Misdiagnosed with Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder, teenager Chelsea Bagnall was put on a supervised eating plan. She knew it was all wrong, but the doctors weren’t listening to her, she tells reporter ELIZABETH KOVACS. 

Nineteen-year-old Chelsea Bagnall shouldn’t be alive. 

At 14 and only 40 kilograms, she was vomiting and fainting daily. 

Chelsea says she was seen by psychiatrists across Newcastle who, without conducting tests, assumed she had an eating disorder. 

Misdiagnosed with Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID), she was put on a supervised eating plan. 

“You had 20 minutes to finish a certain amount of food, if you didn’t finish within the time, they’d take the food away, you didn’t have a choice,” says Chelsea. 

“They’d replace what you didn’t eat with a bolus feeding tube (liquid food).”

In extreme pain every time she tried to eat, Chelsea was often unable to finish.

Unknown at the time, Chelsea had gastroparesis, a condition where the stomach doesn’t empty properly, a result of Median Arcuate Ligament Syndrome (MALS), a condition that compresses the celiac artery nerves, making eating excruciatingly painful. 

“My stomach was holding food from the day, which caused me to vomit and become extremely nauseous, and I was passing out,” she says. 

Diagnosed with Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS), a year later (a condition that causes dizziness, fatigue and heart palpitations when standing), Chelsea says her other conditions continued to be ignored. 

“You look at a 14-year-old skinny girl and you have a few assumptions when it comes to hospitals,” says Chelsea. 

“I was constantly questioning why they didn’t do any tests.

“I know my body, I know something was wrong and I was refused.”

In four NSW hospitals seven times, sometimes for months at a time, Chelsea’s mental and physical health spiralled.

“No matter what I did, no one would listen to me,” she says. 

Moving to Greenway, ACT in 2023 with her single mum and younger sister to be closer to family for support, things gradually began to change. 

“It was a fight to see a gastroenterologist, because once you have that [ARFID] diagnosis, it follows you everywhere,” Chelsea says. 

For two years, Chelsea moved between gastroenterologists. 

“Once you feel failed by the hospital system, you seek answers yourself,” she says. 

Chelsea started researching and came across MALS and Superior Mesenteric Artery Syndrome (SMAS), a condition in which the small intestine is compressed causing nausea, abdominal pain and weight loss.

Admitted to Queanbeyan Hospital in 2024 with seizures, vomiting and more pain, Chelsea was shocked when the doctor listened to her suspicions about her condition and ordered tests.

Queanbeyan Hospital has the only doctor skilled in completing the relevant tests, with patients travelling to see him from across Australia.

“I didn’t think too much of it because I’ve had many scans come back, but when he came in with a funny look on his face, I thought, ‘Oh my god, you’ve done it, you’ve found something.’

“We were so excited, I started bawling.”

The scans revealed that Chelsea’s SMAS was crushing her renal vein, a blood vessel that carries blood from the kidney to the heart. Her MALS caused gastroparesis. 

On July 9 at the Calvary Bruce Private Hospital, Chelsea had what she describes as a lifesaving operation to remove the extra nerves around her stomach and move the renal vein.

She says the surgeon described it as the largest number of nerves he had ever removed.

Looking forward to eating her grandmother’s “famous cooking” without severe pain, Chelsea says it’s been an eye opener to see how broken the healthcare system is, for nurses and patients alike. 

“The nurses have been wonderful and have followed my story the whole time,” she says. 

“It’s not their fault, they’re overworked and are just doing what they’re told to do.

“But I’ve been ignored, pushed to the side and put under scrutiny for being unwell [by doctors].

“It doesn’t just take a toll on me, it takes a toll on my family.

“It’s a massive relief to think they’ve figured it out, but there’s also a little voice in my head that thinks, ‘if they’ve only just figured this out now, what else have they missed?”

There is no known cure for MALS and SMAS. Due to the severity of her condition, Chelsea will have ongoing issues for the rest of her life, such as inability to stand for long periods of time, resurgences of pain, nerve damage and intestinal mobility issues.

Chelsea missed two years of her education and was not able to graduate year 12.

Now on bedrest at home for an initial six weeks, with a further year of working closely with specialists to understand the long-term impacts of her condition.

For now, future job prospects are on hold, as Chelsea learns how to navigate this new reality.  

She plans to write a book about her journey to encourage others to fight for their own health.

“You know your body, you know if something is wrong.

“Don’t let someone’s incompetence stop you from advocating for yourself.”

Donations for Chelsea’s recovery at gofundme.com