Expert: Joanne - 12/1/2007

Question
heyy im tRying to recoveR fRum bulmia and anorexia along with the overdose of laxatives.. ive been going thRew bulmia foR about a yeaR now and aneRexia foR a few months.. n the lax juss recently staRted in octobeR wen i got back fRum the pedestRian hosptial ive been in foR 3 weeks foR recoveRy. the plae only made things woRse n i found out about laxative abuse. i have an obsession with hip bones n i love the way they look n i got them butt fRom not eating wen i eat i bloatt lyk a balloon.. so i take the lax n they woRk but then afteR i go to the bathRoom the fiRst thing i eat i blow back up! i rele want to recoveR but im scaRed of gaining weight. i noe its impossible to gain  a pound fRom 1800 but then i gain the weight anyway because i cant go to the bathroom! i want to recoveR so badd i have so many things going on my mom has canceR weRe going indebt mi familys dieing outt n i dont want these disoRdeRs taking oveR my lifee and my da has enough on his mind to woRRy about.. please help mee .. if i eat 1800 caloRies a day i noe im gunna bloat but say im 95ponds ritee .. if i eat 1800 caloRies a day n i dont go to the batRoom foR a week my weights gunna go up to about lyk 105 afteR i do go to the bathRoom im gunna have gained alot of weight rite? theRes noe way of going back to 95 is theRe ==?

         please help me wiith this i rele appReciate itt sacve me b4 it getss woRsee =

Answer
Erika

I don't want to lie to you, but if you aren't already eating 1800 calories, you may gain weight when you begin to.  You may also notice weight gain when not taking laxatives as your body is holding onto water.

Laxatives do not help you lose weight!!!!  By the time your food has reached the part of the intestine on which laxatives have an effect, you have absorbed most of the nutrients from it.  Laxatives just encourage your bowels not to reabsorb as much water back into your blood supply, so more water is lost in faeces.  This means that the weight you are losing when you are taking laxatives is not true weight, but water weight!  Weight loss is therefore only temporary, and you will gain it again when you take in more water.

If you continue to abuse laxatives, you risk damaging yourself.  You may become dehydrated, get an electolyte imbalance and even go as far as to stop the bowel functioning itself, leading to severe constipation, or even damage to the muscles, meaning that you could end up soiling yourself regularly, with no control over it!

I think that you should visit your Dr and tell them what you have been doing.  You need to be completely honest with your treamtent team.

Holly