Expert: Reverend Abbott - 5/14/2006

Question
Hi, my name is Kevin and I have a girlfriend who admittedly has an eating disorder. She is about 5' 4" and around 110 pounds. She is involved in many activities and rarely has free time for herself. She recently won the Miss Valpariso concert and is still getting used to having the responsibility that comes along with it. I am concerned because yesterday she was acting quite unusual the whole day and then last night she told me for the past week she has been purgung. I did whatever I could to make her feel beautiful and she knows how i feel. I began to get even more worried when she told me her eyes had been hurting all day. She then showed me them and I saw that one of her eyes had popped a blood vessel. Please tell me what i should do to help her. Thank You!

-Concerned Boyfriend

Answer
I feel so bad for you. When victims of eating disorders suffer, those who care most about them also suffer, but are frequently forgotten.
Bulimia is believed to be what caused Terry Shiavo's irregular heart rate, which led to her heart failure and resulting coma for so many, many years (she's of course the national headline a few months ago when her husband petitioned to withdraw her feeding tube while her parents fought to maintain it).
The burst blood vessel in her eye is just what you can see. INSIDE, the damage can be devastating, but not show up until nearly fatal.
Many bulimics die with their heads in the toilet. Not a great memory to leave behind. Others will have their esophagus spontaneously rupture and then slowly and painfully drown in their own blood and stomach acid.

"Lucky" bulimics who survive face permanent heart damage, esophageal reflux disease and nearly 100% chance of cancer as a result. Her teeth will rot from the acid (rinsing her mouth makes little difference) and regurgitation spasms may occur for a considerably long time after she decides to stop.
 There's no way a bulimic can remain beautiful. She's throwing her looks AND her life away.

Now - the thing that usually prompts a bulimic to stop? It doesn't work. While she's trying to do this for weight control, nearly 100% of all bulimics are just average weight or overweight.

My site has more information about eating disorders and how she might want to choose a simple, healthy eating lifestyle instead (IT works, bulimia doesn't).  I can attest to this first hand. I suffered various bulimias among every other e.d. for more than 30 years and have all the health complications to go with it.

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