Teenager and problems when eating out

[cybbo]

Not sure if this is the right topic for this but wanted to seek thoughts.

My daughter (17) seems to have a real problem when she feels full during a meal. She also seems to get full extremely quickly , to the point where she can't physically eat anything else. She has also been sick during meals in restaurants when out with her friends as she felt she should be eating more but only wanted a bit.

At home she seems to eat enough, she is not underweight or thin , but eating smaller meals more frequently suits her better.

I'm a bit concerned about the throwing up bit though, she's not making herself sick, it just happens when she feels too full, and only when out with friends.

Any ideas about what could be causing this? I'm sure I'll get ' eating disorder' ...I think there's. more to it than that, perhaps a medical or anxiety reason why feeling full has this effect on her

Sounds like anxiety Cyb, is she anxious about eating in front of others? (TMac here)

Hey T

yes I think it's a lot to do with anxiety and worrying what others will think if she leaves half her food.

She's worried 'it's a waste' I said well if you force yourself to eat it then throw it up its a waste. Or I wondered if there could be some stomach problem

I doubt it's medical if she can manage fine at home? Get her to just order a starter, and say she's eaten earlier. Take the pressure off.

If she goes out with you & family is she okay?

Yes she's fine with us as she knows she can ask for a doggy bag and eat leftovers the next day!

Good idea about ordering just a starter

I hated eating in front of friends/boyfriends when I was younger. I avoided it at all costs.

As long as she's not making herself sick, and is eating enough, I'd just give her a few tips on how Not To Make It A Big Deal with her mates.

Already eaten/family dinner later/dodgy tummy etc.

See you 'next door' in a minute!

Lol. I'll probably ask you the very same question in a few years.

Is she constipated? I used to really suffer from it and had the same problem with feeling full.

Feeling full quickly can be a sign of gynae problems. I would tell her to go to the Dr for a check up tbh.

She says she doesn't poop everyday , which made me think there might be a medical reason for having limited stomach capacity

What kind of gynae probs did you mean?

And have you had your op?

Ummm Ovarian cancer, I'm sure it isn't but it is one of the symptons.

Yes had op 3 weeks ago. Speaking of which I only recently discovered I'd had endometriosis, this was what I think affected my bowel so badly when I was younger. I didn't have particularly horrible periods but did have to go into hospital for a gynae referral. They decided it was IBS. I didn't eat much when I was younger either.
Obviously I'm making up for it now in spades .

God I feel awful saying that about ovarian cancer now. I'm sorry maybe I shouldn't have.

Thanks coco. Her periods are all over the place, some months nothing then has one then misses again. I think she should go to GP, just to see if its tied in

Hope your recovery is going well x

No coco I'm glad you did...I've just checked the symptoms on the ovarian cancer site and she does tick quite a few of the boxes...I'm Deffo getting an appointment for her next week.

Phew ok If she is having period problems it's probably worth getting them checked out.
Recovering slowly but surely thanks

I agree with going to see the GP. I had problems with feeling full, irregular periods and constipation and it turned out I had a grapefruit sized cyst on my ovary. Coco is right though, the symptoms of ovarian cancer can be the same as some of mine were. It's only sensible to get your dd checked out - chances are it will be nothing.

I don't know when periods are supposed to settle down into a monthly pattern...she started a couple of years ago , but because her build is quite slight I wasn't concerned when she skipped a few..thought it was just her body getting into cycle

I'm not sure about that either, I thought it could take a couple of years.
I was feeling full very quickly, that was one of the reasons I had my last gynae referral. I had adenomyosis which is a type of endo that affects your womb and PCOS.

Though obviously I'm old and prone to things going wrong.

Poor kid she hates doctors and anything gynae related makes her squirm. But we have to bite the bullet!

I'm old too Coco.

We can fall apart together Littlefish. Though since my hysterectomy there's less of me to go wrong?

First of all I would rule out medical stuff. I have reflux as do the kids and this is very much like that. For example if I eat too much and run for a train I will throw up :)

Secondly google social phobia because getting anxious about eating in public/ or frightened about vomiting in front of others is a social phobia. Has she had an experience that triggered it? Sometimes just talking about a fear and rationalising it can make it feel better.

Rule out the physical stuff though as that could be triggering her to feel anxious if she feels sick a lot. The tummy is a pain because it's so linked to your nerves. I get a v anxious tummy - nothing I can do about it and maybe she gets something similar!

I tsounds a bit like low levels of stomach acid maybe worth getting checked out. I had this because a tablet I was on reduced it but it can occur naturally and you feel full and bloated really fast and also only poo about every 3 days! It is very treatable even naturally. Def go to doctors x

Gastroparesis? Just a long shot.