A Scottish woman who cdrank 20 cans of Irn-Bru a day for 25 years has finally managed to kick the habit, which she claims is thanks to hypnotism.
Carole Lamond, 57, would spend £3,000-a-year on the Scottish fizzy drink, which she first became hooked on as a young girl in Glasgow, before she moved to London.
When she returned to Scotland some 25 years ago, she apparently picked the habit up where she left off.
But the spate of coronavirus lockdowns, during which the HR manager worked from home, sent her addiction spiralling, and she began drinking about 20 cans of Irn-Bru each day.
She began to hide cans of the fizzy drink around the house so her husband William, 52, would not find out the extent of her dependency.
During two years of lockdown she drank almost 15,000 Irn-Brus –the evuivalent of 94,000g of sugar and 450,000mg of caffeine – as she splashed out £60 a week on 24 packs.
“We could have bought several family holidays for the money I was spending. My recycling bin was overflowing each week with cans of Irn-Bru,” she said.
“I would even take secret trips to the dump to dispose of the empty cans. I was like a drug addict trying to conceal my problem. I was literally chain drinking it.”
She knew she needed to kick the habit when she was hospitalised in June this year after suffering dizzy spells, fainting and heart palpitations.
It was originally feared she had suffered a stroke and was even sent for CT scans to see if she had a brain tumour.
“It was the wake up call I needed really. I knew the amount of Irn-Bru I was drinking had something to do with it,” Ms Lamond said.
“I’d had spells of dizziness and fainting and they couldn’t find anything wrong although they suspected a stroke at first. I even had scans for a brain tumour which is pretty scary but I knew that drinking all this Irn-Bru was to blame.
“We always had Irn-Bru in the house when I was a little girl as my mum would drink it. It is the Scottish national drink afterall.
“But when I moved away to London for several years you couldn’t get it down south so it never became an issue again until about 25 years ago when I moved back.”
She described it as “more of a habit” that became an additiction during lockdown: “I was cracking a can at 8am in the morning, drinking them all day and having one before bed.
“I would have around 20 cans a day and that continued throughout the duration of the pandemic.”
She added: “I had become dependent on it. I would go to Tesco and buy stacks of 24 can pallets. It was embarrassing for me but I couldn’t stop.”
After being advised by doctors to cut down to just one can a day, Carole enlisted the help of London-based therapist and hypnotist David Kilmurry.
And after one full hypnotherapy session and a follow up meeting four weeks ago, Carole has not touched the drink since.
She added: “I was really sceptical at first as I never really believed in hypnotherapy but I was willing to give anything a try and incredibly it worked for me.
“Now I just don’t want to go anywhere near Irn-Bru, even the smell puts me off and makes me feel sick. I can’t thank David enough.”
Mr Kilmurry said: “Since having her last drink three weeks ago Carole suffered severe migraines and had two days in bed and the first day off work in four years due to the sugar withdrawal.
“Carole used to pour Irn-Bru into a mug to get her sugar addiction appeased if she was in public. Sugar addiction leads to diabetes, cancers and heart disease and is one of the biggest causes of death in the western world.
“I treated Carole with some very strong aversion therapy which creates a disgusting taste just at the thought of drinking Irn-Bru or chocolate to conclude our hypnotism sessions.
“I’m delighted she has finally kicked this awful addiction.”
