Constipation, electrolyes, and hair loss-more answers to your questions:)

Wow the title of this post sounds really inviting doesnt it hahaha sorry :)
Once again-the usual 'dont sue me disclaimer'-im not medically qualified, im talking from the experiences of myself, and other people i know who have suffered with long term eating disorders. In other words-im just trying to be helpful, minimise harm in the early stages of recovery, and spread the love eh?.so please stop sending me hate mail, im not encouraging anything!

'How do i deal with constioation without using laxatives?'
There are very few things worse than persistant constipation-it hurts, its insanely irritating and it.drives.you.mad. If constipation is a long term prob-go to your doc. prologed laxative use can lead to a sluggish bowel, or damahe to the nerves that control down there, making the whole digestive sytem function slower. If you always feel full, or bloated this could be why. I think i say this waay to often, but Elvis killed himself because he couldnt deal with constipation any more yknow.

Try drinking lots.i mean LOTS-like water, or squash, clear fluids. that helps me sometimes, and the usual stuff like prunes. In fact, in times of dire desperation, i have eaten a small mountain of fruit-bananas, bluberries and stuff, which i knew would give me an iffy tummy.this is obviuosly NOT an advisable option, but i thought you'd like to laugh at me. coffee is a natural laxative, especially if your not used to drinking it, and i know that gets things moving for me! ok, we all know the issues with laxatives, its a vicious circle ending in you needing tons of them for anything to happen, screwing up your electrolytes in the process. If you dont normally take them, or havnt for a long time, and it feels safe for you to do it-taking the odd recomended dose isnt going to hurt you. or try an enema if your desperate. its weird, and you wont WANT to do it to often! i find probiotic yoghurts can help, something like yakult, and having fruit and yoghurt for breakfast helped in the past too. Ask a pharmacist about natural laxatives. sorry, this is a rubbish answer, to a really crappy problem. oooh.and apple juice. i have NO idea why, but this always solves it for me!!


'How can I manage my potassium/electrolyte levels when not purging isnt an option?'
The way i see it, is minimising harm is the first step in recovery-you are trying to change behaviours, and trying to make what you do safer, when, if you think about it, in the depths of illness, you wouldnt care less.

purging really screws around with your potassium and electrolyte levels. This can be dangerous, as these minerals are essential to muscle and nerve function, as well as vital to the maintenance of your body and its metabolism. This is why after purging you may feel very shaky, trembly, or have heart palpitations.

potassium is the thing that is the biggest issue-everything in your body needs it to work. a friend of mine who is a nurse, told me the best thing to do is to force yourself to drink rehydration salts-you know the stuff thats marketed for when you have diarhoea?well, it works for having been sick too, and it will replace the depleted mineral supplies in your body, correcting electrolyte/potassium levels. I think this is the best thing to do. Also, eat bananas-they contain loads of potassium. Really try and avoid 'rinsing your stomach', or 'salt water flushes' O(and if you dont know what that is, im not explaining it for a reason.I dont want to give anyone ideas they didnt know), because this is basically a fast track way to ending up in hospital on a potasssium drip. if you pass out after purging fairly often, have bad palpitations, constantly feel weak, tired or dizzy-get yourself to the docs pronto. people DIE from low potassium levels. and im not just trying to scare you. This, aside from suicide, is the biggest cause of death amongst sufferers of bulimia.

'Will your hair still fall out if you are bulimic, but overweight?'
Im guessing this might have been asked by someone who hasnt had an eating disorder for a long time-if im right, get yourself help now sweetie .if not-sorry, im not being patronising. Email me if you want some good websites to look at, books to read etc, in fact, i might do a post on it.

The hairloss in all eating disorders is linked to malnutrition. You can be overweight, and still be malnourished-fact. Nourishment is about your body have the right amounts of each food group, and the vitamins and minerals it needs to function correctly. so you can be any weight and malnourished, as it depends what you are eating. Also, many people whose primary eating disorder was bulimia-they are often overweight. This is because, yes, in the beginning, binging and purging will make you lose weight.But your body soon gets wise to this game, and basically stores everything it can when you eat after a month or so of this, and then the cycle will cause you to put on weight. thats a very crude description of the process, and im pretty sure other sites like BEAT or NHS sots will describe this a bit better!.

So if you are malnourished, then yes, you may suffer hair loss. its usually worse when you are purging many times in a day, or if you are going through a period of fasting. it effects different people in different ways-mine comes out loads when i wash/brush it, other peoples becomes really fine, some people lose it in clumps.

just remember its all linked to nourishment, all of the effects of eating disorders are, pretty uch when you think about it. so whatever weight you are anyway (or think you are) some things may or may not effect you.

a quick run through of the other main effects of bulimia-
the biggies include damaging your teeth and gums, fatigue, dizzyness, electrolyte inbalance, damage to your tissue-the force of making yourself sick can cause your stomach to tear, you;you can also damage your oesophagus in a similar way. Long term, depleted mineral supplies can weaken your bones. There are many many, many more associated problems with bulimia, which are probably best given a seperate post. if you want to know more, look at some reliable websites-for example BEAT, the eating disorders charity, or the NHS choices website-google nhs and bulimia, and you'l find it:)

keep coming with the questions:)

take care
xxx