Expert: Nafeesah - 8/31/2008

Question
I am female, 17yrs old, i've had issues with binge eating since 14 and throwing up since 15. I'm in recovery now though. I'm 5'2" and 137 pounds (as of this morning). My weight fluctuates often and im always somewhere between 125 - 145, though i'm mostly in the 130s somewhere. My first question i guess is if it's really unhealthy that my weight constantly changes so much. I'm usually up or down 5 pounds each week. I didnt know if it was but I thought i should ask.

My second question is when you eat a food, how long until the calories from that food are absorbed? My therapist told me 40% of the food's calories are absorbed almost instantly, which is why purging is pretty ineffective. Is that true? What variables affect the calorie absorption speed? This is something i've always been curious about. (I'm no longer seeing my therapist so I can't ask her...)

My third is about an inncident that happened about a year ago. I had purged my dinner, and developed a stomach ache, which wasn't uncommon. But then this stomach ache persisted for three hours, and finally i just fell asleep. At two in the morning, i woke up and started throwing up involentarily. It was scary. What could have caused this?

And finally, I know you aren't as likely to die with bulimia as you are anorexia, but there's still that possibility, and I was curious on what kind of warning signs will the body typically give off to let you know its giving up?

- thank you

Answer
No our weight flucuates and if you're vomiting out of control you trained your body to do that. Once you get into the pattern of purging your body often does it by itself. You can die of bulimia because excessive vomiting can screw up your body even more with your body chemistry being thrown off. Terry Schiavo the woman who was in the news a few years ago was bulimic and as a result of her eating disorder it caused her body to break down and later putting her into a persistent vegetative state which was a result of her having an eating disorder induced heart attack from her potassium levels being at a dangerous level. Anorexia is just as serious because you can develop other issues such as osteoporosis from lack of calcium and other things such as heart problems from deprivation of nutrition. You're still in need of being with a counselor to deal with your ongoing battle to have a better relationship with food and eating.