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Most people with some form of artificial nutrition are happy to answer questions, it's so different to the norm we expect people to be curious. It varies person to person their reason for being fed artificially, for some people it is because they are unable to swallow, others are unable to digest food or absorb the nutrients from food. In terms of comparison to other GI treatments it really depends on the reason for the artificial nutrition, the condition and what other treatments. For some conditions medications will be enough to control them, some can be managed surgically and for others a mixture of medication, surgery and/or artificial nutrition. The purpose of artificial nutrition is to keep the patient nutritionally stable and ultimately alive when normal food can not do that. For me personally I have a condition called gastroparesis, this means my stomach doesn't empty normally so my feeding tube bypasses my stomach and goes straight into my bowel. I also take my medication by the tube, the medication is to manage my symptoms as there is no cure for gastroparesis. For some people with gastroparesis medication controls it, but mine is severe so a feeding tube was needed. It is basically a job in and of itself yes, I spend many hours a day doing all my medical treatments and spend 23 hours a day connected to a machine. But it keeps me alive and for that I'm grateful.

@@sarahfh9137 Thanks for your response. I've never seen this in the kind of detail laid out in your video so thanks for making this. We're actually the same age, I was born in 91 too, and when you said you got sick at 13 it made me think about my own life at that age and how you've been dealing with this for all these years. How do you think that has affected your outlook on life versus someone else your age? How stable is your health? The girl I know (who has crohn's disease) has been in and out of hospital every few months for years and it has caused so much disruption in her life. Sorry if I'm asking too many personal questions.

@@yellow-stand-u8wdn2 I'm glad you've enjoyed it. Oh cool, how scary is the whole 30 nextyear thing?! I think it has probably made me stronger and I definitely have learnt to appreciate life more as well as the little things. It has meant that in my personal life I'm very behind my peers, I'm still at home after getting too ill a few years ago to manage my own place anymore and I'm yet to find someone who can handle what my health problems mean. I am usually fairly stable, I spent a long time last year in hospital but have only had 2 hospital admissions this year so that's a relief. A few of my friends have Crohn's, it is such a hard disease to live with as it is so unpredictable. I hope your friend gets some stability soon, it is exhausting constantly being in and out of hospital. I'm a pretty open book don't worry :)

@@sarahfh9137 Hi, apologies I read your comment and forgot to reply. Don't worry about living at home still - I am your age, without significant health problems, and I still live at home. I think it's normal for our generation to live at home well into our 20's and 30's. Your videos have been really interesting for me to watch and I'd love you to make more. You're looking great by the way.

@@yellow-stand-u8wdn2 thank you, that's very true I just forget as most of my friends are living independently with partners. I've got a video in the pipeline I just need to get it done so hopefully in the next week I will have a new video :) no idea what to film next though!

That's a great idea thank you, I will add it to my "to film" list as I am totally independent with it and do it all myself now. Thank you for watching I really appreciate it x