her girlfriend pointed out that not defecating for up to two weeks at a time 'wasn’t normal'. She appeared on Channel 4's Know Your Sh**: Inside Our Guts, to get help for her constipation reports North Wales Live.
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Emmerald said: “Sometimes I don’t go for a poo for two weeks, and then I get bloated, I get gassy. Maybe once a month I have a bad bout where I do feel in pain and it feels like I’m constipated, or just swollen.
“I’m not comfortable speaking about these things, it’s just awkward. My girlfriend was like, 'how are you hiding going to the toilet from me, you’re not a unicorn, you do poo'. I look pregnant which, being a model, is not the best thing. I’m 36 and this has been my whole life, so I’d like to get it sorted.”
Emerald explained she found the issue hard to deal with in social situations. She admitted she often won’t eat at all before shoots, adding: “If you are in a thong and booby tassels, looking like you are pregnant, it's not the best one,” she said.
Dietician Sophie Medlin discovered Emmerald has a fondness for garlic which, as well as onion, is a common cause of bloating. Testing of stool samples indicated bacteria association with anxiety, low mood and ADHD – conditions familiar to Emmerald.
On the show, Emmerald was given a muffin made with blue food colouring to test her poo’s 'transit time' through her gut. This showed an average of 60 hours – about twice what it needs to be.
By cutting out garlic, and relaxing a little more, this came down considerably with Emmerald defecating around three times a week. She was also advised on 'optimal toilet sitting positions', with knees slightly raised to avoid straining and now takes a toilet stool with her whenever she goes away.
Know your S**t is currently available to watch on All 4. Emmerald and her poo problems feature on episode one.
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