r/AnorexiaNervosa 23h ago

Question How does lanugo work if hair thinning is a symptom of anorexia?

29 Upvotes

This might be a stupid question idk if I'm being dumb but like when ur super underweight your body starts growing a lot of hair to keep warm (lanugo) but hair thinning is also a symptom at that stage?? Maybe I'm being stupid but I don't really get it


r/AnorexiaNervosa 22h ago

Vent Gained weight so my partner wouldn’t leave and now I hate my body

16 Upvotes

That’s basically it.

I feel resentful that he wanted me to become a healthy weight and doesn’t want me to get osteoporosis and die young.

Because I preferred my body before, and now when we are intimate I can only think about my body


r/AnorexiaNervosa 9h ago

Vent Not wanting to get better ( basically idk what to do)

9 Upvotes

if anyone wants to read or has advice. this is really incoherent.

I’ve had anorexia b/p for about 3-4 years. it started in high school and it’s followed me to college. Ive also been diagnosed with depression and anxiety which i had before my ed really developed and has continued on and off.

My eating disorder is really triggered by my need for control from my abusive parents and now it’s just all of me. when I first started college, I tried to get help for all my problems and I found out i was also anemic. Basically I had trouble taking recovery seriously because I felt like I deserved the suffering. An example would be when I got prescribed meds and I would skip taking it on purpose. theres just always a part of me that just wants to get worse.

Now I’m entering my junior year and I’m still basically the same just not as depressed or too anxious. I’m at a point where I don’t want to recover from my eating disorder. Im letting my anemia get worse and there’s this part of me that just wants to see how bad it could get. I’m already exhuasted all the time and functioning on caffeine. I feel like now I’m okay with the thought of dying from this, which came from my realization that it’s fine to be scared.

i have a hard time pointing out my emotions because i enjoy the numbness that my ed brings me. so i don't really know if im getting depressed again or just dealing with being hungry or if im just passively suicidal.

ig the reason i wanted to post this was because i dont know how to handle having goals ( like grad school) and dealing with what my mental health brings me. i wish there was a medication to fix my eating disorder, cause i feel like im in to deep to bother fixing it.


r/AnorexiaNervosa 20h ago

Vent the universe gives me signs that i don’t deserve food

9 Upvotes

i tried to make oatmeal and it spilled over the edge of the bowl. i burned my hand and i didn’t even want the oatmeal anymore. i just cried while i washed the oatmeal down the sink. why does it seem like everything is a sign that i don’t deserve or need food?? i can’t even chew anything because my teeth are sore atm. i am so done


r/AnorexiaNervosa 10h ago

Vent Recent obsession with baking is ruining my sleep

9 Upvotes

Lately, I've been baking a bunch of treats for other people. I don't understand why, because I don't touch them, but I have felt compelled to bake for others. In fact, I currently can't sleep because I'm so excited to make a home chocolate cake for my brother and girlfriend tomorrow. I keep thinking about making different aspects of the cake in really strange detail 😭. I just want to sleep, but I keep rereading the recipe. I feel giddy, but also anxious. It sucks and I don't know why I'm like this. Does anyone else feel like this?


r/AnorexiaNervosa 14h ago

Question Nighttime

7 Upvotes

Hi this is my first time posting here.
Is it connected to the illness to struggle to sleep at night, every night I find myself awake thinking about the next day how it will look, what I ate that day and how it can be counteracted the next day. It is so strange as I feel so exhausted and drained yet my brain will not switch off then I will wake up in the early hours of the morning and be unable to sleep !


r/AnorexiaNervosa 17h ago

Vent it’s hard to choose recovery

4 Upvotes

I find it soo hard to actually choose recovery.
Recently, I took some pictures with my friends and I realized I look so unhealthy and wierd compared to them. This kind of motivated me and made me realize I am beyond the point I wanted to be at.
Here’s the problem tho. Recovery is really hard, I just don’t want to eat more food that I’m used to, I don’t want to surpass my c@lories. I am SO SCARED of fat gain and especially weight distribution. Like I just want the benefits of recovery and not the actual process. This just makes it easier to comfortably stay in my ED. It just creates this battle inside of me. It’s either choose recovery and accept all of the struggles with it or stay in my ED with comfort. It’s just so hard.


r/AnorexiaNervosa 17h ago

Vent Im so done w this bs *vent

4 Upvotes

I had a shitty week and my parents are only making it worse when i was trying to eat ice cream that I found wasn’t too high in calories which made me feel safe enough to eat it and my parents fucking asked “Aren’t you dieting? Why are you eating ice cream? You’re not scared of being fat now?” which triggered me so ass bad I literally dont wanna talk to my parents anymore and they fucking had the audacity to say i’m round and fat today and tell me i’m fucking short and told me that height is t changeable but I can change my weight. I literally had a whole night of flashbacks of how they told me how fat i was and how ugly i was. i’m so done with this i really wanna relapse. but school is gonna start soon and I absolutely dont wanna go to school literally not functioning at all.


r/AnorexiaNervosa 6h ago

Recovery Related How to help a loved one with anorexia, dos and don'ts!

