(no subject)

[naomi-log.livejournal.com]

NOT vagina related, but certainly women's health related! gook!



So I got my blood tests back. Along with all the random stuff that's out of whack:

my vitamin B-TWELVE is low. bah!
my ferritin is low. double bah! anemia here I come, I guess.
and, worryingly, my phosphorus levels are high. high phosphorus prevents the absorbtion of calcium and leads to bone disease.... osteoperosis.
eek.
EEK!
JESUS!


I've only been anorexic (important detail) for like thirteen months! Could this be happening ALREADY? AGH!


heeeeeelp!

EDIT: From a health site: "High phosphorus levels cause blood calcium levels to drop. When phosphorus levels are high a message is sent to the bones (by a hormone) telling them to release calcium and “bind” the phosphorus, that is, remove the phosphorus from the blood. Bones become brittle due to the loss of the calcium." Oh, eek!

Comments

[privateinsight.livejournal.com]

anorexia is bad. You can die from it even if it is "controlled". This is being judgemental since I am not anorexic nor know anyone who is/was anorexic. But from what I've researched, yes, this can be happening. You need to try to take vitamins at least if you're not really eating. Your body will break down its own components in an attempt to try to keep itself alive -this is BAD. You need to try to have at least one meal a day though two would be better, even if they're small. A peanut butter sandwhich, an 8 oz. glass of milk/Soy milk and a banana has all the vitamins you need to live with okay health. Starving your body is not a good thing, you end up retaining more fat since your body thinks it's starving which can make everything worse from what I understand.

I hope this help. I didn't mean to sound rude or pressing but this is from what I know and have read.

[gunshotbeauty.livejournal.com]

i agree with privateinsight

if those results aren't enough to make you want to attempt recovery....the idea of hip replacements at 30 doesn't sound fun.

Vitamins, I have a good idea of...

[privateinsight.livejournal.com]

oh yeah, suggestion vitamins...take the liquid b-complex vitamin. Your body cannot absorb the pill very well or rather much at all. The liquid one will give you energy or you'll feel a little "high" if you don't eat before hand; though the liquid is much easier for your body to absorb since you hold it under your tongue for 30 seconds then swallow. It's "fruit punch" but it's the best flavor so far I've found. Also, for iron, I was anemic for a while, don't take the shit the doc gives you. It'll make you and has everyone else sick to the point of vomiting if you take it -that's why you take it on an empty stomach. For Iron, take Slow FE, you can find it at wal-mart, definately, not really sure but Slow FE("symbol" for Iron, in case you didn't know) is a slow/time-release of iron which makes it SOOO much easier for your body to absorb. Oh yeah, suggestion for multi-vitamins, take the gummy ones. They're sweet and literally taste like candy. There are ones with iron and ones without. PLEASE REMEMBER, if you take a multi-vitamin WITH iron, only take ONE iron tablet of the Slow FE. If you take a multi-vitamin WITHOUT iron, then it's okay to take TWO iron tablets o Slow FE. Um, also, if your body needs calcium, take Calcium with Magnesium, the Magnesium seems to act like a catalyst (speeds up the ability of the body to absorb/use) when taking the Calcium otherwise the body doesn't really absorb the Calcium much. [thinks] Um, that's pretty much it. Though if you take a child's multi-vitamin (the gummy vitamins), which I LOVE to do, take two since you're an adult or at least above 16. Um, that's it for what I know. I take vitamins and have been anemic. I hate it. Oh yeah, one more thing, take a protein shake once a day if you're not eating two meals a day. In case you didn't know, your brain can function off several different kinds of nutrients, the main one if Carbohydrates (Carbs), the second is Protein (Chicken, Beans, Meat -pretty much all of it),... That's the only two I know of and the MOST important two because the rest of your body needs those to live as well. NEVER EVER, EVER go on a CARB-FREE DIET. YOU WILL GET SICK! You are basically starving your brain and therefore, your higher brain functions kind of go to zero.

I hoped this helped for you and anyone else who reads this. Um, if you need any more help then ask. I'm pretty good at reasearching online so...[shrugs]

Oh yeah, I have a friend who's a workaholic so she ends up forgetting to eat a lot and the way she coped with this is to eat with people. She only ever eats half an actual meal -IMPORTANT NOTE: since your body thinks it's starving or not eating as much, the stomach shrinks which is why your apetite lessens at the beginning- but that's a good thing. She tends to take the other half home and have it for breakfast or dinner. She never eats lunch.

