Anybody have an anorexic child?

[Morgan3820]

I missed this thread on the first go around. Our daughter had problems with this, so I know how the OP feels. Our daughter is now a healthy, happy, well -adjusted, happily married 38 y.o. It was really good to read to the end of the post and read the good news about the turn-around. You are doing all you can do. It sounds like your daughter has it at least partially under control. Yay!!

Thanks for the words of encouragement. My wife and I have been educating ourselves on her care that we will need to provide upon her return home, knowing that full recovery may take years. It is nice to know that others have made it to where we hope to be someday.

 

[murphey]

That's about what the weight of a 5'7" woman should be....

Attitude, James, attitudes. Obviously you have a very low opnion, almost disdain, for any woman that doesn't fit into your model of perfection, or even acceptable body image.

I know with all these human tanks we have rolling around it's easy for "normal" to get skewed, but 120 is about spot on for that height.

And what qualified, refereed medical report do you base this on? There is a difference between a teenage female and adult female weight averages. The healthy weight range for a teenagers is very different than the weight range for an adult. I'll be happy to cite my references if you cite yours.

 

[Morgan3820]

Update
For the rest of the story. My daughter is now 126 pounds, up 32 pounds from her admission weight of 94. This is only 4 pounds lower than her ideal weight. She remains under the care of a therapist and dietician. Little evidence of her previous restrictive behavior. While this issue certainly remains on the radar, we are hoping that a corner has been turned. Much less stress all around. Unfortunately, I fear that many of her fellow clients are not doing as well.
Thanks again for the support.

 

[weilke]

Thanks for the update. Glad to hear things are going well.

 

[Mike Smith]

Very thankful for the good report! Prayers for continued recovery.

 

[somorris]

This is good news. It sounds like another lovely young lady has been rescued. Thanks for the update.

 

[RJM62]

I'm glad to hear she's doing well.

At some future point, I may be able to post some interesting information about the treatment of a friend of mine's teen who is going through this. For the time being, I can't say anything other than that in the course of treating the teen for another condition, the doctor may have stumbled upon a treatment that partly alleviates the anorexia. The youngster still has the body-image issues and fears of gaining weight, but suddenly became able to eat normal-sized meals nonetheless (albeit followed by weighing and measuring). The teen is also more open to the suggestion that his/her perception of being fat may be distorted.

The doctors are baffled, but investigating further. The timing and suddenness of the improvement strongly suggest that the treatment for the other condition helped the anorexia, but they aren't quite sure why it would. The possibilities include coincidence, placebo effect, or the anorexia being somehow secondary to the other condition in this particular case. Whatever the case, they're interested enough that they're investigating further.

Rich

 

[steingar]

Bariatric surgery is curative for diabetes. It happens. Sounds like whatever going on is linked directly o national security, and you go on double secret probation if you tell anyone.

 

[RJM62]

Bariatric surgery is curative for diabetes. It happens. Sounds like whatever going on is linked directly o national security, and you go on double secret probation if you tell anyone.

I was asked not to for the time being. The doctors don't want my friend talking about the specifics until they have more time to look at it, but he'd already told me. It could turn out to be coincidence, placebo effect, etc.; but it could also turn out to be a Big Thing. Time will tell.

Rich

 

[Rushie]

I was asked not to for the time being. The doctors don't want my friend talking about the specifics until they have more time to look at it, but he'd already told me. It could turn out to be coincidence, placebo effect, etc.; but it could also turn out to be a Big Thing. Time will tell.

Rich

I'm intrigued. I'm coming to the conclusion that most if not all mental disorders have a physical (bio-chemical) root cause and eating disorders are no exception.

 

[Zeldman]

I'm glad to hear she's doing well.

At some future point, I may be able to post some interesting information about the treatment of a friend of mine's teen who is going through this. For the time being, I can't say anything other than that in the course of treating the teen for another condition, the doctor may have stumbled upon a treatment that partly alleviates the anorexia. The youngster still has the body-image issues and fears of gaining weight, but suddenly became able to eat normal-sized meals nonetheless (albeit followed by weighing and measuring). The teen is also more open to the suggestion that his/her perception of being fat may be distorted.

The doctors are baffled, but investigating further. The timing and suddenness of the improvement strongly suggest that the treatment for the other condition helped the anorexia, but they aren't quite sure why it would. The possibilities include coincidence, placebo effect, or the anorexia being somehow secondary to the other condition in this particular case. Whatever the case, they're interested enough that they're investigating further.

Rich

Wow... I hope it works out for the good.

 

[steingar]

I'm intrigued. I'm coming to the conclusion that most if not all mental disorders have a physical (bio-chemical) root cause and eating disorders are no exception.

Of course. All of this stuff relates to brain chemistry. Problem is brain chemistry is extraordinarily complicated, and we really don't know that much about it. Most of the drugs we use are about as subtle as a rock.