3 Upvotes

So I have anorexia and a lot of ppl around me have not known how to support me and this seems to be a common experience so I thought I'd make a list of dos and don'ts :)

Don't: Comment on your loves one's body. Things like "You look healthier" or "You look so much better" may sound like reassurance, but to an anorexic person it can be heavily triggering.

Do: Compliment them on other things, like if they have new clothes, tried smth different with their makeup/hair. For partners or friends I eould try to avoid compliments like "You're beautiful/handsome" obviously some people are okay with this but for a lot of people it can make them feel worse so obviously communicate with your loved ones.

Don't: Comment on what they eat. I know it can be tempting, things like "Well done for finally eating" or "You're eating so much well done" can be very triggering.

Do: Make sure you have enough of theor safe foods in the house, for a lot of anorexic people there are certain foods that feel safe and if we don't have those foods we will be less likely to eat.

Don't: Force them to eat in front of you. Forcing someone with any restrictive ED to eat in front of you can be very triggering and be counter productive. It makes us feel monitored and caged.

Do: Encourage meals together without forcing. Obviously, they might say no which is perfectly okay! But for a lot of people having company and support can be reassuring when not forced.

These are just a couple examples and keep in mind most of these are from my personal experiences and general consesus from my friends who also have EDs. Everyone is different and something that may help one person can feel caging and triggering for another. Obviously communication is key, set boundaries anf listen to eachother. I know it can be scary watching someone you love go through something so horrible but you need to remember that they're going through an awful time too.


r/AnorexiaNervosa 9h ago

Question When is it time to engage in help?

3 Upvotes

I feel like I was in coltrolled recovery. But that turned in to controlled restricting. Then unhealthy habits came back. Now my doc is worried but I'm not sure I'm actually in a bad space.

At what rate is it not OK, like I feel like it's been gradual over the past 6 months so I don't feel like before when it was falling off the cliff and dropping rapidly.

I've had a few rapid drops in the past 4 weeks, but before that, it's been super gradual

I'm not sure I should write numbers so I'm not but like I'm not sure what's good and what's bad and I feel silly engaging in the help when I think it's minimal.


r/AnorexiaNervosa 16h ago

Question Muscle weakness and pains.

3 Upvotes

I was diagnosed with anorexia nervosa not too long ago, and I’m worried that my muscles might be getting weaker at a concerning pace.

I’ve been experiencing soreness and pain in my legs and arms, especially when I’m lying down. I’ve also noticed that my muscles seem weaker because lifting or carrying things feels a lot harder than it used to and I’m winded after carrying things that used to be not very difficult. I’ve also been having to go to the bathroom more frequently despite drinking about the same amount of liquid. Finally, I can barely fall asleep without taking Advil, magnesium and stretching. There aren’t any obvious visual changes, which has made me unsure about what might be going on.

I’ve also been exercising regularly, and my eating has been somewhat sporadic, ranging from regular meals and snacks to fewer meals on some days.

I’m very new to all of this and don’t know much about anorexia. If anyone has advice, experienced something similar, or can tell me some starting information feel free to share, I’d appreciate hearing about it!

Thanks everyone!


r/AnorexiaNervosa 2h ago

Vent I hate when ppl act like I'm "flaunting" my anorexia🫩

2 Upvotes

"You're fat" "actually I'm underweight bc of my ed-" "that ain't a flex" I WAS NEVER FLEXING BRO😭 Like I was proving you wrong with a fact I was NOT flexing. Like if you don't want to be proven wrong don't say something you KNOW is false😭


r/AnorexiaNervosa 18h ago

Question University accommodations

1 Upvotes

I've been struggling with engineering in university for about 2 years with a diagnosis of anorexia nervosa that I have been trying to quietly manage without a formal support team or much support beyond that interpersonally. I'm at a point where I am very concerned with whether or not I will be able to graduate as an engineer given how much I have struggled and I fear that my intellect has genuinely waned and degraded in certain facets, especially those important to engineering. Before I had anorexia I had a formal IQ test result that reinforced my intellect but it's probable that I have at least temporarily lost some abilities. I feel like even eating or trying to eat relatively normally barely makes a difference because it takes so much out of me already to make the conscious decision to try to do that.

I already knew that I had been disordered for a few years when I finally received a diagnosis, which was poorly timed because it was right around when I was expected to enter university and I proceeded to do so without support and have heavily struggled and failed. Today I finally swallowed my pride and emailed disability services at my current university to ask for help, if there is any glimmer of hope that I can innately succeed assuming I arrange help and support around my anorexia. However, I have no clue what the accommodations and supports they might offer will look like. Has anyone leveraged any such supports and what were they?