eating disorders

[HotAndWet]

Does anyone have experience with or know someone with an eating disorder? Recently one of my cousins admitted herself to a mental hospital because of one and might now go to philadelphia to a hospital specializing in her problem.
It's just really sad because she's such a bright, beautiful girl. When a doctor suggested she go to this hospital she started to cry because she didn't want to "be the fattest girl there", eventhough she's a good 15 pounds underweight. The thing to me that really sucks about having this is the fact that no matter what for the rest of your life you're going to have to eat and be around food. Not saying that it's any easier to be a drug addict but you don't need to keep taking drugs to be alive. I just feel so bad about it.

P.S. I really suck at paragraphing.

[hpdrifter]

Eating disorders are different from drug addiction. I think most of the time its not about food or your weight, its about control.

[100% ILL]

I have a friend who had an eating disorder all throughout highschool and college. She got professional treatment as well. She had several "relapses" but what really turned her around was getting pregnant. Once she realized what she did affected her baby, its like a switch went on. Now she is healthy and has normal eating habits.

[funk63]

I was bullemic/anorexic for a while. It kind of went hand in hand with my adderall consumption. It was weird cuz like, I knew I was skinny but I couldnt help it. I had this paranoia that my face looked really fat for some fucked up reason and Id just wanna starve myself. So Id take adderall not eat for a couple days and then run as much as I could, of course, I had no energy so by the time I was done my heart was beating out of my chest cavity and I literally thought I was gonna die. And then Id feel bad and eat a ton and then Id get sucked right back into being paranoid.
It was seriously like fighting with myself, or a different person inside my head was telling me to do it. So, thats just some perspective into what might be goin on in their head. What made me stop was seeing pictures of myself, I looked fucking horrible and skinny. That, plus people telling me to eat and forcing me to.
All I can say is that if you gotta friend not eating or whatever or you expect them of having a disorder is to confront them IMMediately and dont give them leeway. Thats what I think it takes just dont let them get sucked into it.

[Randetica]

for a lil time i considered becoming anorexic because i had some bad ass depressions because of my overweight but then i heard that at some serious stage you will become quite hairy since theres no fat left anymore and thats then the only way to keep yourself warm also that your teeth are melting cause of the permanent puking and you might wear an iron support strap thingie on your back for the rest of your life or your spine will break down

compared to that^ overweight seems like heaven

[cosmo105]

http://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/p.asp?WebPage_ID=337

http://www.something-fishy.org/

[QueenAdrock]

I have a good friend who has had bulemia since she was 10. Lots of pressure from her family to be perfect, a dad who would tell her she had to watch her weight if she was eating ice cream, etc. It's really sad how some things parents can say to you when you're younger can fuck you up for the rest of your life. :(

Anyways, this is a main reason why I hate company-run health insurance. She was admitted to a wonderful eating disorder clinic in Oregon. It has a very high success rate and was her last chance of getting better. She's 25 now, has had the disorder for majority of her life, is struggling with osteoporosis due to the disorder and is throwing up blood now. Her insides are pretty much destroyed, yet she can't get over it on her own. Needless to say, when she was admitted, she was ecstatic. She got approval from her insurance company since it was "necessary" for her to stay alive. She packed up all her things, got disability through her work so she could afford to go, and headed over there.

About 10 days into it, one of the doctors came up to her and said she had to pack up her things and leave. The insurance company didn't want to shell out the thousands of dollars on her getting better because they were losing money. So instead, they changed their previous ruling of it being a "necessity" and told her instead that there's no evidence that she needed THAT level of care (though doctors have told her that it's the worst they've seen in a while). So, she called me bawling, telling me she had to go. The insurance did give her a consolation prize of going to the Philadelphia clinic, which was decent, but their success rates were much lower and she relapsed after being there for two weeks and her insurance cut her off completely.

So, I really hope your friend does better in the Philly clinic than my friend did. I'm sure she would have done better if she could have gone there long-term. But, unfortunately, her insurance were a bunch of dicks and cut her off WAY to early and she can't get the help she needs.

She has a top of the line PPO, too.

[Randetica]

she needs to move to canada also

[QueenAdrock]

She definitely considered it and wanted to go to school here (pretty much the only way in the country), but they don't offer the Master's program in what she wanted. She's getting her degree back home and then thinking about moving here after that.

The sad thing is, there was a girl from British Columbia who was in the Oregon institution for 3 months and just got extended for another 3 months, all paid for by her insurance. The relapse rates for 6 monthers in that institution are pretty low, and she seems to be doing well now. It's pretty frustrating to see others getting better just because they live in a country with a better health care system, and you yourself not being able to afford to get better yourself.