Um, I think this is it for now with all the advice I can come up with at 6 am in the morning.

[domino-girl.livejournal.com]

hey,
i was wondering if you meant to post this twice? i don't mean to sound rude, just wondering.

[naomi-log.livejournal.com]

I didn't. I posted on two seperate subjects within the same half hour period. as they're totally unrelated, I thought I'd seperate em. :)

[punk-is-so-dead.livejournal.com]

13 months isn't the longest time EVER that someone's been anorexic, but it's still a long time and it will greatly affect your health. There are probably more issues going on than just this.

[naomi-log.livejournal.com]

it's actually a relatively short time. I know people who've been ana for 28+ years.

[ladyghost316.livejournal.com]

You must not really care about your health anyway if you're anorexic? Atleast I didn't/don't. My levels are about the same as yours. My protein and b12 are EXTREMELY LOW. I get b12 shots every month. Part of being anorexic is having bad health and malnutrition.

[naomi-log.livejournal.com]

I once met a long term ana online who yawned once and her jaw broke. When I hear "osteoperosis" I think that, and that scares me.

[mays-rays.livejournal.com]

Yes, it could be happening already. And it is. As your test results show.

Help? Only you can help yourself. If you don't want to cause even more severe damage to your body, get yourself out of the anorexia-loop. Recovery is hard, but very worth it.

13 months is actually a long time. It's not just a passing phase with you at this point, it's become your life-style, which makes it more dangerous, and more difficult to recover from. For over a year now your body has been going through hell, and is suffering from it.

Take care of yourself.

[mays-rays.livejournal.com]

Sorry that seemed so harsh. Please take care of yourself! Emotionally, and physically. Because you're worth it. We all just want to see you happy and healthy. *hugs*

[smallstar.livejournal.com]

One of the things that really scares the shit out of me about anorexic girls (well, besides the obvious starving themselves to death bit) is the osteoporosis thing. The basic truth about human bone physiology is that we build up all our bone density during those important child/adolescent/young adult years. In everybody, the peak bone density occurs in the mid-20's, generally hits a bit of a plateau throughout early adulthood, and then declines for the rest of your life. There are a few osteoporosis drugs that can raise your bone density a wee bit and, more importantly, have been shown to reduce fractures in people with osteoporosis, but the truth of the matter is that with all those good things we do to try to keep our bones healthy (weight bearing exercise, calcium, vitamin D, etc), the best we can hope for is to keep the decline as slow as possible.

That's why anorexia in young women really frightens me. By depriving themselves of nutrients and preventing bone formation during that early window of opportunity, they're basically irreversibly screwing up their bone density for the rest of their lives. Eating disorders are terrible things, but luckily many people are able to fight back, regain their health, and go on to live fruitful lives. The body is incredibly resilient, and can fully recover from a lot of the abuse. However, there are no second chances when it comes to bone density. This is one of those things where the choices you make before age 25 are going to have to last a lifetime. It sucks. :(

[feevert.livejournal.com]

I have dealt with anorexia in the clinical sense (rapid, rapid weight loss) and bulimia is still something that I struggle with.

Find a therapist. One you can trust, one who deals with eating disorders. One who won't force you to eat, or force you to take medication or put you in the hospital but will help you find out why you do this to yourself. Then take it from there. This is a legitimate disorder and being told to eat doesn't help towards recovery -- neither does being told the risks of osteopororis. Knowing that abusing laxatives would wreak havoc on my body didn't do anything for me until I saw a therapist.

Therapy works. I will never be as skinny as I want to be and I still have a lot of periods where I utterly hate my body but now I know why I did those things to myself and things have vastly improved. See a therapist and set realistic goals for yourself.

[mays-rays.livejournal.com]

I just had to say, Great comment. There are lots of reasons why people develop eating disorders, and a therapist who will actually help you work through crap to find the reasons why you do stuff, and who will actually help you work through those reasons, is so important to recovery. The only thing that is possibly more important, is the actual decision you make to recover.

But yeah, I totally agree with everything you said.

[sweet-tea79.livejournal.com]

I don't really understand what you're looking for. Yes, your blood levels B12, ferritin, and phosphorous levels are due to your anorexia. But you seemed to know that already. And you seem to know what you're setting yourself up for, health-wise. B12 and iron are both important components of red blood cells. Red blood cells turn over every 3 months, so while 13 months may not seem like a long time to you, it's been plenty long enough to effect your health. feevert had some great advice about therapy, but I'm still not sure what you're really looking for.

