to be amazed

[Catnao]

that in the 21st century, someone could describe anorexia/bulimia as "dabbling"?
I may have a different point of view than many (I hope so!)

One of the reasons I am now struggling to conceive is the damage done to my body by my eating disorder. I am now a healthy weight, due to HUGE efforts by me, my partner, our parents, and our friends. I'm so grateful, and I'm lucky to have such great people around me.

But. I'm not getting pregnant, and I suspect, though I hope I am wrong, I have destroyed my chance of another baby. Not a fad, then.

By the way, for all you calculators - I am 5' 6" and weigh eight stone 13 pounds. Hopefully that is OK!

Are you referring to the child weight thread?

I think the poster was referring to the fact that in the teen years, lots of girls go through phases of extreme dieting / strange eating patterns / cutting out certain foods / fad diets. All of these behaviours are unhealthy but in the main not long term - hence "dabbling" becuas I think girls do get "faddish" about it - ie competing, all joining in. I didn't read it as being dismissive of the seriousness of eating disorders. A friend of mine, in her late 30's weighs less than 3 stone now; she has been on a refeeding programme but her organs have failed to the point that it isn't working and she isn't likely to live much longer.

Yes - I said fad dieting is normal. You don't have a"fad" for anorexia. Or bulimia. As you say, the consequences are serious. In your friend's case - a death sentence, if it has not gone so far, a possibility of meaningful life. In my case - probably infertile, although I am trying to hope not. "Fad, that most kids go throgh"? No. Different thing.

I certainly knew girls who communally vomited after eating lunch at school. It was bulimic like behaviour but non of them was bulimic in the true sense because they didn't need to do it. They probably would have labeled themselves as bulimic though. There were also a couple of girls who would starve themselves until they fainted and made a big fuss about the number of calories in a tictac but they weren't truely anorexic because it didn't have a grip on them. It was faddish and attention seeking but not compulsive. Non of them was underweight (although they did generally lose weight and become thin) and they are all healthy adults.

PigValentine, very sorry to hear about your friend.

Catnao, I guess whoever made the "dabbling" comment doesn't have personal direct experience of anorexia or bulimia, so didn't phrase things well. Don't let it upset you, you know the truth of the problems you have had, and have faced them fantastically well. And I'm sorry you're having difficulty conceiving as a result. FWIW, I had a breakdown a few years ago and suffered awful panic attacks. I know from experience what a panic attack is really like, and it drives me absolutely nuts when people say flippantly that they had a 'panic attack'about something, when they had nothing of the sort.....

Really thank you a lot, pollyblue. I have managed so many things in my life - but having got the eating under control, now - no baby! Hard to deal with, and hard to think of as a "fad that went over the top".
A serious eating disorder can kill. I am in my early thirties now, Sadly, attitudes don't seeem to have changed amongst some.

This hurts me, and I will be flamed for it (as I couldn't be more healthy for the baby), but my son was prem and lots of things because I couldn't carry the baby to full term physically, DUE TO MY ILLNESS - OH SORRY - fad. What a great "fad" eh?

Catnao, I didn't realise you'd lost a child, I'm so sorry to hear that.

I think you're reading it a bit skewed. Thankfully a small number of people will have a serious proper eating disorder. Then there are people who go in for fad diets. There are also a few people in the middle who are approaching an ED but for whatever reason don't get seriously caught up/ill etc.

I don't think there is anyone who doesn't know that anorexia can and does kill. But lets also admit that there are those that dabble in it.

I think, like most things in life, there is probably a scale between no eating disorder and serious life immediately threatening eating disorder, and everyone is on it somewhere. So some people suffer mildly, or temporarily, and some people are very ill. And people can move up and down the scale.

Anorexia nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa are mental health illnesses. A lot of people do "dabble" with binge/purge cycles or starvation. In fact it is often that "dabbling" that becomes the illness. For a lot of people their reality of being hungry and not letting themselves eat is nothing like the actual reality of a gripping fear of eating and the cold chill that goes thru u that even thinking of eating needs to be punished with exercise that u have no energy to do .and the reality that no matter what other people say, u are not thin enough and are not good enough and will not be until x part of ur body is x inches.

I'm thankful I don't have daughters.

Anorexia nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa are mental health illnesses. A lot of people do "dabble" with binge/purge cycles or starvation. In fact it is often that "dabbling" that becomes the illness. For a lot of people their reality of being hungry and not letting themselves eat is nothing like the actual reality of a gripping fear of eating and the cold chill that goes thru u that even thinking of eating needs to be punished with exercise that u have no energy to do .and the reality that no matter what other people say, u are not thin enough and are not good enough and will not be until x part of ur body is x inches.

I'm thankful I don't have daughters.

(I didn't lose a child, but my son prem, and I am finding it very hard to conceive again, just to be accurate.)

"I'm thankful I don't have daughters."

Boys/Men can and do have eating disorders.

Yes males can suffer from eating disorders but the vast majority of sufferers are female.

I know, i realised that when i had posted.

Sorry Catnao, misread your posting.