Anorexia is a horrible thing.

[Swede]

My nephew came back to town to see his highschool friend. He told me Sheldon was having problems since his dad died. Last night he brought sheldon over for a visit. He is 95 pounds. Sheldon is 6 feet tall. He broke down a couple of times. I am getting sheldon's phone number so i can keep in touch.

[BuelahWitch]

1. OMG that's terrible Swede!

Has he seen a doctor?

[Skittles]

2. that could be depression

I know when I get down I lose my appetite and have to drink protein shakes to keep my weight up

[Tuesday Afternoon]

3. Swede...

I am worried about Sheldon. That weight to height ratio sounds dangerously off.

[Swede]

4. He looks terrible.

He cried a couple of times. He is scared of being forced into a psych ward. He lives alone. It's pretty scary.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

5. Swede

he has psych issues...and medical. he needs help. of course he is scared but, he needs to professional help and therapy and a safe environment. he needs to learn some coping mechanisms. Maybe you can help him overcome his fears. Psych wards in a hospital environment do not have to be scary places. You should be able to visit him.

[Shell Beau]

6. That sounds dangerous.

He needs some help. BAD. 95 lbs is much much too thin for 6 feet. His organs can shut down. His heart won't be able to withstand it. I hope he gets some help. So sad.

[kwassa]

7. I knew a girl who died of anorexia at age 21.

This was in the early '70s, before much was known about the disease. She was someone who I had briefly dated in high school, and was a very nice person. I was away at college when she died, and only heard about it later.

Anorexia is very dangerous, and Sheldon should get help immediately. I think you should use whatever influence you have with your nephew and Sheldon to see he gets the medical and psychological help he needs immediately.

[Maine-ah]

8. I got down to 92lbs at the worst of mine.

that was when my Dad died too. He needs help.

[TZ]

9. Its a disease as bad as cancer in its own way

But what pisses me off is that apparantly there are a bunch of websites encouraging anorexic behavior!! :wtf:

[Heddi]

10. I had a patient a few months ago: 36 years old, 62 pounds

from anorexia.

She coded, and we had to do CPR like we do on small children, using only one hand, instead of adult CPR with 2 hands because she was so thin. The first 2-handed compression broke all of her ribs :(

she died

[Maine-ah]

11. shit.

:hug:

[Heddi]

12. it was bad. Her organs were pretty much useless at that point

her electrolyte imabalances were not able to be corrected. Fatally high levels of Potassium, Sodium, and Magnesium one day, fatally low the next day (without any medical intervention in between). She was what we call in the medical field "a fucking train wreck". There was nothing we could do to normalize her body, its systems, etc. Once we "fixed" one problem, another would arise. Get her magnesium to a semi-normal level and her potassium would jump to 6.0. Get the potassium normal and the Sodium would drop to 120. Get the sodium normal and she'd go into Torsades because the Magnesium jumped up again....we were just delaying the inevetable, when I look back on it.

She was so thin that we had to use NEONATAL IV sets on her because adult IV lines just poked right through her veins.

As she was cardiac arresting in front of us, the only place they could get an IV line was her scalp, like a preemie. Eventually that gave out and we had to give her an IO line, which is a needle stuck into a bone, like the sternum or femur.

[applegrove]

13. I hope he is getting medical attention.

[Juche]

14. You don't hear of many men with anorexia

Him dealing with his Dad's death, living alone and being under 100 pounds at 6' is bad. Even guys who are 130 at 6' are skinny as hell. So he may be having organ damage.

Zinc deficiency is shown to play a role in disorders like anorexia (assuming that is what he has). If he takes zinc, then get zinc picolinate, as that is the most bioavailable form. And its cheap. It won't cure it, but it'll help assuming this is playing a role in making his situation worse.

http://www.iherb.com/Now-Foods-Zinc-Picolinate-50-mg-120-Capsules/878?utm_source=g&utm_medium=x&at=0

http://www.alternativementalhealth.com/articles/anorexia.htm

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17272939

BACKGROUND: A randomized controlled trial of zinc supplementation in anorexia nervosa (AN) reported a two-fold increase of the rate of increase of body mass index (BMI) in the zinc group. Zinc is inexpensive, readily available and free of significant side effects. However, oral zinc supplementation is infrequently prescribed as an adjunctive treatment for AN. Understanding the mechanism of action of zinc may increase its use. HYPOTHESIS: Low zinc intake, which is very common in AN, adversely affects neurotransmitters in various parts of the brain, including gamma-amino butyric acid (GABA) and the amygdala, which are abnormal in AN. Zinc supplementation corrects these abnormalities, resulting in clinical benefit in AN. CONCLUSIONS: Oral administration of 14 mg of elemental zinc daily for 2 months in all patients with AN should be routine.

http://www.healthyplace.com/

[Odin2005]

15. OMG! I've never head of a guy with Anorexia! Best wishes for him.

:grouphug: