Scary skeletons

It baffles the mind, but it is still common for people to think that a person can delay weight recovery, stop short of full weight recovery, or even recover without weight recovery.

I won't go into the reasons why you don't want to steep the brain in the ED thoughts that result from malnutrition, the depression, and the effects of social withdrawal on a young person's personality. The infertility, the exhausted heart muscle and lifelong gastrointestinal effects. Forget death, and the family and relationships sacrificed to ED.

Just one factor, for some reason, does seem to reach even those who are really ill: your bones weaken and dissolve when you don't get 100% of your nutritional needs. They recover when you do.

Comments

  1. BTW Laura, yesterday in therapy, I noticed your book on my therapists bookshelf.

    My eyes bugged out of my head.
    She asked me what I was reacting to.
    I told her I was reading your blog.
    I also told her that I had told you that you'd offended me.

    She grinned from ear to ear. Then told me that she was glad I'd been offended.

    I was floored.
    WHAT????

    "it took feeling to be offended."

    oh.

    Then she went on to saying something about being proud of me for having the courage yadayadayada to say something.

    Then she asked me to go back and re read your posts ... from the perspective of the mother who's son started to refuse eating syrup, jelly and counting calories a few years ago. (my own)

    Maybe not today, or this week ..but maybe in a few weeks when I've had some solid nutrition in me for a bit.

    FYI my treatment center is Laureate.

    I'm still confused as to why yelling at someone is a good thing. I've not done that often in my 43 years, but my therapist sure was proud. *grimace*

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  2. da,

    Your t clearly has excellent taste in literature!

    Seriously, I think she's right. Feeling is hard, and offense is necessary. I hope some day that I could inspire some other emotions, too, but anger won't harm either of us - and I'd rather know how you and others really feel!!

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  3. Right on Laura. Another interesting article about anorexia and loss of bone mass is at http://www.hms.harvard.edu/news/pressreleases/bid/0904leptin_women.html Among female long distance runners, stress fractures are often the first warning sign of energy imbalance and a possible eating disorder.

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  4. Laura, I've been there for quite a while. First with one therapist, psych and a nutritionist. Psych left, came back and has now left (all with adult program)

    Therapist left, I followed her.

    I last January left her, but did not go to a new T ... when Psych found out, he was less than impressed. Considering I'd started my significant relapse. He referred me to a T back in Laureate's adult outpatient program.

    I no longer see a nutritionist because of insurance and financial issues. Much to my entire treatment teams dismay.

    I was seeing the nutritionist who saw both adolescents and adults, inpatients and out. I would say her name starts with an L but that is of no help with Laureate's nurtirionists ;) LK ...I guess that's better *grin*

    My psychiatrist left in September to go to Cancer treatment Center to work with cancer patients. EEK.

    I'm now seeing someone downstairs and ...she is not going to work.

    Her comment to my working on my writing was "Everyone wants to be a writer, but we need to be wary of grandiosity"

    I'm contemplating taking my published book (royalty publisher) and all my pubished articles into her next month and smile sweetly and say "oh, I thought you might want to see these." But that does seem a bit passive agressive.

    She also said I couldn't be eating as little as I said I was because I wasn't loosing weight ... until my labs came back 2 months in a row showing malnutrition ...then she flipped out. (um, metabolic syndrome, polycystic ovarian syndrome? Middle AGE? And you're supposed to be an expert???? And ...do you not know that when you say that to someone who is ED they WILL PROVE YOU WRONG? ... I did ..thus, the edema)

    I wish that nice psychiatrist that sees the teens saw adults. He even takes the time to say hi to me in the waiting room.

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  5. Question Laura, have you gone to the family workshops that they have done ... what are they? Monthly? Quarterly? And then again during the month of Februrary?

    It was strongly suggested I attend a few, no, I never went, which, could explain why I don't know how often they have been offered.

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  6. I agree with the "recover without weight gain" thing. I STRONGLY thought this would be possibly for about, say three years.

    I never made any progress in therapy and I couldn't work on any issues I had (outside my ED) because I was so fixated on EATING and WEIGHT and EXERCISE and BMI. :P

    I've finally achieved a healthy BMI of 20 -- and it is TERRIFYING that my team wants 5lbs of insurance weight extra. 15 weeks ago I would have said I would rather be dead. Now, I know it is the only way to stay recovered.

    Like someone who has a history of skin cancer has to be wary of the sun, I have to be wary of weight loss. (As my psych explained it to me)

    A :)

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