Posts by no_audience

I just got taken off of an anti-binging medication because it was causing me all sorts of cognitive difficulties, and I need to see my doctor about replacing it with something else.

I am diagnosed anorexic, but I b/p like crazy under stress (I think it's partially from restricting for so many years). It's terrifying because you feel like you can't stop. I don't gain weight from my binging because I "get rid of it" like 2 seconds later, but I can relate to that out-of-control feeling and hopelessness. Your body might be recovering from restricting (110lbs is pretty light). It may just be your body's way of trying to protect you. Wait it out for a bit, and see if it subsides in the next month. If not, may speak to your doctor about anti-binging medications?

bsh0611: gel heat bags that you can heat up in the microwave help too!

I have GERD. I've gone to the ER for acid reflux pain, and had to be carried because it was so bad. I take 40mg of pantaloc. It's the only thing that helps. Prevacid does nothing. Nexium does nothing. Tums I can eat by the bottle and all I get is a neutral stomach and bloating. Yuck!

Hi Safina1,

Anemia covers a very broad range of vitamin deficiencies (ex. a vitamin B6 or deficiency can cause microcytic or "small cell" anemia, while a vitamin B12 or folic acid deficiency can cause megaloblastic or "large cell" anemia) - make sure that your doctor has indicated that you are actually low on iron.

Assuming you have an iron deficiency:

The information that you have is fairly accurate. However, non-heme iron for an average omnivore makes up 85-90% of the iron in our diet, while heme iron ony makes up 10-15%. Heme iron, which comes from meat, fish, eggs, and poultry is absorbed more easily, while non-heme iron (found in plant foods and supplements) is absorbed less easily.

If you are vegetarian and NOT vegan, you may want to consider incorporating eggs into your diet. The daily recommended intake for iron is 8.1mg/d for women.

Other things you can do, other than adding more iron, is to eat foods that will help you to absorb iron from non-heme sources. For example, vitamin C (found in many fruits and vegetables) aids in the absorption of iron.

Foods that are high in fibre, manganese, calcium, phosphorus and zinc result in decreased absorption of iron. Lots of vitamins use the same uptake pathway as iron in the body, so you get this antagonistic effect where the "non-iron nutrient" gets uptaken over the iron. What you could also do is ensure that when eating foods with THESE nutrients (which you, undoubtedly need), don't consume your iron at the same time. For example eat foods that are high in vit c and iron in the morning, and move foods high in these other vitamins until later in the day.

I hear ya. I'm having a really rough time lately. This weekend was really bad behavior-wise. I got the shakes at work and became really sick because I hadn't eaten or kept anything down since dinner on friday night. So I ate a bagel because I scared myself.

What's really weird about this disease is that you can go for a long time and be doing really well, but then all of a sudden be not doing well, and then just later go back to doing well. I've been drifting in and out of this lately. :(

I did contact my old therapist though and told her that I needed some support atm. Are you able to do something similar to that?

Original Post by sfredbull:

You can get to a bmi of 18.5 and be healthy.

I wouldn't recommend this. BMIs are presented in a range for a reason, NOT so that you can delibrately go down to the lowest number. It is meant to accomodate a variety of body sizes. If you go to a bmi of 18.5 and get sick or have something distressing happen, wherein your physical or emotional response is to not eat, your bmi and weight will drop, thereby placing you into an unhealthy, underweight category.

21.4 is a perfect weight for you height because you are right in the middleo of your range. Stay there, don't lose any further, just stay right where you are. You couldn't ask for a betterweight at this point.

You are almost 5'4, and you are my age. As you get older, your hips widen and you gain weight. It's our curse as women. Men have male brains, and women have childbirth - which is why you gain weight and your hips widen. At your height and age, you should still be gaining weight. Aim for 120, don't worry so much about all the numbers...do they matter if you are feeling good about yourself? NO!! There are more important things in life to focus on than having an 18.5% BF, or calculating every inch of your body down to the nearest tenth!

