Gemma Stuart remembers the day a male colleague pointed to her stomach and tried to, unsubtly, find out if she was pregnant.
“You’ve been keeping secrets from us,” he remarked.
At first, she presumed he was referencing the surprises she’d planned for that day’s conference, which had gone off without a hitch.
But then it dawned on her.
No, she wasn’t expecting a baby. It was just extreme bloating – something that had plagued a large portion of her adult life.
“He was mortified,” Gemma recalls. “But if I saw someone with the same level of bloating as I had, I’d probably make that assumption too.
“I just wouldn’t verbalise it.”
Now 38, the Aberdeen businesswoman has found a solution to some of her irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) problems.
And the product she’s developed is helping scores of customers across the UK and Ireland too.
‘Shame and embarrassment’ as gut problems took over her life
The problems with Gemma’s gut started when she was in her late teens, having left home for the first time to study business at Stirling University.
“That first year, I just remember having a sore stomach the whole time,” Gemma said.
“I was irritable with other people – if someone touched me, I was probably barking at them.
“And through that period, people would regularly say to me that I looked pregnant.”
Gemma found herself cancelling plans and becoming the butt of jokes as her stomach concerns impacted “every aspect” of her life.
“There was some shame and embarrassment, and I didn’t know what would trigger the discomfort and pain,” she recalled.
“It’s so tiring when your body is so inflamed – but I didn’t necessarily have the language back then to be able to talk about it.
“I did feel like I was letting people down a lot of the time, as I just wouldn’t commit to things.
“I wanted to be a ‘yes person’ but found myself saying no because my digestive health was holding me back.”
Stress left Gemma in hospital on holiday
Away from the stresses of university life, Gemma couldn’t find much respite from her health concerns on holiday.
While travelling around Asia with a friend she ended up in hospital twice – an event she sees as the trigger for a turning point in her life.
While the memories have blurred since, she recalls falling seriously ill before she was due to take a 12-hour bus trip with a friend.
“We thought it might have been food poisoning,” Gemma said.
“I had a fever, an upset stomach, and I couldn’t hold in any food or drink water.
“I was on a drip in the hospital, and it was really scary being on my own.”
‘My body told me I needed to change things’
Despite these ordeals, she tried to carry on as normal when she got back home.
Gemma’s work involved organising conferences, marketing, communications and a lot of travelling throughout the UK, Ireland and Germany.
“Early mornings, working long hours and eating at odd times – this all played havoc on my gut,” she said.
“I probably didn’t realise how stressed I was, but my gut was giving me the signals that it needed attention.
“I needed to make some changes.”
The long road to diagnosis
It took years of tests and trials before Gemma was finally diagnosed with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), a lifelong condition thought to affect as many as 20% of us to varying extents.
It leaves sufferers with stomach cramps, bloating, diarrhoea and constipation.
Gemma said: “I was consistently going to the doctor, telling them something wasn’t right.
“And they’d give advice that wasn’t terrible, but it was something unrealistic.
“I’ve been sent to gastroenterologists, I tried a juice diet, I cut out all these different foods, I tried a low-Fodmap diet, and I’ve had cameras in places where you don’t necessarily want them to be.”
‘I wasn’t going to bring out a product for the sake of it’
Gemma received her diagnosis 12 years ago and did find some medications overseas which helped to ease her symptoms.
But with the onset of Covid, and further disruption from Brexit, she suddenly found they weren’t nearly as readily available as they had been before.
She began to put her business degree to good use, considering taking the matter into her own hands.
“I created an online group and people would tell me ‘I just want something that works’ or ‘I hate the taste of this, but I know it helps my digestion’,” she said.
Gemma spoke to around 25 UK manufacturers as part of her research – with many suggesting she just made a rebranded version of products already available on the market.
“I didn’t want to bring something out for the sake of it.
“It needs to actually work, taste nice and do good.”
‘I get embarrassed too – but most people have a story like this’
She went on to found her company, Gutsy Health, which sells liquid sachets containing vitamins and supplements alongside key ingredient Lactobacillus LB.
Medical studies have shown the compound can help with digestive disorders.
Customers from across the UK have started buying the Gut Wealth product, and the company has recently expanded to Ireland too.
Gemma’s also keen to try and break the taboo around the topic, given how many people are affected by it.
She said: “I say in my business there’s a lot that goes on between chewing and pooing – there’s nothing to be embarrassed about.
“And then I find myself getting embarrassed too.
“Culturally, it’s not something we talk about. But most people have a story about it.”
‘I know the desperation other IBS sufferers feel’
She added: “During the pandemic, a lot of people were really questioning what they were doing with their time.
“I told friends and family that 2021 was going to be my year of health.
“I wanted to bring knowledge and awareness to other people.
“I just kept looking at the problem and couldn’t figure out why the solution didn’t already exist.
“I’m part of online communities and would read some of the comments – the desperation they experience.
“And if I could fix some of that, even just for some people, that would make me rest easy at night.”
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