my therapist has recently informed me that it's is much more likely for women who started their behaviors between the ages of 13 and 18 to become osteopenic/develop osteoporosis than those who started after. (for the record, i do not have written evidence of this exact statistic. do not quote me on this. do the research.) this, of course, freaked me out, considering i really began in high school. it also made me a little angry at the unfairness of the fact considering.. i didn't know i was doing it. dammit, disease, you sneaky, selfish bastard.
i always knew i should have a bone density scan done. i haven't gotten one yet, but not because i'm scared; i am just really terrible at setting up appointments. (if you know me at all, you know i'm not all that fond of picking up a phone for the important things.) however, i'm a little freaked now, i'll admit. i'm holding on tightly to the fact that from birth until about age 15, i would go through a gallon of milk in 2 or 3 days; all that milk-drinkin' must count for something, right??
i would love to see how this age thing plays out. i am not sure i have enough readers who have been scanned to get an accurate representation on this, but let's give it a shot. take the poll:
if you are like me, and have made the poor decision to have a scan done yet, maybe it's time to think about looking into it. it's a scary thought; i am fully aware. but it's going to be a lot scarier if it's not caught now and worked on. osteoporosis is not curable or reversible, but it can certainly be slowed and treated. better to catch it sooner rather than later.
6 comments:
This is something I worry about too, my ed behaviours began in my early teens and now my knees click so loudly that someone always cringes or laughs.
I'm on a waiting list for ed treatment and I'm hoping I can find out if I've caused bone damage. Like youI drank a lot of milk and ate dairy products in abundance before the ed developed, hopefully they've protected our bones.
Vx
My ed started when i was 16 and i am now 31 in recovery. i did a bone scan this past year and i have slight bone loss, i will get retested in 2 years to see if it progressed. for now, lots of calcuim with vitamin d, and strength building exercises.
I voted "18+ with bone loss" because I'm currently 21, but I had a Dexa scan at age 17 that showed significant bone loss at that time, which was 4 years into my ED battle. This is definitely a major issue that many people don't think about when they are dieting, but it really does have long-term impacts on your skeleton that can come back to haunt you even years after recovery.
Hi Emmy,
New to your blog, here. I saw you had posted something from the new ED Digest feed, and really like your blog. I noticed on your blog roll you read others blogs that I also read...I wonder how we missed each other?
Looking forward to reading more...
Ooh - voted on your poll: 18+ with bone loss. I wish I had found out earlier so I couldh ave tried to do something about it...
I'm 39. I started the ED stuff at 16, and I had my first bone density scan this year.
Guess what!??? I might as well be a 69 year old woman in the right hip.
C'mon girls. Time to get to the doctor, get the scan done and start being proactive.
(Oh, and I haven't been actively eating disordered in 11 years.)
Bone loss can be corrected. Don't wait.
I developed eating disordered behavior soon after puberty, which eventually led to full blown anorexia in my early twenties. I am now 41 and was diagnosed with osteoporosis last year after my first bone scan.
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