Expert: Nafeesah - 2/8/2010

Question
Hi, I have been suffering with severe anorexia for nearly 4 years now. I was managing not too badly after leaving hospital and was managing to maintain a weight around 43 kilos. (i'm about 5 ft 2).
However, recently I have had a terrible relapse and got down to 32.5 kilos. I was weighed only four days later and it had shot up much quicker than I, and my doctor even had expected, to 33.6 kilos. This was a huge gain to me, as in the past I have really struggled with weight gain all throughout my illness. However, after much reasurance and support from my physcologist and parents I am sticking to my meal plan and going to continue to eat everything on it. I have not had a chance to see my dietician yet ( although I will be seeing her about 2 days from now), but my physcologist has told me that most of the weight gain is probably fluid. Really what I am asking is, is it common for weight to increase so much at the beginning of trying to recover, and should it slow down ? I am also really worried because I have gained so much in not even a week and my meal plan from my dietician is a very very small amount. It is really scaring me that I seem to have gained so much on such a small amount of calories. Really I'm looking for some reasurance because this is the first time I feel I have been strong enough to face my anorexia and continue with my meal plan regardless of my weight gain. However, if I keep gaining at such a rate I know I won't be able to cope. I am also trying very hard to not do any exercise whatsoever, and have agreed with the doctors I won't leave the house and will rest as much as possible. But after this gain I am so scared! Please help xx

Answer
When you are recovering from anorexia your body will go through changes to get back to where it was before the problem started. Anorexics fear weight gain, but if they're in a treatment program they have to gain so much weight to get back to a healthy weight because anorexics have a lot of health problems when they're moderate to severely underweight. You'll retain fluid and body fat, but you have to trust your doctors to guide you in your recovery.