What Would You Do If You Suspected Your Friend Was Anorexic/Bulimic?!
Question: I have a friend who has lost A LOT of weight. She is so skinny now that she actually looks gross. Her skin is flaky and her teeth are stained badly. I suspect she is starving herself and/or throwing up (judging from the sudden decay in her teeth and her rapid weight loss. Problem is she is very emotional and will probably just get really mad at me if I mention it. I also think she would just deny it. Every time I see her it shocks me how painfully thin she is getting. What should I do if anything? I'm worried that she'll end up starving herself to death.
Answers: I have a friend who has lost A LOT of weight. She is so skinny now that she actually looks gross. Her skin is flaky and her teeth are stained badly. I suspect she is starving herself and/or throwing up (judging from the sudden decay in her teeth and her rapid weight loss. Problem is she is very emotional and will probably just get really mad at me if I mention it. I also think she would just deny it. Every time I see her it shocks me how painfully thin she is getting. What should I do if anything? I'm worried that she'll end up starving herself to death.
You need to gett her help, NOW! I used to be bulimic, and trust me its not fun, at all. She'll be very mad, (I know i was; i thought my friend was betraying me) esepcially if shes an emotional person. but in the end, once shes better and can see herself and her life more clearly, she'll be thankful. She needs to know how bad this is for her body, and how shes slowly killing herself. It certainly takes a toll on your body; i havent thrown up in almost 6 months, but since I did it for so long I have side effects because of it. And i was never gross skinny. She really needs your help, you need to tell somebody before her body shuts down.
Others must be seeing it and worried also, confront her if you feel comfortable if not, maybe try talking to her parents to see if they're trying to do anything. You need to do something, if not you'll feel guilty for not trying to at least help. But if she doesn't want help, then there's nothing else you can do.. maybe talk to a mutual friend or something..
It's possible she's struggling with medical or stress problems, and maybe she just doesn't want to share that with you right now. I think you should stay out of it, except to maybe offer to help her with household chores, if you notice something needs to be done, or if she has children, offer to babysit, stuff like that. I'm sure her husband is aware of any problems and probably wouldn't take too kindly to you butting in, either, especially if is something they obviously prefer not to discuss with you, or they would have done so already.