[naomi-log.livejournal.com]

a) emotional support from women who've been through similar stuff.
b) info on limiting phosphorous levels - I don't even know how!

I wrote the post in a bit of a panic. Sorry :(

[naomi-log.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry, everyone. I posted this thing in a bit of a panic - suddenly my self abuse had caught up with me and I was scared - it didn't seem possible that 13 months could do all this. sigh.

to all you who suggested I just get over anorexia (though you were all far more polite about it than that)... I have tried to recover. I've failed.

I also appologise if any of my posts or the comments on them triggered anyone in the slightest - that was not my intention. I don't want anyone to ever go through this hell. ever.

[carmen.livejournal.com]

I haven't been through anorexia, but I have been through some other issues that are similar in many ways. If you've tried and failed, then try again. You've "only" been anorexic for 13 months - there are people who have gone through longer and still are able to recover.

I've been dealing with depression for the past two and a half years, and there are times when I feel like I've tried and failed. But then I pick myself up and try again. You ARE strong enough. But you need to take some responsibility yourself. I saw that you're a part of two pro-ED groups - when you're surrounding yourself with that, it's just going to make it that much more difficult. Are you in therapy? Some sort of support group? There are as many recovery resources out there as there are pro-ED resources, you just have to decide what you want and stick with it.

I'm not trying to be harsh or cruel, but just look at what you're doing to yourself and your body. Find a support system, find a goal, and and do it.

Best of luck.

[paix.livejournal.com]

i'm a psychobiology/premed student at UCLA and i do a lot of research on women with eating disorders. sometimes i see the craziest situations in which some of the women weigh 60 pounds. i have no idea how some of these women are even walking around.

that said, i know that food causes many anorexics a great deal of anxiety. have you thought about therapy? i understand if you've tried to recover and failed, but destroying your health because you aren't willing to try again is a bit extreme. if you aren't going to do anything about your anorexia, at least take a few different vitamin and mineral complexes. usana (http://www.usana.com/en/products/us) has amazingly potent vitamins and minerals.

at least you've realized that there's a problem. nobody wants to be unhealthy, but the media puts pressures to be thin to an unhealthy degree. it's not right, and people need to understand that not everyone is cut out to look like a rail-thin model.

[sacre.livejournal.com]

This is completely unrelated...but be careful with the use of the word "gook". It is a derogatory word for "Asian". It does have two meanings (a thick, messy substance) but not everyone is going to know that. :/

[sweet-tea79.livejournal.com]

i thought i was a typo for the word "look" as an intro to the cut.

[sparklesistah.livejournal.com]

It's so sad to hear about people who suffer like this. I mean I took a quick look on those pro-ana LJ's and was shocked, I was like yelling at the screen "WHAT ARE YOU ALL DOING?!" But then again I cannot relate AT ALL because I have never had an ED, and have always been comfortable with myself. I just find it so hard to grasp that seeing their user icons full of people with their ribs poking out, that THAT'S what they're aspiring to, I mean what's so hot about that, right?

I'm truly sorry that you're going through something this troubling and am glad you're seeking help, but it would do you a lot of good to get away from people who are advocating anorexia and surround yourself with people who care about you and perhaps people that have recovered from the disease because it IS possible. You're the only one that can change anything and you're strong enough to :)

[existentialpony.livejournal.com]

Vitamin b-12 can prevent/help cure cancer. (I speak from seeing it in many people who have experienced the treatment, not online reading.) I thought I'd let you know... it's part of a slightly common and very successful treatment for cancer patients.

Everyone else has already covered what I would day... I've considered anorexia, but I don't want to risk my life when I have so much to lose (hah, no pun intended there =P I really don't think I'm that fat... I could just go without ten or fifteen extra pounds) and... I wouldn't want to have to leave the people in my life right now, or leave them without me.

All I can say is I'll keep ya in my prayers and I hope everything works out for you. =)

[naomi-log.livejournal.com]

ISRAELI VAGINA PAGINA'S UNITE!


hebwew!

[somedaygirl.livejournal.com]

Ahh...well, I don't know anything about these but I should but...um...good luck. Don't stop trying.

(I'm sorry if this annoys you...I really have no place to say anything.)

Yours,

Johanna

[pocketnovel.livejournal.com]

Anorexia will kill you. Welcome to it.

