Mental Health > Eating Disorders Forum > Helping bulimic / anorexic fiancée
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Q: Helping bulimic / anorexic fiancée
asked by: YannJ on September 22nd, 2008
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Hello members,
My fiancée has been dealing with bulimia and anorexia for a long time now. For the past two years she has not been trying to help herself, just going with the flow and keeping on doing it.
Her mother, step-father and myself grew the feeling she still had her issues over the summer. We confronted her and she opened up; she accepted to seek therapy for a few weeks. She did not get any results.

We are currently in France - where I am from - for a few months, and since we got here she has not been doing good at all. She'll start the week full of good intentions eating well, too much, purge or starve herself the next day.
I have been trying to advise her in how she could try to balance her diet by eating several smaller meals each day. I am not even sure she's tried it fully, as she stayed very vague.
It is frustrating because I want to help her and I am running out of options. Her ED is "control-induced," as she feels it's the only thing she controls. I tried to convince her that balancing her diet and making the right food choices allows her a greater control. She's a lot about the "i can have it, right now" attitude.

She is getting frustrated as well, I can tell that she is not willing to try again some stuff she gave a chance already because she didn't see any results. The problem, though, is that she doesn't know what to try and neither do I.

Do some of you have experience with people who suffered from EDs in the same way? What can I suggest to help her out? Do you have any suggestions on how I can help her better? She is extremely susceptible and it is getting frustrating on my part as well, as it almost feels like she takes everything I say to turn it around against me.

Thanks for reading.
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nightangel73
replied on September 29th, 2008
Extremely eHealthy
I will tell you honestly if I had a fiance with that kind of problem I mean really I wouldn't marry that person. I personally couldn't not possibly deal with that situation. I could not marry anybody with suicidal tendencies. I would try to help them as friend thought.
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JHizzl
replied on October 4th, 2008
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I can directly relate to your situation, but I'm on the other end. My wife who I've been with for six years, has put up with my bulimia for two years now. And let me tell you this, I hasn't been easy by any means, but we are defiantly making it work, and things are getting better. The key is that both people are willing to fully participate 110 percent towards the persons recovery. Both parties feelings must be considered at all times, and options selected accordingly. I think you should offer her to get help again, and really see through it. Tell her she needs the one on one therapy, group therapy, some nutritional consulting and the medication. With all those things in place, it's a darn good start to conquering her ED forever. Good luck man. I'm so glad to hear that you have stuck by her. you must really love her, and I fully admire that. Best of luck!
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yogamonkey
replied on October 5th, 2008
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What really stood out about your post was the comment "for a few weeks. she got no results." This bothers me because her eating disorder is so deep within her mind that it cannot be solved in a few weeks. It could take years. This is going to take alot of time and patience to conquer. How about talking to a professional as well as a group. There are lots of support groups out there. Bulimics feel guilty or embarrassed about their purging and binging. Where as an anorexic is proud of the control she/he has over food. If you read the posts on this board you can clearly see that.
Bulimia has a better recovery rate than anorexia as well. Anorexics tend to not see their anorexia as an issue and like I said they may be proud of it.
Just some things for you to ponder. This is information I gather from my mental health books.
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