Also, the water that is lost when you use diuretics has important minerals and electrolytes. Your organs may not work properly. Some other side effects of diuretic abuse are kidney damage, dehydration, abnormal heart beat, dizziness and constipation.
Compulsive Exercising Some people with an eating disorder use exercise as a way to control their weight. They may feel that they can only eat if they have finished their exercises.
These people over-exercise, or do more physical activity than they need to stay healthy or fit. They may not feel happy or satisfied, but their exercise schedule becomes very important to them. They may begin to feel driven or compelled to exercise, and choose exercise over almost all other activities.
You can damage your body with over-exercising, especially if that is combined with poor eating. The body is under a lot of stress because it is not getting the energy it needs to be so active. There is also no time for the body to rest, heal and recharge between workouts. Female athletes who take part in sports such as dance, gymnastics, or marathons are at high risk of over-exercising. Compulsive exercise is a sign of a serious eating disorder. If you, or someone you know, is exercising compulsively to lose weight, you should get help from a medical professional immediately.
They recommend some very dangerous behaviours. They talk as if anorexia nervosa or bulimia are lifestyle choices rather than disorders.
The sites have chat rooms and blogs where people support each other in staying anorexic or bulimic and refusing treatment. These websites often include:. There has been research on teenagers with eating disorders who visit these sites.
It shows they spend less time on schoolwork, and more time in hospital, compared to teenagers who were in treatment for an eating disorder who did not visit these sites. It is important for families, friends and healthcare professionals to be aware of these sites. Visiting pro-eating disorder websites can prevent someone with an eating disorder from seeking the help and treatment they need.
It looks like you're using an old version of Internet Explorer. For the best experience, please update your browser. Update Internet Explorer or learn how to browse happy. If you would like to continue to the site using your current browser, click here. Are you in crisis? Contact the Crisis Line from anywhere in BC no area code needed : Read Our Stories. Watch Our YouTube Channel. Locate A Program. How do I know if I have an eating disorder? Dangerous Eating Behaviours People with eating disorders use many different ways to try to lose weight or control their weight.
For example, they may: Diet or take diet pills Purge by using laxatives and diuretics, or making themselves vomit Exercise too much or too often Cut out certain types of food Fast go long periods of time without eating These are very unhealthy behaviours, and can be VERY dangerous. Some of the different ways of purging are: Self-Induced Vomiting: Many people with eating disorders make themselves vomit as a way to try to lose weight.
They force themselves to throw up right after a meal. For some, vomiting is linked with bouts of over-eating or binge-eating. Most people induce vomiting by sticking their fingers down their throat. For this reason, they often develop a scar, or some hard skin, on the back of their hand. Self-induced vomiting can cause: damage to your esophagus, the tube that transports food from the mouth to the stomach damage to teeth that come in contact with stomach acid dehydration — loss of body fluids that have important minerals and electrolytes to help the heart and other organs to work properly Some symptoms of repeated vomiting are muscle weakness, irregular heartbeat, and heart failure.
In BC, the number for Poison Control is: 1. You also lose electrolytes like chloride, potassium and sodium and an abnormally high rate when you have diarrhea due to laxative abuse.
This leads to an irregular heartbeat and weakness and could even cause sudden death. In the long term, being dependent on laxative use leads to a number of long-term medical problems. This problem means that waste remains in your intestines for much longer than it should.
The symptoms associated with laxative abuse can continue for a very long time, even after you stop using laxatives. Your intestines are usually coated with a mucus protective layer to prevent irritation from occurring in the intestinal walls.
There are also bacteria in the intestines which are essential for overall health and to keep your immune system functioning properly. When you abuse laxatives, these bacteria are stripped away together with the protective intestinal mucus and this leaves your intestines vulnerable to irritation and infection.
There are even studies which suggest laxative abuse could increase your chances of developing colon cancer. People who have chronic diarrhea due to laxative abuse may also cause a rectal prolapse to occur. This is when the inside of your intestines protrudes out through the anus. Usually, surgery is required to correct this problem. Mental health problems are also a risk of laxative abuse.
