Expert: Ryan Hale - 7/4/2010

Question
My friend had bulimia for about 3 months because of stress that she was experiencing, but is recovered. She is going ballistic because she fears that she may have permanently damaged her body. She never acts like herself anymore, and tries to hide from everyone. She has very noticeable lanugo that developed all over her body. How can she get rid of this? She eats eats organic and takes supplements, but is still feeling horrible. She also has some pretty bad acid reflux. One of her greatest concerns is that she feels as if she permanently brain damaged herself. She used to have this amazing photographic memory, but it is gone. She used to have this amazing imagination and she was a mathematical genius, but she is not anymore, and she has trouble concentrating in school. Can bulimia lead to permanent brain damage? She is also having problems with periods. She is recovered for a whole year, but is still having problems. She tells me that bulimia made her ugly, and that she used to be really pretty. She told me that she fears that she will never have a healthy child now, and she fears that she will never get her brain back to where it was. She used to have this amazing energy, but it is gone. This is ruining her life!!! She stop reading because she told me that bulimia bulimia made her stupid, so could not waste a good book. How do you balance the chemicals after bulimia? She cries herself to sleep every single day because of this. What natural remedies could she take to get her body back to normal, and exactly the way it was. Now every time something goes wrong she blames it on bulimia. She tells me that she will not learn a new language now because bulimia brain damaged her. She lost many of her friends. What can she do to get her body in health again? She told that she was starting to notice slurred speech, and she is really scared that her brain will not go back to normal. I really want my friend back!!! Is there any home remedies she can take for the stomach damage? She never took laxatives before. She can never stop thing about it. Every time I ask her if she would like to do something, she tells me she will do it after all the damages of bulimia are gone because there is no point of doing it right now. I rarely see her smiling anymore and I really miss her. So please help me!!! She told me that she search all over the internet and it only indicated how to recover from bulimia, but not how to repair the damages of it. Could apple cider vinegar help her? I really want her body and brain back to normal, and for all of the lanugo to leave her body. Please this is really serious!!!! I want her to be 100% herself again.

Answer
Patricia-  your friend quite likely has an underlying depression issue.  These often go hand in hand with eating disorders and the disorder is often an atempt to do self harm or self-medicate by feeling anything other than the depression feelings.  It will take some time for her body to recover, but that's no reason to delay treatment.  If my car needs an oil change I don't wait for the whole thing to explode before going in for maintainance right?  The depression won't get better and neither will her feeling about herself and her condition if she doesn't talk with a therapist.  I am guessing she had this issue for longer than she or anyone admits or realizes.  Once she's on the right track though it could take months or a year or more to return to normal... that is if she hasn't had her eating condition for very long.   The longer she's had it the harder it is to return to normal.