Member Since: August 18, 2007
Answers: 1
Last Update: August 19, 2007
Visitors: 631
|
| |
|
How does anorexia harm you or your body? I know pukeing will stain your teeth but what else?? cuz if thats it, then whats the harm right? (link)
|
I think I can answer your question better than anyone because I have had Anoexia for 13 years. I am in recovery from what is called Anorexia-Purging type or anoexia w/purging. Most people without eating disorders don't know that there are MANY eating disorders besides anorexia and Bulimia. There is Anorexia-restricting type( where they just restrick there food intake and contrary to what people believe Anorexics DO EAT. They just don't eat much that is why they lose so much weight. There are all kinds of different restricters-ones that eat only low calorie foods( like veggies, water...) and others that eat some low calorie and some regular calorie foods) and There are others that have other food combinations. Anorexia-purging type( what I had ) is where you eat either small portions of low calorie foods or normal calorie foods and then purge it( throw it up) immediately. It can be once or multiple times a day depending on how many times the person eats in a day. For me, I purged up to 36 times a day but that doesn't mean I ate 36 times a day. I purged multiple times after I ate to make sure every bit of food was out of me. Bulimics are usually of noraml weight but some can be under weight and there are 3 diifernt types, ones that purge after eating LARGE quanitys of food, ones that doesn't purge by thowing up but purge through exercising excessicely or ones that just doesn't eat for a few days after eating large quanities( a binge)And there is another Eating disorder called binge eating disorder where people binge but don't do any purging of any way. There also are people who are Anorexic and Bulimic-They restrict their food and also binge on large quanities of food and purge like bulimics. So there are all the kinds of eating disorders: anoreixa-restricting type, anorexia-purging type, anorexia and bulimia type, bulimia, exercise bulimia and binge eating disorder.
Now are the lists of ways that anorexia and bulimia all can harm your body:
Osteoporosis from not getting your period do to lack of fat in the body and also being at such a low weight.( Getting your period gives esrogen to your bones which keeps them health and strong. Without the estrogen your bones become brittle and break easliy. After only 3 years of having Anoreixa I had the bones of an 85 year old woman.( I broke my right food just from regular walking a year after having Anorexia. I wasn't even diagnosed yet then and my foot doctor was the first to even mention the diseae to me.
No energy do to lack of food. Food is fuel for your body like gas for a car. Food=energy.
Your hair can fall out from lack of nutrients from food. Your nails become brittle from the same reason.
You shrink your stomach to the point where 1 cup of any beverage makes you full for hours from restricting your food intake. When you start to eat a normal amount of food, your stomach hurts like it's going to explode. You can only eat a tiny bit of food per sitting bexcause of this. If you are in a hospital because of medical reasons you will be forced to eat food until your stomach hurts so much and you are so full that you can sit up straight for a good 3-4 hours.
Your elecrolytes( potassium, magnesium, phosphorus, sodium, calcium, chloride,....) become too low or too high and medcial complications can occur from this( muscle spasms, pins and needle feeling in your hands, feet, mouth, lips which can lead to heart problems- Heart attack, heart arrythmias, heart palpatations,..) Not eating enough and also purging can make your elecroltes off so People with all eating disorders can experince this
People who purging can damge their teeth by eroding them from all the stomach acid and also can erode the enamal off them. Purging can also ruture your esophagus by forceful vomiting, can also create any GI problems that you can amagine. Consipation, diarreah, or both.
If people abuse laxatives, either pills or enemas, can cause them to be dependant on them and can not have a bowel movement without them. Ememas are the MOST harmful laxative their is and I wish stores would put it behind the counter. They strip away the ling of your colon/rectum and irrittes it plus it not only gets the bad bacteria out of you but also the good bacreria that you do need in your intestines. When someone stops taking laxatives they have all kinds of compications like edema in the legs/feet and bloated stomach from all the water that is held in the body from NOT taking them. You can also mess up your electrolytes by taking laxitives also because so much liquid that comes out contains things that your body needs.
Those are just some of the harm that Eating disorders can do. There are many more and Im sure there's a lot more that I am not aware of.
I have had my fair share of them having been hospitalized 26 times and 3 of those times I called 911. Well once, the other 2 my mother did because I couldn't talk or move from an electolyte imbalance that caused me to have TETANY. google that word and you will find out what it is. It's the most painful thing that I have experienced. I was told by the dcotor the first time I had it that if my mom hadn't dialed 911 when she did I would have died. TETANY left untreated leads to cardiac arrest.
Please get the word out about ALL THE COMPLICATIONS and all the differnt combinations of eating disorders. The more people know the more likely( I HOPE) that people will know the signs and get help. Dealing with this for 13 years is not what I call a happy life. If I could go back in time and change things I would in a heartbeat.I thankfully have seen the light at the end of the tunnel and have been in recovery for 3 years. It took me 10 LONG years to find that light.
|
|