The Long Term Effects of Anorexia
Jul 15th, 2008 by zania
In a recent post I spoke about my Anorexia. I still say ‘my’, because I consider Anorexia to be one of those illnesses that never completely goes away.
You may have overcome the need to starve yourself to a skeleton. You may even be able to convince yourself that you are slim and do not need to diet when you look in the mirror. But Anorexia is always there in the background, waiting to catch you out when you are feeling depressed and put you on that whole, horrible downward spiral again.
So I always say I am a ‘latent anorexic’ and, as long as it stays latent, that will suffice.
But having Anorexia a while ago has had other effects on my health. For instance, I have been told that when the Anorexia halted my menstrual cycle for 2 years, it left my growing body without enough oestrogen for that time. Along with the other dietary insufficiences I suffered during my battle with Anorexia, I may have done untold harm for later years. I was told, for instance, that I probably wouldn’t be able to have children. Luckily that wasn’t the case and I have two lovely daughters now.
And knowing that I have proved the medics wrong in one area, at least gives me hope that their predictions could be incorrect in others. But then the reality sinks in…
Already, a scan has shown that my bones are on the thin side and I have to have regular bone scans to make sure I am not developing osteoporosis, although the medical consensus seems to be that I will probably develop it later anyhow. So I have to make sure I get sufficient calcium and vitamin D and do bone-building (weight bearing) exercises on a very regular basis, plus take the birth control pill, not so much for birth control, but to ensure my body gets enough oestrogen. All just to halt that Anorexia-induced ticking clock.
And I guess as I get older, I will eventually become one of those women whose bone health relies on daily HRT medication and calcium supplements. Could be worse I suppose…
But now something has happened which has made the reality of the long term effects of Anorexia sink in even more.
Yesterday I broke a front tooth on a hard piece of food.
I look after my teeth. Strangely, even though I suffer from depression, I have one of those faces that smiles a lot, so my teeth show. So I want them to look nice and I floss and clean them to perfection. I certainly couldn’t go long with a broken front tooth!
I booked an emergency appointment and turned up at the dentist’s today, hoping he would be able to fix the tooth with a cap or a crown straight away. He took lots of xrays.
The results are not good. It appears my teeth are showing unnatural signs of weakness for my age. They will all, within the next few years, have to be crowned, and eventually I will need implants if I want any teeth left at all. This I will get done somehow despite the very high cost. The other option doesn’t even bear thinking about…
The dentist asked me if I had had a major illness in the past. I said no… only anorexia. He just sighed and nodded knowingly. He thinks my bout of Anorexia is almost definitely the reason for the weakness in my teeth.
I still have the broken front tooth, but I do have an appointment for the end of the week to fit a nice new crown… plus forward appointments for a couple more crowns which will have to be done before those teeth break too.
Having a past history of Anorexia never used to bother me. I thought that once I had conquered it (made sure it was ‘latent’ anyway), I could get on with my life and thank goodness that I had acted in time to save my health.
But it wasn’t quite that simple, was it?
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