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Q: eating disorders and fertility
asked by: mazda1 on February 20th, 2008
New User
hey,

when i was younger i had bulimia..mainly consisted of laxative abuse and some purging. Purging lasted for about 2 years and laxatives a furher 2 years. (over the period of 13-17). Anyway, i'm at uni, doing well and got a nice boyfriend etc but now i've grown up a bit and the reality of the damage i could have done has sunk in. I get regular periods..even during times when i was bulimic so am wondering if i have done any damage to my fertility. Theres nothing i could think of that would be worse than this and it just frightens me. Is there any way i could know what damage i have done? and what the likihood of me having difficulty starting a family is in the future?

thanks

Maz
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mominashoe
replied on February 29th, 2008
Moderator
Congrats on turning your life around and realizing what's going on. That's wonderful Smile

I don't have any medical or personal experience with eating disorders and fertility, but I will say that I don't believe that you could have damaged yourself in this manner. I did recently see that a smaller percentage of overweight women found it harder to concieve. I don't know if the reverse is true.

Consider the depraved women in third world countries who conceive and bear healthy babies: it happens more often than not...and the baby is healthy at birth, and the only reason why the baby might die or become sick is because of the undernourishment AFTER he is born.

What you can do now though is make sure you eat a balanced diet and become healthy. I don't know if you will or will not have difficulty starting a family in the future, but there are other factors that could weigh in besides the previous eating problems, so don't blame yourself if you can't seem to be successful right away. IF you do conceive the baby will take everything he needs from you, so it is important that you keep up your stores and eat healthy for yourself before, during and after a pregnancy.

All the best.
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wavyhaired
replied on March 4th, 2008
New User
I echo mominashoe's comments. I would totally discuss this with my gyno if I were you, and believe that since you're taking the right steps now, this issue is definitely within your grasp. You'll make a great mama Smile
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v00d00cita
replied on March 5th, 2008
Active User, very eHealthy
Sure, I agree with all the posters ahead Smile talk to your gyno, get some tests done and good luck.
Let us hear from you soon Smile
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Fighter_in_the_Sky_
replied on March 11th, 2008
Experienced User
Well, I know from health class that world class athletes often are temporarily infertile since their body fat is so low that they don't have enough nutrients to make egg/sperm cells and that may apply to bulimic people, but since you're not bulimic anymore ur body should have enough nutrients and you shouldn't have any problems
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