Expert: Joanne - 9/6/2007

Question
Hello, for a while now I have been really struggling with what I call bad eating habits, but my psych and doctor say its an eating disorder, not bad eating habits, and I understand you are probably going to say the same once I have described, but I just I don't know what to do anymore, I feel like things are going out of control, and I am afraid to tell my psych. I just don't feel comfortable speaking about it. I don't even know what I am doing to myself anymore.For a while I just didn't eat properly, but then it changed now I hardly eat and if I do I have to make myself sick to get it out, even if its just half a roll or something. I weigh myself 7 times a day, if I walk into shops I will always look at the back of packets to check how many calories etc, if its more than 100 I wont buy it, I always go for long walks and run too. And just recently I brought some laxatives, but have been advised by a forum not to start on that side of it. I feel so alone and like its going out of control, and I don't even know what to do anymore. I have started to get physical symptoms too...such as pains in my chest and very sore throats and no energy what so ever and him not sleeping..is that caused by doing what I do? Can you give me any options as to what to do? sorry...thank you for your time. take care.

Answer
PLEASE TAKE YOUR PHYSICAL SYMPTOMS AS A SERIOUS WARNING!  Chest pains should never be ignored.  They may turn out not to be serious, but neither you or me are qualified to say that - so you should always get this checked!  When you starve yourself, your body burns muscle in order to fuel itself - your heart is a muscle, so is very much at risk of becoming smaller and weaker!

If you stuggle to talk to your psych about this, why not print your question off and show it to them instead of having to actually say it out loud, or write it out for them!

You need to share everything with them, be completely honest.  If they don't have the full-picture, they will be unable to give you all the support you need.

Laxatives!  Never a good route to go down.  They cause more problems that they are worth.  The weight you lose with them tends to be only water weight anyway.  Your body has absorbed most of the nutrients from food by the time the food reaches the part of the bowel that laxatives have an affect on, and all they do is stop your intestine abosrbing all the water back from it!


Please get your physical symptoms and then share all your thoughts and feelings with your psych as soon as possible!

I apologise for the late reply, wireless connection problems!  I regret not reading this sooner, and just hope that you have already had the chest pains looked at!

Please get back in touch if you have anything else to ask or want to talk!

All the best
Holly