[naomi-log.livejournal.com]

:(

[willucry4me.livejournal.com]

I was ana for about 3 years when I was 12-15. I stopped growing at 12, I had to get vitamin and mineral shots every few months, and all the other wonderfulness. I didn't lose bone density SIGNIFICANTLY, but my teeth started chipping and stuff like that.

Unfortunately people think that taking calcium supplements will get them rid of this problem..

When I was recovering I met a woman in her mid 30s. She was ana for about 15 years. out of those 15 years, she was suffering from severe osteoporosis for 10. She constantly fractured her hips, she somehow managed to get pregnant while she wasnt' having her period so she didn't know she was pregnant for about 5 months, and then she pretty much had to lay down at the hospital for another 3 till they could take the baby out because they were worried she'd break her hips again or her ribs.. When I met her she had to get bone *removed* from her upper jaw, because it broke off inside her face and was decaying.. and it started going to the rest of her skull. She had to get the fractured bone and a part of the touched bone removed and got a metal plate in her face.

That certainly scared me into taking good care of my body.

[snowmentality.livejournal.com]

I was anorexic for a year at age 13...that's plenty long enough for these health effects to show up. My hair and nails started to weaken and fall out; I imagine my bones were weakening too.

My mother was diagnosed a few years ago and still struggles with the disorder (I'm very worried about her because she's 50 and already in danger of osteoporosis without the anorexia), though she's been in recovery for most of that time -- so I have some experience both inside and outside. I don't have anything clever to say because I remember very well how hard recovery is. It is not something you "just do" or "just get over." It's a long slow journey, but a worthwhile one. You are very strong and brave for keeping trying -- from the other comments it sounds like you are getting professional help, which is really good.

Anorexia is an addiction -- I've done some reading about alcoholism and anorexia was, and is, the same kind of thing for me. When I get stressed out and feel like my life is out of control, I still begin to hate my body and want to restrict my eating, even though I've been in recovery for nine years. I think the AA slogan can help -- "One day at a time."

I promise you that eventually it does get easier. Eventually I was able to stop totaling up calories in my head all the time, and food took its normal, low-key place in my life and my mind. The key word is eventually. One day at a time.

feevert gives excellent advice here, too.

You have the power ;)

[duh-squared-23.livejournal.com]

Well, I believe you are your own worst enemy. You are the only one who is going to reverse your phosphorus levels. Nobody is going to do that for you. However, just like the alcoholic, you have to want to get better. You are still getting a big payoff from being anorexic and that is why 'you're not getting better' like you say. Maybe you like the attention that this disorder draws- and that's okay, everybody wants and needs attention in their lives, but this is not the most positive way of drawing attention to yourself, if that is what you enjoy about your disorder. Maybe, you think you need an excuse to feel sad about being abused- no matter if you think it was just a bit of abuse. Any type of abuse it worthy of fixed, because there is a reason it made you feel bad- and maybe that feeling really has resulted in your self made disease. Thats okay too, you need to tell yourself that being abused is not okay, whatever the amount and length, it obviously made an impact on your life if you still think about it a lot. You have to want to be healthy, if you want your body to last its lifetime- and if you don't want any unpleasant surprises disease wise. You seem to be trying to help yourself by going to many health specialists, and thats an excellent start- because you need all the help you can get with this disease, especially if its from yourself. You are really trying to help yourself, you should do that more. I was anorexic for a part of my life... i was 5'6 and got down to 80lbs. Thats discusting, I never felt normal. Somehow, i fixed myself, and now I like to give my body nurishment and I do feel normal. Sometimes, I get that anorexic feeling (because it never goes away) but I use my brain and tell myself that I need all the minerals and vitamins I can get from my food in a day- and then I will truly feel Good, and Healthy. I think being anorexic is a selfish disease as well, because you are only ever thinking about yourself and not the rest of the people who care for you who want you to be healthy and live long. You are the only one judging yourself and telling yourself that you need to be skinny. Your opinion is the only one that counts- because if it didn't, you wouldn't be anorexic right now. Be strong, and love yourself- this is a very hard disease to come out of, but you can do it if you want it enough. The more you want to be healthy and not anorexic, the easier it will come to you. Why don't you try to be as healthy as you can be, and make the world drop their mouths in astonishment when they see such a healthy person who loves their body so much. Its a hard process to become healthy again, but you've got it made because guess what? NOBODY IS STOPPING YOU!