By Michael Moran

Copyright manchestereveningnews

A sudden craving for Haribo’s cola bottle sweets landed a Yorkshire lorry driver in hospital after he “overdosed” on a whopping 3kg catering pack of the sugary treats . Nathan Rimmington, who runs an HGV business in Barnsley, South Yorks, fancied some cola bottles, but after deciding he couldn’t be bothered to go all the way away to his local supermarket for them, ordered them online. The 33-year-old plumped for a 3kg ‘bulk bag’, which sells for £18 on Amazon and would normally be bought by small businesses such as sweet shops. After receiving his hefty bag of sweets, Nathan binged his way through the lot over the course of three evenings after dinner – consuming a gut-busting 10,461 calories in total. However, a day or two later, the dad-of-one started suffering with agonising stomach cramps. When his condition didn’t improve, he made a GP appointment, and after the doctor clocked his soaring blood pressure and sweat pouring off him in addition to cramps, referred him to hospital. Staff initially thought Nathan was suffering a nasty bout of food poisoning, but when tests revealed high levels of gelatine in his system, he sheepishly confessed to his sweet binge. Gelatine, found in most gummy sweets, can cause bowel obstructions if consumed in large quantities – in some extreme cases leaving the patient needing surgery. Doctors diagnosed Nathan with acute diverticulitis, the sudden inflammation and infection of the large intestine, and he was hooked up to IV drips to flush out his system. Now suffering from ‘cola bottle PTSD’, Nathan says he hasn’t touched any of the sweets since the incident last year – despite a cheeky pal buying him a bag for his birthday. Nathan explained: “I just had a hankering for cola bottles. I went on Amazon, as I couldn’t be bothered going to the shop, and I saw this big pack of Haribo. It was £18 for 3kg and I thought ‘that’s alright’ so I bought it. I was right giddy about it coming. I haven’t really got a sweet tooth, I just fancied Haribo cola bottles.” Within three days, Nathan had eaten the whole pack: “The next day my stomach was in absolute agony. Wednesday came round and I couldn’t even get out of bed and was sweating, it was awful. “I sat there thinking ‘enough’s enough I’ve got to go to the doctors’. I was literally lying on the floor in the waiting room because I had shocking sharp stomach pains.” Nathan’s GP referred him to Rotherham Hospital in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, when they realised his blood pressure was sky high and he was sweating, along with the stomach cramps. Initially baffled, doctors ran a barrage of tests and eventually discovered high levels of gelatine in Nathan’s system and quizzed him on his sweet-eating habits, leading to a final diagnosis. Nathan’s blood pressure and temperature were “through the roof,” and he ended up being kept in hospital for six days. Initially, he says, doctors suspected he was suffering from a severe case of food poisoning: “Then they said ‘you’ve got loads of gelatine [in your system], do you eat a lot of sweets?’ I said I’d had some cola bottles, they asked me how many and I said ‘three kilos’. “I didn’t think that was bad. They were laughing and joking about it with me.” After discovering the cause of his pain, doctors instructed him to be nil by mouth and hooked him up to IV drips during his six-day stay. One year on from the painful incident, Nathan said: “It was my own stupid fault, I’ve not eaten a cola bottle since. “On my birthday my best mate bought me a 3kg bag of cola bottles as a joke. It’s like PTSD, I see a cola bottle now and think I’m going to end up in A&E. My advice to avoid the same thing happening to anyone else would be just do it in moderation, don’t go full blast and get kilos of it at a time.” Haribo have been contacted for comment. According to the NHS , diverticulitis is a condition that affects the large intestine (bowel), causing abdominal pain and other symptoms. It’s caused by small bulges or pouches in the walls of the intestine called diverticula. In addition to infection or inflammation of the intestine, other symptoms can include severe, constant stomach pain, high temperature and bleeding or passing mucus from your bottom.