Patricia Webster would uncontrollably sob every meal time and could not stop until she had finished chewing her food. The tears are a side effect of a medical condition, known as crocodile tears syndrome, that was ruining her life.
Nerve fibres which should be used for salivation become damaged and regrow into the lacrimal gland, situated under the eye, which control tears. Consequently sufferers cannot help but cry when they chew and swallow food.
But Mrs Webster has been cured by Botox, usually used as a cosmetic procedure to get rid of wrinkles, which has been injected in her eyelids. The 58-year-old mother-of-three from the village of Boxley, near Maidstone in Kent, was diagnosed with a life-threatening condition called Guillain-Barre syndrome in 1991, which attacks all nerves in the body.
She suffered some paralysis and fought to regain mobility in her body and face, but a partial facial paralysis remained and the crocodile tears developed as a side effect.
Mrs Webster said: "Over the years, the tears and a sobbing movement would just come when I ate. I thought it was just when I ate very hot foods, but it happened with everything. It meant I couldn't go to restaurants and dinner parties. Even having a cup of soup or tea at home would bring it on.
"I could never wear eye make-up because it would go all runny. I didn't realise initially and I went into a depression because I did not want to go out." Now Mrs Webster attends Maidstone Hospital clinic for regular Botox jabs to keep the condition under control. The injection, which is made from a toxic protein, blocks the message from the damaged nerves, meaning the tears no longer fall.
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