Anorexia

[Baddicus B itch]

I'm sorry if this is irrelevant, but I'm concerned about a friend who's anorexic. She only eats dinner, and as many times as I've wanred her, she wants to starve herself until she can see her ribs and count them.
I myself tried eating 1-2 meals a day. It was not fun, and did nothing to my fitness... Maybe made my waist a bit thinner. As many girls in bikinis I have seen in bikinis can barely see their ribs, seldom count them. She will not stop, and I'm about ready to leave her as a friend, but I don't know what to do! It's making me mad and depressed. I've told her everythign in the book... How can you convince a long-distance friend to start eating?  

[pigeonsoup]

You might get some ideas from something-fishy.org I use that site constantly haha. Otherwise there's not much you can do but tell her all the time that she's beautiful and perfect just the way she is. I was anorexic for a while, it's a struggle. It's not about food it's about wanting to be perfect and not feel ugly and fat. Making someone eat doesn't solve the problem. They have to learn to love themselves.  

[A Touch of Evil]

You could try asking her if she knows what comes with the anorexia package. Like, does she know of all the physical and mental ailments she will put herself through? Not only will she get depressed and feel worthless and like nothing is good enough anymore, but her periods will stop coming, her hair will fall out, she will get kidney stones which are super effing painful, her nails will look disgusting, and her body will be starving for food to the point of atrophy. Does she know what atrophy is? Atrophy is the wasting away of the body or organ due to nerve damage or poor nutrition. She is going to kill her nerves, cause heart attacks, and will make her body and organs waste away. Her body is going to practically digest itself from the inside, then she will need breathing tubes and feeding tubes up her nose. Then you can tell that there isn't anything beautiful or sexy about feeding tubes, or about atrophy, or about dying. She is going to end up getting really sick and die if she doesn't get her act together and eat at least 3 solid meals a day.

If she is already anorexic, I don't think she would be eating food 'cause I always thought people who were anorexic were afraid of eating and always thought of themselves as fat eventhough realistically, they're not. Either way, she is definitely starving herself and going down a very dark path she doesn't really want to go down....you need to convey that to her, that once her body starts shutting down, anorexia will be killing her....it's not like it will kill her in the future, it is currently killing her. BUT, she isn't that far along yet according to your post.

You could try shedding some light upon her and show her some healthy diets that work. Just by adding fruit, you can lose weight. Mainly the citrus acidic ones like oranges, tangerines, grapefruit, and strawberries are really good.

I hope all goes well for both of you, and please be safe.  

[Baddicus B itch]

Thank y'all. I'll try those, and see how it goes (:  

[Munkers]

Taker of Worlds

If she is already anorexic, I don't think she would be eating food 'cause I always thought people who were anorexic were afraid of eating and always thought of themselves as fat eventhough realistically, they're not.

Not true. Anorexia is a disorder involved disordered eating habits--eating too little, extended fasting periods, "safe" versus forbidden foods, etc. Many anorexics still consume a few hundred calories a day--enough to extend the process of killing themselves.


@OP~ While knowledge is helpful, if she's already in the throes of an eating disorder, none of it is going to matter to her. All she'll care about is the scale and all the knowledge and good advice in the world isn't going to stray her from her path. What she needs is to admit that she has a problem and seek professional help and treatment.  

[Tandahda]

Make sure that she knows you care about her. Being available for her is the only thing you can do. Long distances is hard. Guilt doesn't help them, when I was in a self destructive period, guilting from my friends did nothing to help, but actively hurting my recovery process....

The only thing I'd think about is telling her you're worried. If you can contact someone else in her life and ask them if they have the same concerns, (someone close, like, family or something.) then perhaps that would help too.  

[pigeonsoup]

Approaching a loved one~  

[Baddicus B itch]

@Seraphsody: That sounds good. Thanks a unch smile

@Lauren: That really helps.. Since I do a lot of that ^^" I'd ask her what she ate that day, and tell her that her muscles would wither and she'd be critical... So I'm going to change that. I'm kinda irrational I guess.. But I'll do that.