I have a friend who I am worried about because she might have anorexia. She’s not underweight but she’s been acting more and more strange over the past several months.

She recently said to me that she doesn’t eat dinner that much anymore because she "just doesn’t feel hungry enough." And she seems to get a lot of stomach aches and throws up once in a while which she claims is a stomach virus.

I told her I think she might have an eating disorder and she denied it. She says she still eats and her weight is normal, so she doesnt have a disorder.

Are these signs of an eating disorder? And if so how can I convince her that she needs to talk to someone about it?

Sounds like you’re seeing the first signs. There are whole support groups for people "trying" to be anorexic. Go to xanga.com or myspace and type in thinspo or something like that. They call it "thinspiration". Groups of young girls posing pics of waif thin models and such and blogging their experiences. These girls never think they have a "disorder" and if your friend does, it will be very hard to get her to stop.

I’d like to know generally how anti anxiety medications work, how long one is supposed to take them, and how a person or a doctor knows when is the right time to stop the medication.
If the anxiety is due to a chemical imbalance, does that mean the meds must be taken forever?

Are they selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors? They build up to a maximum therapeutic level, and slowly become less and less effective as time goes on. It depends on the drug, but they are not a permanent solution. They help break the cycle of anxiety, but it is necessary to change the circumstances that provoked the anxiety to begin with. Otherwise it is likely to happen again. The doctor should have told you how long to continue with the course of treatment, or at least have advised you of the typical duration.

I have severe anxiety and I’ve been having anxiety attacks for months. I can’t take prescription pills because I’m an air traffic controller and I’ve been trying herbs (valerian, ignatia, passion flower) but nothing seems to work. And I ALWAYS have anxiety attacks when I have to speak to a group and next week and have to give a short presentation to everyone in my work and I’m petrified of having an anxiety attack. Please help me.

just laugh at whatever the task is..
thats wud be the first step.. just have a laugh..
step back fromt he issue.. and see it as a minor thing u just have to do…
make a date with a friend.. or plan something right after.. so u have something to look forward to..
the main thing here is…
no matter what u do.. u will feel anxiety leading up to the event of speaking right?
well its just like walking in late to class..
u know ur late.. ur heart is racing.. u have to get there.. but everyone will be sitting down..
the best thing to do in both these situations.. is to just forget about it..
i mean.. having anxiety and going crazy over it.. or not going crazy isnt going to make things better.
the outcome of what u have to do.. will be there anyway… so instead of having anxiety..
just have neutrality.. brush it off..
dont think about it. forget it.. what will happen will happen. one way or the other..
its the pre-thought that fucks everybody up. so the best thing to do is act like u dont care.
and it will work out trust me.

I hear they make you get up to a BMI of 21 if you are hospitalized for anorexia. I think that is ridiculous. Why not just get them up to a BMI that isn’t anorexic? 21 is just insane. I’m 5′9" and that means they would put me up to 142. That’s insane. I used to eat whatever I wanted and I weighed 130. And I was perfectly healthy and looked fine.
The clinics aren’t helping either. If you ask me, relapse is a lot more likely because of this. If they made me get up to 142, when I am considered healthy at 125, I would leave the clinic motivated to lose weight.
It’s a question. The question is WHY the clinic think that’s the way to help them.

Like the others said, it’s not fair of you discourage people from seeking treatment. Please delete this.

I really need to know what the best treatment is for anorexia, I have a really good friend that needs it and her mom asked me and I would really like to help.

your friend obviously has a lot of pain inside her.it is like anyone who drinks to excess,takes hard drugs,self harms,or overeats every single day,to reach the inner core of the problem may never be revealed simply because the mental anguish of telling anyone is too much for that person to deal with so they just bottle it up and it manifests itself into one of those problems stated above,the solution therefore is this;a really good hypnotist will gently release all the inner demons and awaken within your friend the will to self recovery,they have saved literally millions of lives over the years with simple but extremely effective techniques by re programming the sufferers mind out of the darkness and back into the light,what the mind can conceive and believe it then can achieve……..

For a school project i’m working on to make people aware of eating disorders.

I guess you missed BODY IMAGE.

Most women wants and dreams to have a sexy image and this is actually the reality. They want their body image to be recognized anywhere they go especially to catch the attention of men.

People with depressing body image have a greater chance of developing an eating disorder and are more likely to suffer from feelings of depression, isolation, low self-esteem, and obsessions with weight loss.

We all may have our days when we feel self-conscious or uncomfortable in our bodies, but the key to developing positive body image is to recognize and respect our natural shape and learn to overpower those negative thoughts and feelings with positive, affirming, and accepting ones.

For more eating disorder information about body image, here’s the link: http://www.rebeccashouse.org/more_info_details.asp?show=body_image

Or you can visit this eating disorder treatment website located in Los Angeles.

I have Social anxiety. My doctor prescribed Zoloft which is a depression medicine. I am just curious, how does the same medicine also treats social anxiety???

They go hand in hand. You get anxious about something and after some time it becomes depressed over that same thing. In both cases, when the nerve ends send messages to the next nerve thru a gap, these messages don’t get there, they sort of bounce back to their origin. This is what’s called a chemical imbalance in the brain. These messages are sent via chemicals ‘jumping’ from one nerve end to the other. If they don’t get ‘absorbed’ by the second nerve, we become depressed and probably more anxious about more things in life.

there are a ton of teen residential treatment centers in the states but does anyone know of one in europe??

cuz im from switzerland and i need a visa to get into the states so i gotta go to one in europe..

helllppppp

amy you could start with a primary care provider in switzerland, otherwise whereever you plan to go in europe, look up a hospital for that area and write to them or call them, good luck

The stigma i got was that it was a negitive one, and that people think it is his/hers fault that they are abusing their bodies in such destructive ways. But is the stigma actually about the person suffering Anorexia Nervosa thinking their fat?

a stigma usually refers to something that a mass of people disapprove of.
But i think theres actually jealously tha that person can control what they eat and do with their bodies. .

I’m writing an essay and part of it needs to address how eating disorders affect society as a whole…and why they are a significant problem to SOCIETY. (Obviously they present significant problems to individuals and families but I need to write about it as it applies to society)

plus any proposals to address society’s growing number of people with food disorders.
ideas for prevention programs, etc.

thanks!

Large? Thats what i’m talking about