A mother has been left shocked after discovering that her daughter's gluten intolerance wasn't what it seemed.
Doctors told Jodie Collins that there was something specifically causing her daughter's stomach pains.
Erin, 14, had been complaining about stomach pains since November last year, with her mum believing it could be food or menstrual-related.
However, tests came back looking normal, and the pair went on, until Erin started to complain about more painful cramps in May this year.
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Her mother then went to a local hospital for answers, pushing health professionals to find the problem.
Soon enough, Jodie, 48, was told by doctors that there was a hard mass in Erin's stomach... made of hair.
It's medically known as a trichobezoar, a mass of swallowed hair which builds up in the gastrointestinal tract.
Soon, the teen was taken to Bristol Children's Hospital, where surgery was required to remove the massive hairball from her stomach, which measured 8.3 inches across.
It took five hours to get it all out, which was roughly the size of a melon, leaving the 14--year-old anaemic and with several nutritional issues.
Admitting that her daughter had liked to twirl her hair since she was young, Jodie admitted she'd never seen her eat any of it.
Doctors suggested that she may have been eating her locks in her sleep.
But just 10 days later, Erin recovered, with her mother determined to spread a message around the dangers of hair-twirling.
"Erin was suffering with really bad stomach cramps for a good six months. I put it down to food intolerances, I thought she could be lactose or gluten intolerant," Jodie explained.
"The pain was quite high up. It was really sporadic but when it came, it was really bad and she had to be off school," the mum went on, adding that doctors found nothing in an ultrasound at first.
An MRI later down the line revealed all, as the Brit recalled: "As a baby I used to bottlefeed her and she would grab my hair and twist it. She's always been really tactile and played with hair.
"But I have never seen her put her hair in her mouth, which is why it was shocking to me."
A surgeon suggested she may have been doing it without realising, with the mass leaving Erin's stomach three times larger than its regular size.
She was given a vitamin and mineral food bag to replenish her nutrients, with her mum saying: "The surgeons said the smell was unbelievable. I'd imagine it was like your worst plughole. He said it was putrid and one of the biggest they'd ever dealt with."
Doctors estimated that it could have been in there for years, though it was lucky that it hadn't gone into her intestines.
The mum went on: "It took up pretty much the whole of her stomach.
"The consequence of that was her food wasn't being processed properly. She was anaemic and had lots of nutritional issues."
After being nil by mouth for five days and having her stomach drained, the mum revealed that her daughter could have collapsed if it was left untreated.
Though the teen is discharged, her stomach may remain at this large size for years.
"We've now bought her one of those bonnets to sleep in just in case she's doing it in her sleep," the mum said, warning others to get 'fidget toys' or CBT therapy for more serious cases to avoid the situation.
Joshua Nair