Diet Coke addict drinks up to FIFTY cans a day - and has spent £150,000 on her fizzy drink habit

At one point, Jakki Ballan, 42, was drinking more than three cans an hour

Drinks up to 10 litres a day and panics if she doesn't have constant supply

Has suffered hallucinations as a result of consuming so much of the drink

Stay-at-home mother spends around £6,000 a year on her Diet Coke habit

When Jakki Ballan started putting on weight as a teenager, her well-meaning GP suggested that she swap her favourite full-fat Coke for the lower-calorie diet version.

She duly slimmed down, but soon developed an astonishing obsession with the fizzy drink which has seen her spend as much as £150,000 over the last three decades.

At one stage the single mother of five would finish up to 50 cans a day – more than three per waking hour.

Jakki Ballan says she is addicted to Diet Coke and drinks about 10 litres a day. This is the amount she drinks every week

She was consuming more than 28 pints of Diet Coke every day, the equivalent of double her own body weight a week.

Miss Ballan, who quit her job at a dry cleaners 16 years ago to go on maternity leave, found her habit was also financially draining – costing her around £500 a month at her worst.



And while she has tried to tackle her addiction she still gets through the equivalent of 30 cans a day.



At one point, her 30-year dependence became so severe she was spending £500 a month on the drink

Yesterday at her home in Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, the 42-year-old pleaded for help, saying: ‘This addiction is taking over my life. I won’t do the school run unless I have at least two bottles in my bag.

‘I’ve only got one bottle in the house so I’m feeling quite panicky. I’m sweating, shaking and pacing up and down.

‘I’ve reached a point where this has got to stop.’



Ms Ballan is now seeking medical treatment, including hypnotherapy, to conquer overcome her addiction after suffering hallucinations as a result of consuming so much

Miss Ballan said she suffers constant headaches and recently began experiencing hallucinations which she blames on the drink.



‘I see strange things like oranges flying across the room,’ she said. ‘I dread to think what my insides look like.’

Miss Ballan recently visited her GP, but he told her there was nothing he could do.



But Dr Sarah Schenker, a dietitian for the British Dietetic Association, urged her to try cognitive behavioural therapy – as she said the phosphoric acid contained in the drink would eventually damage her bones.

She added: ‘This woman is suffering cravings that are influencing her life. Diet Coke is part of her routine and the reward system in her brain may be responding to it.’

She also suffers from constant headaches and has recently started to experience hallucinations, which she puts down to her dependence on Diet Coke

Ms Ballan says she panics if she doesn't have access to a constant supply of the fizzy drink

'Drinking Diet Coke has become part of her routine and the reward system in her brain may be responding to it.

'Fizzy drinks contain phosphorous, which is not harmful in small doses. But if it's consumed in very large doses it can be bad for bone health. It's this lasting damage that is worrying.

"But my biggest concern is that if this woman is filling herself up on Diet Coke she will not be eating a balanced diet and giving her body the nutrients it needs.

' There are things she can do to break the habit. In this case, her perception is everything, so I would suggest Cognitive Behavioural Therapy.

'This is often used for people with eating disorders, and could help her change her behaviour and learn to cope without Diet Coke.'

Ms Ballan has now vowed to seek help from a hypnotherapist to help change her behaviour and wants to warn others about the dangers of fizzy drinks.

She said: 'To anyone who drinks quite a lot of fizzy drinks already, I'd urge them to be very aware of the potential extreme impact it can have on your life, like it has on mine.'