[Dharma]

Can't she just join an outpatient program? Why does she need to be committed for 6 months?

[cosmo105]

it takes an average of 7 years of intense treatment to fully recover from an eating disorder.

[Dharma]

it takes an average of 7 years of intense treatment to fully recover from an eating disorder.

Wow ... I had no idea. Where did you get the 7 year figure from?

[cosmo105]

all last year i was in a peer educator group at my school that gave presentations and had activities and such aimed at raising awareness on eating disorders on campus, as well as how to help yourself or a friend. it was intense, i did a ton of research, and it was a great experience. that's just one of the many depressing statistics i learned.

[QueenAdrock]

She was in an outpatient program, one that allows her to go home at night. When she went home, she purged. Honestly, the only way I can see her getting better is to be monitored every day and forced to eat correctly and have someone stay with her after meals so she can't purge. It's tough, because the disorder is about control...but I honestly don't know what else she can do. :-/

[Dharma]

all last year i was in a peer educator group at my school that gave presentations and had activities and such aimed at raising awareness on eating disorders on campus, as well as how to help yourself or a friend. it was intense, i did a ton of research, and it was a great experience. that's just one of the many depressing statistics i learned.

Can I pick your brain for a second ...

I have three friends who have gone through eating disorders.

One anorexic (eating 800 calories a day or less), one bulimic (binge/purge), one who chewed her food and spit it out (I guess that would be a form of anorexia?)

None of them seeked treatments, and yet all of them claim they are fine now ...this was when we were in school.

Are they lying? and still suffering secretly? ...or is it possible they were actually able to shut the switch off without seeking treatment.

I have wondered this for years, I made a promise to them we would not discuss what happened when we were younger. But, it nags at me from time to time if they are still suffering from an eating disorder and one of them dies from heart failure or something and I did nothing.

Thanks!

[Dharma]

She was in an outpatient program, one that allows her to go home at night. When she went home, she purged. Honestly, the only way I can see her getting better is to be monitored every day and forced to eat correctly and have someone stay with her after meals so she can't purge. It's tough, because the disorder is about control...but I honestly don't know what else she can do. :-/

Hpdrifter mentioned control as well...

How is Bulimia a form of control?

When the actual act is someone who has loss control?

I am confused, excuse my naivety ;)

[cosmo105]

they may have had what are considered disordered eating tendencies. Eating disorders such anorexia and bulimia are mental disorders that require a doctor's diagnosis and years of treatment, and they do NOT go away without it. check those links for the signs and symptoms.

http://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/information-resources/family-and-friends.php

check out the general info and "what should i say" links. the best thing you can do is educate yourself on the subject and then sit down and calmly discuss it with them. it is very possible that they simple outgrew those tendencies, but if you have suspicions that they may still be suffering from these in private it's worth investigating.

we urge people not to make promises like that when their friends' lives could be at stake.

[cosmo105]

Eating disorders are different from drug addiction. I think most of the time its not about food or your weight, its about control.

You're absolutely right. There's something deeply wrong in an ED sufferer's life, and controlling food and body weight (through extreme food restriction, binging and purging, overexercise, laxative abuse, etc.) or even turning to food (as in binge eating disorder) in times of stress is how they deal with it.

[cosmo105]

Hpdrifter mentioned control as well...

How is Bulimia a form of control?

When the actual act is someone who has loss control?

I am confused, excuse my naivety ;)

Bulimia is characterized by periods of binge eating without regard to feelings of hunger or satiety (and this binge could be the size a regular meal or even a snack to us, but in the eyes of an ED sufferer it's a gluttonous feast), followed by purging through either vomiting, laxative abuse, or the other methods i've mentioned. Someone that is bulimic feels out of control during these binges and shameful or guilty afterward, and by purging the food from their bodies they feel cleansed of this shame.

In fact, in the pro-ana community online (google it if you want to get really fucking depressed) there's a huge schism between "ana" and "mia" sufferers in which the former look down on the latter for their "lack of control." Bulimics may strive to become anorexic, or "work their way up" to it.

[QueenAdrock]

I've also heard that when you can't control anything else in your life (how your love life plays out, what your parents think of you, how teachers view you and the grades you get), weight is something that you can absolutely have complete control over. It's the one thing in your life that you feel like you can control, so they turn to it as a coping mechanism also.

The ironic thing is, the disease will control them in the long run and can't beat it without help of others. I once asked my friend that. I told her, "You know, you no longer have control of your body, this disease does." She told me she knew, and it's great to think of it that way to fight back against it, and that's what they taught her in rehab, but it's much easier said than done.

[taquitos]

eating disorders are just media hype. all lies.