[moonlight]

Really sad right now because one of my good friends is leaving school because of her eating disorder. Well I guess it is more than just an eating disorder at this point I would say that it is pretty sever depression too.
Can any one explain bingeing with anorexia? She has a lot of problems with bingeing late at night and I and a couple of her other friends stayed in her room all night to be with her. What is bingeing with out purging and how does this affect a person?
Part of me feels like a bad friend that I let her down. I know that it is not true, but I wish that this was not the end.
She did try to kill herself last year, so I guess part of the whole thing is a relief that she is getting help. Yet it does feel like an endless cycle since she went to a treatment center in Florida last year.

<font color=purple> Whatever you can do, or believe you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.
Goethe </font color=purple>

[FearsomeAnna]

Eating disorders are very insidious and very, very hard to break. It make take several attempts at treatment for your friend before she starts to get better. I'm very glad she's getting the help she needs, though. And I'm also very glad you've been such a good friend to her. It really sucks to try and help as much as you can and watch them get worse, doesn't it?

As for the bingeing, that is a subtype of anorexia. They do purge, but not in the usual way of vomiting - they can purge through compulsive exercise, too. It's not all that unusual, actually. A lot of us picture anorexia as constant never ending starvation, but they can and do binge - usually for them, food is a control issue and signifies that there's something much deeper going on. Therefore, food and everything related to it has significant emotional connections. Bingers usually eat in response to some sort of stressor - feeling down, feeling up, feeling lonely, etc. For an anorexic that can be sheer hell because she feels like twice the failure for losing control.

I hope your friend starts to heal - it will take time but don't forget her simply because you don't see her at school. People with depression or any mental disorder need friends so badly right now, even if they try to push you away. Change and taking that first step towards healing is monumentally terrifying, even if its for the best. Don't fail to remind her that first and foremost, she is your friend and you'll always be there for her. It's frustrating, yes, but it will be so much harder for her to do this alone.

some of it's magic
some of it's tragic
but i had a good life all the way......
~jimmy buffett