Expert: Reverend Abbott - 12/15/2008

Question
QUESTION: I've been suffering from anorexia since I was 16, I'm now 21. I have never been classed as underweight. In the past year I went from 10st 5 to my current weight which is 7st 10. So my BMI is sitting at about 18.2 as im 5ft 4.

I wanted to know if you knew how long it takes for side effects to appear with having this. I suspect damage to my body due to my decreased kidney function but thats about all I've actually had from this.

For the past year my calorie count varies. Most days I live on diet coke and coffee or sugar free red bull and other my calorie count is at about 100-300 a day. I'm undiagnosed but have been treated for depression in the past. It's not something I feel I'm ready to give up just yet but I do want to get help soon. I would have thought I would be seriously ill by now but apart from fatigue, vomiting, intolerance to the cold and mild downy hair I dont have much.

So if you could let me know if you have any information on how long it takes having the illness for your body to start deteriorating and also in what ways, I've looked and also asked my colleagues (I'm a student nurse) but no one is able to give me any information

Thanks very much

ANSWER: Everyone is different.  From first hand experience I can tell you that bone loss can occur within a couple years, resulting in spontaneous fractures in one's 20's.   

Heart problems can begin within weeks or take decades to show up.  I had both early problems and currently, 40-something years later, continue to develop more all associated with the anorexia.

Liver and kidney problems can also show relatively early, but continue for the rest of one's life, again, as I'm currently experiencing.

So the real question isn't really how long for side effects to show up, but how long will the side effects continue to show up.  The answer is 'forever'.  

And I wish I could tell you how much it's not worth it, but I know how youth will rationalize things.  I really have been exactly where you are.

 www.GetTheReal.info



---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thanks very much.

I really REALLY am aware how muchit isnt worth it. Unfortunetly I've got this advantage of knowing what I'm getting myself into. I call it a brain split. My paranoid one and my rational one. One one side I'd give ANYTHING to NOT feel this way but on the other I don't want to get help until I'm satisfied with how thin I am, which I know is always going to be "just a little bit more".

It's a prison.

But much appreciated, thank you!

Answer
It IS a prison and you might find it very surprising to learn that anorexia tends to effect highly perfectionistic, intelligent individuals.  

You know this is a psychological disorder right?  The number one most fatal of all psychological disorders.  Whatever it takes, you can only silent the other side by facing it, naming it and showing no fear.

 You can succeed.  I succeeded in a time when anorexia wasn't well known and no one was there to support victims.  You've got all the advantages these days.  Take them.