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Shayla Talei was diagnosed with Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) at 17, and later in life, she developed gastroparesis, meaning her stomach is effectively paralyzed
The chronic illness prevents her from properly digesting solid food, as she regularly explains to her 249,000 followers on TikTok
Many of her social media videos show Talei explaining how she consumes food and nutrients intravenously
On social media, Shayla Talei regularly shares her daily meals, but her videos are far from your typical influencer’s “What I eat in a day” content.
The 31-year-old mom of two lives with Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) and gastroparesis, the latter of which Mayo Clinic defines as a condition that prevents stomach muscles from moving in the proper way for food digestion. She’s built a following by breaking down her medical routine, showing her 249,000 TikTok followers the ins and outs of the fluids, pumps and IV lines that help her survive.
Because her stomach is essentially paralyzed, Talei is unable to eat solid food. Since she was officially diagnosed two years ago, she’s had to switch to feeding through total parenteral nutrition (TPN), meaning her nutrition is delivered through a central vein that stops near her heart.
Shayla Talei.
Credit: Shayla Talei
Due to the proximity of the organ, her heart is able to pump the nutrients through her bloodstream. It’s an effective way to make sure Talei is getting the nutrients she needs, but she tells PEOPLE that starting TPN was a “big discussion,” as it’s generally considered a last resort.
“There’s tons of risks with it,” the content creator explains. She says she was put on TPN in July 2025, after a more typical form of tube feeding proved to be insufficient.
“I couldn’t get over 500 calories for over a year because it was causing me so much pain. I was losing more weight. I was still really malnourished and shouldn’t have been,” Talei recalls. “My body was shutting down again.”
Talei was diagnosed with CRPS at 17. According to Mayo Clinic, the chronic pain disorder usually affects the limbs and develops after an injury, surgery, stroke or heart attack. The condition induces pain that is disproportionate to the actual initial injury.
In Talei’s case, CRPS eventually led to gastroparesis. Talei says she didn’t even know her pain condition could affect her digestive tract at all, but she realized she had a major problem when both eating and drinking became intensely painful.
She would vomit and become extremely bloated and nauseous. There were times when she was able to handle three bites of food over the course of a full day. As a result, Talei lost about 100 lbs. over the course of eight months while doctors searched for an explanation.
Shayla Talei with her husband.
Credit: Shayla Talei
“I wanted nourishment in my body so bad. Your body hurts from being malnourished, and there’s a lot of things where your body just starts shutting down,” she tells PEOPLE.
Following many hospitalizations and the ultimate decision for her to start TPN, Talei has gotten fairly used to toting around the heavy TPN backpack, which runs for 12 hours a day. She explains it to her followers in a series of TikTok videos where she compares the price of her “meals” to the far cheaper solid food she makes for her husband and kids.
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Indeed, Talei tells PEOPLE that before insurance, her TPN costs about $1,000 a day, as she states in her videos. “My bill before insurance for my TPN and supplies and meds is around $14,000 a week,” she says.
“It’s insane,” she admits. “[Insurance does] help a lot, and I’m very grateful for them, but I will always have some medical debt.”
Read the original article on People