Help! people who..? serious health help.?

You will be ambivalent, but you ought to go to the residential center as planned. Congratulations to you. You don't need to decide now if you really want to recover. What you need to do now is prevent further damage to your physical & psychological self.

It takes about a year to recover, but everyone is different. You ought to be in therapy or outpt. day treatment program after your residential stay.

Family members feel out of control & helpless as they watch their loved one dying in front of their eyes.

People wanted to recover because they started to be affected by the ill effects of the illness; being confronted by friends, family; or other eating disordered patients.

You have to talk about what you believe you are afraid to let go of.

Cons of illness: Swollen salivary glands on the sides of your neck that bulge out & look really ugly; rotting teeth because of stomach acid; digestive long term problems; abnormal bowel functioning; hair falling out; heart problems; possibility of fatal heart attack; dry skin; loss of period; changes in all hormones; loss of bone density; scars, sores on knuckles of hands; permanent malfunctioning of bowel & rectal muscles from laxative addiction; unrealistic, distorted belief that you are in "control"; impaired reality testing because of distorted view of how your body looks.

Pros:.........

My best to you

I was anorexic. At 5'2'', 80 pounds, I was hospitalized. I had lost 30 pounds in just a month. Right away, I started a 1400 calorie plan. I had to also have an IV, spent my whole day with an eating disorder group, and had to stay in the hospital for 2 weeks.

Right then, I decided to just eat. And it felt good. Alot of the people there helped me eat and made me feel okay to eat. Your residential center will probably do the same for you. They will probably start you out on a lower calorie plan, just like me, but then increase your caloric intake up to 3600 calories. I advise you try hard enough to gain weight that you don't have to eat that much!

At meal times, they will probably force you to eat. Well, they won't FORCE you, but they will sit there for hours until you eat. When I wouldn't eat, they gave me a high calorie energy drink and it took a few days longer to be discharged.

You could try to find this experience relaxing. You will probably spend most of your time in a bed, or if not that, you will be sitting, doing low energy activities such as board games or puzzles. You will probably also recieve therapy to try to find the cause of your eating disorder.

Also, if you won't eat there, they will probably put you in a hospital. There, if you still won't eat, they will have to put a tube in your nose and pump liquid food into your stomach. Thankfully, I didn't have to do that, but if you have to, it is not pleasant.

I advise you do the same; just start eating there. You don't want to spend to much time in that place. Get out soon.

It's your life. You can waste it starving yourself and die at a young age, or you can live a long healthy life.

I really hope you can recover!

If you want to, you can IM me on Yahoo! messenger. I could talk to you, if you want.