People who suffer from constipation because on ongoing laxative use often feel uncomfortable and ill as well as ashamed and embarrassed of their problems. People suffering from diarrhea due to laxative use may want to stay close to a bathroom and so isolate themselves socially. As most people who abuse laxatives want to keep their problem hidden, shame and stress are the natural results.
There was a recent study carried out which was published in the International Journal of Eating Disorders which involved people who had received treatment for an eating disorder.
This showed that a quarter of them reported that they had abused laxatives during the previous month. Those suffering from anorexia nervosa were more likely to report that they misused laxatives. Laxative abuse has also been shown to be common among people who have not yet been diagnosed with an eating disorder.
This shows that experimentation with laxative abuse often begins during the teenage years. Some people who have bulimia use laxatives to purge themselves, while those who have anorexia use them to control the number of calories they consume. People who have anorexia with purging behaviors also abuse laxatives. People who use laxatives for purging themselves have often been suffering for a long time, about ten years on average. I suspected that my parents knew something was terribly wrong, but we never discussed it.
My dad would mention how I was "about a hundred pounds, soaking wet," but that's as far as he went. Maybe he felt like he'd make it worse by confronting me. Maybe he didn't want to scare me or make me feel attacked. All I knew was that I was winning the war. The fat girl was slowly melting away, like the Wicked Witch of the West.
Now, at pounds, I cruised the mall for sexy halter tops, high heels, skinny jeans. For the first time in my life, I felt hot. To my delight, I heard some of the older girls at school whispering, "What's her secret? My secrets were many. And they kept growing. A girl in my biology class taught me an excellent exercise: Suck in as deep as you can, flexing your stomach muscles to shrink your waistline as much as possible.
Then push all the air out of your lungs. Count to 10—or until you get dizzy. And then repeat. She said it would tone and define my quickly shrinking stomach muscles. I'd do the exercises four times a day—once in the morning before classes, twice after lunch, and once before bed. Afterward, I'd measure my stomach, cupping one hand around each side of my waist.
If my gut stretched beyond the limits of my thumb and forefinger, I'd punish myself. Only half a cup of bran cereal today—no milk. A born perfectionist and people-pleaser, I was determined to become as skinny and perfect as could be. Away from my mother, who had tenderly raised me on fattening foods like lemon meringue pie, cheese toast, buttered grits, bacon, country-style steak covered in gravy, and cream chipped beef slathered over slices of bread, I no longer felt I had to please her by appreciating the food she had so carefully prepared.
I tightened my self-control, acing tests and joining clubs. I would become a perfect Southern lady. Indeed, by the 11th grade, I hit a perfect size 2. Boys smiled at me; grown men gawked from their cars. I met a handsome year-old boyfriend through my aunt, and I invited him to my junior prom. Not that it was always a breeze. That spring, I spent prom night on the toilet. Soon after, my stomach stopped responding to two pills a day.
Now my system needed four to perform. Lunches with friends in the cafeteria morphed into isolated events in my room. Sure, my friends were on laxatives, too, but I had taken my quest to a much deeper extreme. I installed a mini fridge in my room, telling myself it was to keep the milk fresh. But really, I just didn't want to eat in front of anyone anymore. I was becoming paranoid, and I feared being judged—even by the same girls who'd taught me my tricks. It got to a point where I could hardly concentrate on anything but eating—or not eating.
I often felt light-headed, dizzy, and daydreamy; visions of Dawson's Creek floated through my head during history class. Yet no matter how I looked in the mirror, the girl I saw there just didn't seem thin enough. I couldn't see the skin and bones I'd become. The girls who called me "Anna-rexic" behind my back? They were just jealous. And again, no one spoke up. No one dared to disapprove or tell the former fat girl that she'd gone too far. After a year-and-a-half of my rigid routine, my mission finally came to an end.
That fateful morning in the shower, I fell unconscious. I don't know how much time went by before my roommate rescued me, smacking me awake and dragging me to my feet. I was lucky; I could've drowned, slipped into a coma, or gone into cardiac arrest. I'd stripped my body of all the nutrients and electrolytes it needed to function. For a fleeting moment, I thought to myself, At least I would've died skinny.
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