# How the agony of watching Dick Emery die gave his daughter Irritable Bowel Syndrome



## Jeffrey Roberts (Apr 15, 1987)

*How the agony of watching Dick Emery die gave his daughter Irritable Bowel Syndrome*By MOIRA PETTY The scene was bizarre by any reckoning.Clustered around comedian Dick Emery's hospital deathbed were his children from various marriages, wife number four, wife number five and his live-in girlfriend. Dick's youngest child and only daughter, Eliza Emery, then a 15-year-old schoolgirl, was given a mask and gown and led in to join the sobbing throng. "The newspapers were saying Dad was joking with the nurses but, in fact, he was close to death after suffering a heart attack," Eliza says, recalling the events of 1983. "He also had kidney disease and blood poisoning. "There was a hideous atmosphere in the room, with all these women crying and trying to grab his hand. 2The nurse yelled: 'Dick, your daughter's here.' "He was in a coma, but as I gently touched him I felt him exert a tiny pinch on my hand, as if he knew it was me." As she sat down, a sharp, gripping pain shot across Eliza's abdomen. She felt faint and sick, but felt she couldn't say anything. Although the pain subsided after an hour, it returned intermittently as Eliza sat at her father's bedside for three days before he finally died. It was a deeply distressing time. 2I was confused and upset, seeing him like that and seeing all these women fighting to have a piece of him and then squabbling over who should have his ashes," she says. The stress of it all triggered a severe attack of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), a condition which has continued to trouble the singer and comedienne for nearly 30 years. At times it has been so debilitating that she has been doubled up in pain, unable to move for hours. In her attempt to deal with the uncomfortable symptoms, she also became anorexic as a schoolgirl. The condition was first diagnosed a year after her father's death when Eliza suffered a severe and crippling attack. "When I was told what it was I was amazed. I'd never even heard of it before," says Eliza. In fact, IBS is very common - with one in five people in the UK affected. IBS can strike at any age, but onset is most likely in the teen years or early adulthood. The symptoms include abdominal pain, constipation and/or diarrhoea, nausea, wind, heartburn, poor appetite and even headaches. Although drugs can help prevent the painful cramps and diarrhoea or constipation, there is no cure. Its precise cause is unknown, but symptoms occur when the normal muscular contractions (peristalsis) of the wall of the gut become stronger and more frequent. It may be to do with overactivity of messages sent from the brain to the gut. Stress is also a factor in around 60 per cent of cases. That certainly chimes with Eliza's experience. Now 39, Eliza recalls a childhood touched by anxieties. Her mother, Vicki Chambers (Emery's fourth wife), met Dick when she was an 18-year-old dancer. He was in his 40s. "They were together for nine years, but split up over his womanising when I was almost one and my brother Michael was four," says Eliza. "Dad didn't visit us until I was four. I didn't know who he was and his visit made me cry. Later, we stayed with him in the holidays. "He said he was sorry he was so busy. I suffered a lot of pain over my father." At the age of 11, when her father was regularly pulling in TV audiences of 20 million, Eliza was sent away to board at a stage school in Hertfordshire, paid for by Dick. "I hated being away at school and had awful homesickness. It was then that my bowel problems first began to develop. "One day I went to the loo and heard one of the girls comment on the smell. "After that I decided I wouldn't go to the loo again, and managed not to, by hardly eating anything for nearly two weeks until my next weekend at home. "Mum went mad when she found out and told me it was dangerous. I didn't try that again, but started trying to eat less. "I began to suffer from constipation - I wasn't eating enough to get my gut and bowels moving. It wasn't all the time, as I wasn't good at turning down food then. "But sometimes I would get sharp pains in my abdomen because I hadn't been able to go to the loo." The pain would often subside after ten minutes. "It was horribly uncomfortable, but I could cope with it." Then, when she was 14, Eliza moved to a day school and blossomed. Without having to attend daily dance classes, she lost some of her worries about her body. But at 15, she went to another stage school and the lack of self-esteem returned. Combined with the stress of her father's death, it brought an upsurge of crippling abdomen pains. Performing on stage became a nightmare. "As I waited to do my spot, I would sweat and my heart would race. It would make my stomach churn. I felt I couldn't breathe. "I got so worked up that Mum sent me to the doctor, who said I was having panic attacks. He said I had to get a grip. This just made me feel worse." By the age of 16, her self-esteem had plunged. "I ate as little as I could for the next four years. I was permanently constipated. I went down to just over seven stone at 5ft 5in. But I didn't enjoy being slim and still felt self-conscious. Looking back, I am under no illusions that I was anorexic." Researchers have found links between eating disorders and IBS. Sufferers of both are said to share personality traits including perfectionism, low self-esteem and feelings of worthlessness. At 16, Eliza suffered a frightening attack which led to her IBS diagnosis. "I was out shopping with a male friend when a sharp pain shot up my body under my ribs. If I breathed normally the pain became more intense. My stomach felt as if it would explode. "Tears poured from my eyes and I thought I was going to die. He quickly drove me home and I staggered up to my bedroom, feeling terrified. Mum brought me a hot water bottle and tried to calm me down as I was crying with pain. The pain lessened after an hour and was gone after three. "I hadn't let Mum call an ambulance, but she insisted I go to the doctor the next day. He examined me and said he could feel lumps of unpassed waste material in my colon. "I admitted I didn't go to the toilet often. That was when he concluded I had IBS. "He explained that, during an attack, my bowel was going into spasms and twisting around, also called a spastic colon. He gave me anti-spasmodic drugs which I took for about a month." These relax the large intestine and stop it going into spasms - they made a difference, she says. She also changed her diet, eating a lot of fibre, especially bran. Eliza discovered that wheat triggers her attacks, but even with a healthy diet she still suffers. "I have taken laxatives when I've been desperate, but you have to time them carefully. "I use them three or four times a year at most. Otherwise your bowel gets used to them and becomes lazy. "Attacks can come on in the night and the pain is so intense. Last year, I had one at home which went on for 36 hours. I couldn't do anything but rest with a hot water bottle. "Finally, I asked a friend to get me some anti-spasmodic medication from the chemist and the pain faded four hours later." These days, Eliza's weight is a steady eight-and-a-half stone, as a result of her improved eating habits and exercise regime. Her diet consists mostly of salads, vegetables, fish, white meat, yoghurt, bran, porridge and herbal tea. She also goes to the gym three times a week. "The best treatment is relaxation," says Eliza. "I tried meditation, but couldn't let go. I started Pilates and that has a calming effect. Before a gig, I drink peppermint tea, known to be good for the digestion. "Mum once suggested I eat puy lentils as they're healthy, but they gave me dreadful wind." IBS can produce louder than normal abdominal rumblings caused by gases being propelled through the intestines. "If I'm singing, I just hope that my microphone doesn't pick it up," says Eliza. "I'm working on a comedy act and am seriously thinking of writing some comic songs about IBS - after all, there are a lot of us out there with it." Get Eliza Emery's album Jigsaw at www.elizaemery.me.uk--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Find this story at http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/arti...in_page_id=1799©2007 Associated New Media


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