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liveyoungdiefast
August 8th, 2009, 01:08 PM
I have a friend named Lexie who I used to go to high school with before I dropped out but I stay in contact with her. I've sort of accidentally become her therapist. Personally I think she needs a professional but she is 18 and can't afford one and her parents won't help her.

She shows a mix of anorexia nervosa and bulimia symptoms, she both refuses to eat much and throws up when she does eat too much, she isn't anorexic though (anorexia nervosa is a disorder, anorexia alone means a state of starvation). She actually is 'fat' for all purposes. Which I'm glad for, as opposed to her being dangerously thin. She's not on the path to killing herself, she only makes herself throw up once a week or so. I don't want that to get worse and ideally I'd like her to stop doing that and eat more, so I'm trying to help her.

I told her a few things. I told her fuck BMI, that it is a pseudo-science and the AMA and the APA both are getting ready to officially declare it as invalid (true, my professor of psychology said most doctors agree BMI is completely irrelevant).

I also told her she should stop counting calories. She tries to not have more than 800 each day. What I told her is she should just eat when she is hungry and eat something that looks healthy and not worry about calories. Ideally, then she would eat protein bars and other things that are nutritious.

I've been a vegetarian for four years. I thought I recommended she try a vegetarian diet that maybe her relationship with food would improve and she would feel better about eating, like you know, avoiding that disgusted feeling you have when you just ate a hot dog and thinking "Why the fuck did I put that in my body?" but on the other hand, I don't want to recommend a vegetarian to her if she's going to use it as an excuse for not eating.

Just trying to figure out how I might help her.

Fallen_embers
August 11th, 2009, 06:22 AM
ahh thats sounds tricky.
do you think she would agree to councelling sessions? Or something along those lines. It sounds as if she does have an eating disorder, and no matter how hard you try and tell her that she's fine, or persuade her to eat something and forget about the cals, shes not going to listen. Deep in her mind she knows what she wants, and thats hard to ignor.
I think the best thing you could do would be to try and encourage her to seek help from a doctor.
I'm not an expert on these things but I have suffered and eating disorder and have had the experience of watching friends go through them. And I know it's distressing, but I think you really need to get her to see a doctor. But then again I don't think shes going to be easy to persuade =/
These things kill, tell her you don't want to see her suffering, and then try and get her to seek medical help?

Has she admited she has issues with food?
Good luck :)

MickyT
August 21st, 2009, 06:58 PM
Nothing is worse than a fat skinny person. :/ I just feel so sad to see someone with so little mass to them be so fat. It makes me wish I could do something for these people..

brandellerifka
August 26th, 2009, 03:10 AM
You friend is facing an eating disorder. She needs professional help, certainly and urgently. And the sooner she gets it, the better it is for her. Refer Eatingdisorderclinic.org (http://www.eatingdisorderclinic.org/?utm_source=forum&utm_medium=ru&utm_campaign=homepage) or you can call their toll free number 800-714-8354 and they will definitely help you. All the best!