ED's without medical complications.

[starrynight]

I have had an ed for years. I'd say at least five. Anyways, beside a vitamin D defiiency, I'm not really off in my blood work. I've never had an electrolyte imbalance, low blood pressure, low heart rate, etc, and sometimes I wonder why some people have medical complications, while othes don't.

Can anyone relate?

Comments

[king_josie]

Apart from some anaemia my bloodwork and sats were all fine with my ED. I would urge you not to still be cautious because theres a lot more to health than bloodwork, and some medical things dont materialise until the long-term, even once youve recovered.

[acid_gloss]

^this

[starrynight]

Oh, you're right. I'm not saying that if your blood work is great, nothing bad can happen, just that it's interesting some people have deficiencies and some don't.

My recent blood work says I have low vit. d, low LFT and low chol/ratio, but those don't really mean anything clinically for me except for the low vitamin d, which I am working on.

I do have other conditions. I'm-adrenergic (too much adrenaline), I have loose joints (EDS), fibro, and Bipolar I, but none of those are because of my ED, I was just born this way.

[shiningstar55]

Yes, I can relate to some degree.

[acid_gloss]

Yes! I had low blood pressure and chronic tonsillitis but those conditions were hereditary and pre-existing.
Same on all fronts.

It depends on the severity of the behavior and your own physiological predispositions.

[starrynight]

Yay! Someone else who can relate.

I don't have any disorder because of my ED, my issues are pre-existing, and I have to wonder how I made it this far without ever experiencing something as a direct consequence. But, bad stuff can happen too in recovery, like re-feeding syndrome and what not.

I have to admit, I was in bad shape before I got help, yet I still never had issues and I find it fascinating.

[samarium75]

BP 100/60
Low iron and folate
Heart rate = high
Slight protein deficiency
Low electrolytes
Urea = high

Basically, I'm always dehydrated and anaemic (which explains the low BP and tachycardia).

[starrynight]

Yeah, that is a low bp! Do you take Nunn tablets or Florinef?

I have a high heart rate due to extra adrenaline. I have a catecholamine test and I knew even before I got the results that I had a lot of adrenaline because I have Bipolar I and I sweat like a pig in temps over 75 degrees. I ended up with dopamine in the 30 pg/ml range, and norepineprhine was 813 pg/ml at rest. The average is 200-300 pg/ml with resting.

I'm on a crapload of beta blockers because I get a ton of skipped beats and I had a run of v-tach recently. Scary stuff. I also have to take pills for my high blood pressure despite having a healthy bmi and eating better. I can easily drink 3 liters of water a day because I'm always hot and thirsty.

What's the high urea from?

[samarium75]

I don't take anything for my low bp, my doctor just tells me to eat biscuits (praise the NHS!)

The high urea is from not drinking enough and having severe IBS-D. I used to possibly slightly abuse laxatives, not for weightloss purposes but because I have a phobia of vomiting and like my body to be empty.

[starrynight]

I hope you get better, bb!

[glass_music_cup]

There are so many factors that come into play: age of onset, amount of restriction (and within this, what macronutrient is being restricted), use of diuretics, laxatives, physical exercise, gender, purging, hydration, emotional health, comorbid illnesses, length of ED, adequate/lack of health care, medication interactions, knowledge of harm reduction....

The various combination of the above (not conclusive list) are ENDLESS and play a role in how an ED affects one's physical health.

I encourage you to remember that there are mental consequences of an ED as well.Those are in my opinion, equally serious. It's sad that some people think that you have to be physically sick in order to have a "severe" problem. I'm often disappointed at how awareness posters and campaigns focus on physical damage, splashing posters with skeletal bodies and stats about organ failure and death...what about one's sanity? A large percentage of those ED-related death stats you see are from suicide and NOT physical health related. I bet most people don't

[starrynight]

Your comment is made of win, and thanks for the explaination. Never did diuretics, laxatives, exercise, purging, always hydrate myself.

You're right, it's more about labs. I was just curious if there were people out there with an ED, yet normal blood work and the like.

I was aware that most people die from suicides and not the ED itself, but I also know that there's also a high relapse rate.

I have had similar thoughts. I wasn't actually sick in the sense that something was off that a doctor could find, but I was very underweight for my height. Luckily, I got help on my own and I gained 13 lbs since recovering, but I'm still slim and not fat like I thought I would be.

I'm glad the DSM V is going to have the AN criteria revised. It's good to focus on the mental stuff just as much as the physical.

[mmmegannn]

what are they revising it to?

[starrynight]

*explanation, and more than. Ugh, it's late and I'm tired. Excuse the errors.