Mental Health > Eating Disorders Forum > Helping eating disorder
Anorexia nervosa is one of several eating disorders. But what is anorexia exactly and who does it affect? Get anorexia basics and facts in this short intro....
What are the most common signs of anorexia? We list the physical and behavioral symptoms of anorexia here and outline when to seek help....
Join Our Community!
Avatar
Q: Helping eating disorder
asked by: sf0ley on February 8th, 2009
New User
My girlfriend has an eating disorder. A mysterious one, to me at least, because she doesn't do it to lose weight or to help her self image. She told me she does it to relieve stress, she feels good after she purges, it helps her when she's upset. But needless to say, it's a very unhealthy habit. She knows this. Sometimes if she does it too much, she gets sick. Her stomach aches and burns very painfully, her chest as well. I'm assuming the stomach could maybe be some kind of gastritis and the chest being an inflamed esophagus, all caused by the vomiting, but I'm no doctor. She's been doing this for almost 5 years, but it's never really gotten her sick or anything like this before. She suffers migraines as well. She's also on Prozac, for depression. My issue is that I care deeply for this girl, and I'd like very much to help her break the habit. I've done what I can to inform her about how this is a mental addiction with physical consequences and what it can do to her. I know throwing facts at her won't really help to do anything to motivate her to kick the habit though. The I feel like the best thing I can do is to let her be able to talk to me about it and just be there for her, but she doesn't want me to get on her case about it so much. She knows it's not safe. But I feel like she really needs to take steps to eventually stop the habit, as hard as that may be for her. She would like to be able to just stop, but she tells me it's very difficult. If anyone has any input on what I can do to help her control herself and break the habit, that'd be really great.
Did you find this post useful?
|
Replies(1)
Avatar
aguess
replied on March 15th, 2009
New User
helping eating disorder
Sounds like your friend has a regular garden variety of bulimia. If she says it is not to lose weight it may be because she already knows that bulimia is known to NOT yeild any great weight loss.Some people with bulimia lose weight but most with just bulimia don't. people with bulimia can be underweight,averageweight, or overweight.Maybe you can find a way to suggest seeing an eating disorder specialist to your friend. hope it works out well for both of you.
Did you find this post useful?
|
Quick Reply
Search