I disagree with what many people are saying. Is it important to listen to your hunger cues? - absolutely! However, eating too few calories can have serious effects on your body, and can throw physical and mental things out of whack. Because you are dealing with "a major thing in [your] life right now", I would ensure that you are eating at least 1200 calories, so that you protect your physical, mental and emotional health! Add a 300 calorie snack - 2 scoops of ice cream, a peanut butter sandwich, or a hot chocolate made with milk are some of my favorites!

What the heck??? Why do Americans insist on deep-frying EVERYTHING??? What's next - deep-fried shoes??

Exercising while recovering from an e/d in the early stages, while you are still underweight is not only stupid, it is DANGEROUS. When you starve yourself for weeks, months, years etc. all of your muscles get smaller and weaker, including your heart. Exercising - which increases heart rate - puts extreme stress on your smaller, weaker heart to deliver enough oxygenated blood to all of your muscles and other organs (like your brain). You risk fainting, arythmias, heart attacks and a whole myriad of other TERRIFYING things.

Your e/d is going to try to justify exercise through any means - including trying to convince you that it is "going to help you with recovery". WRONG.

It might be! Your body's cell are made of water, and therefore you need water in order for your body to carry out metabolic and daily functions. Without water, your cells shrink, and you can die.

Now, the obvious solution here is to drink water. However, you need about 2 litres of FLUID per day - it does not necessarily have to be water. If your diet is rich in fruits, vegetables and other foods that have a lot of fluid, you might be getting enough or close to enough to sustain yourself (other drinkable fluids would help too: juice, (diet) pop*, coffee*, tea*)

*depending upon the amount your are drinking and the caffeine content, as high amounts of caffeine can actually dehydrate you more than hydrate you.

I'm 20, but I have the opposite problem! My calves are teeny! I can't find boots that stay up; it's so hard to find ones that just hug nicely. My THIGHS are 17.5" in circumference.

I think they should make elastic-boots, or something like that so that they can stretch to fit all of us...we'd probably feel a lot better about ourselves!!

Any animal tissue is very rich in iron (i.e. meats). Chicken is one of the higher ones, as far as meats go, but virtually any meat will give you a substantial amount of iron.

Lots of cereals will give you 30-50% of your intake of iron. Bran-based cereals tend to be your 50% ones (bran flakes, raisin bran, corn bran etc.).

I eat dried fruit, like apricots. If you are going to eat dried fruit, just make sure you check your nutrition information for the iron amounts (things like dried pineapple have virtually none). Seeds are great - I really like pumpkin seeds! You get LOTS of iron in only 1/4 cup!

Nuts are also very rich in iron, but I do not like nuts, so I don't eat them.

Whatever you do, make sure you try to choose a variety of foods (don't just go on a meat kick, or a dried fruit rampage, or anything like that!)

Original Post by heatherket:

 If I could make muffins with my muffin top...I would probably have at least a dozen muffins. LOL.

HAHAHAHA!!! That made my day!!

sparkle - I cannot say this without it coming off as offensive, because of where your head is at right now. The profanity that is "starred out" is not appreciated by anyone. No one wants to read that, regardless of who you direct it toward, and no one here deserves to be talked to in that way.

Some insight - I have been ill over half my life and only in the past year have started to get my barrings. I have been everywhere from 60lbs to 125lbs, and have been in IP 6 times, so PLEASE LISTEN to what I have to say!

The half hour to hour you spent typing the anecdotal post would have been better spent looking into treatment facilities and contacting a psychologist and psychiatrist.

Clearly you need a lot more "support" than can be found on a website. Personally, I think that leaving here is a good idea for you. You are triggering others (like fidget), and while I realize it is not on purpose and you are reaching out, the help you need is not going to come from a website that simply logs calories (in fact, it can perpetuate your illness, at this stage).

Stop coming online and writing posts that are geared toward defending your position. We understand that you need help. Others have already suggested looking into OP or IP. You obviously understand how serious your situation is, since you have listed off every detail about the past 10-15ish years of your history.

Do yourself a favor, print that off and SHOW IT to a therapist so that you can get some serious intervention and full time, in person, support!