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687561 tn?1238400426

Recovery and Fertility

I consider myself a recovering anorexic. I am 22 and I spent nearly 4 months in a facility to help me overcome my eating/weight issues. I'm honest about everything... I know I still have a long mountain to climb as far as becoming completely healthy but I am really working on myself and I am following a healthy Raw Food diet and I exercise everyday.

I love babies and children and I always dreamt that someday I'd be a mom... but I have NEVER had a period. I have asked a doctor about this and was told that when I reach a "normal" BMI that my hormones will cause my period to start. I have gained a ton of weight and I don't believe that it will ever be "normal" for me to have a BMI above 18! I am the shortest person in my family at 5'7! We are tall and thin people... My BMI is 16 right now and I weigh the MOST I have ever weighed in my life.

Here's my question... what can I do? Can you please give me information about how to make my period come? Are there natural ways to do this? My doctors are really nice but I am too embarrassed to talk to them about this... I can tell that they think I'm pathetic - they feel sorry for me. I do not want to feel sorry for myself - I am happy and getting well!

Please help!
6 Responses
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687561 tn?1238400426
Dear Melimeli,
I am really happy for you. It sounds like you had a hard time with infertility and weight issues and you must have really fought a strong battle to overcome and conquer your ED.

Just to clarify... I know that you need to be a healthy woman needs in order to sustain a life growing inside of you! "Anorexia" is just another manifestation of my many other health issues... or should I say it is secondary to my other issues. It doesn't matter anymore. If you had read my last posting you would have understood that.

Getting pregnant is really... and should be... the last thing on my list right now. Surviving is my main goal at the moment and I realize that now.
Helpful - 0
296076 tn?1371334474
hun, you really need to get to a "healthy weight" to become fertile, imagine that your body can't even sustain you getting a period as it would take too much away from keeping you alive, how then would you provide enough to a fetus?  You really have to eat well while you are pg in order for your babies brain to grow and the rest of him too...

Also have you analyzed how you would react to seeing your body getting bigger through pregnancy?  would you be able to handle that emotionally or would you resort to trying to over exercise thus putting your baby in jeopordy?

I had the same problem about periods and infertility but for the opposite reason.  I was really overweight and lost my period for 6 years.  I was able to loose over 100lbs and my period came back.  It was a lot of work mental and physical.  Many of us battle with food but in different ways.  My period came back and I got married and pg in the same month.  Maybe you need to take the focus off of you for a while and volunteer, or find a hobby or something that will make you maybe not obsess about weight so much.  I don't really know but I hope you find peace with yourself.  I lost the weight 6 years ago and I am so much happier now that that isn't the focus of my life
Helpful - 0
687561 tn?1238400426
Just to update you...

I have been very very sick and my doctors and I agreed that my best chance at life is to have  J-tube put in so that's where I'm at now. I have a J-tube which bypasses my eating issues. I can eat if I want to but I won't die if I don't. I know I am a pathetic failure... but honestly I am better off. I am going to gain weight and maintain it.

I hope NO ONE ever has to go through what I am going through.

xoxo
Helpful - 0
687561 tn?1238400426
Thanks. I appreciate your input... I know that I need to gain some weight but isn't there anything I can do to make my period come now that I have gained enough to have a bmi of 16? Aren't there any natural things I can take to help? Someone on here recommended taking "the pill"... will that work? I am really scared that I am going to do all this work to gain 13 lbs and then nothing is going to happen and I'll just remain infertile - I need to know if this is an option. I am very worried.
Helpful - 0
363110 tn?1340920419
A BMI of 16 for you at 5'7 is too low. You need to start incorporating healthy fats into your diet and toning down your excercise a bit, you don't have to get "FAT" but to anyone who's been bulemic or anorexic they almost always view themselves as fat or gaining too much weight.
Helpful - 0
514715 tn?1338266258
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
Dear skweeny,
I’m delighted to hear you desire to recover from anorexia.  Your hard work has paid off.  Yet it will get harder before it gets easier and better.  
At a BMI of 16, you are still significantly underweight.  Although you may believe you are eating healthy, your BMI tells me you are depriving your body of the nutrients and calories it needs to be healthy.  Your body is unable to activate your period because it needs the fuel to keep you alive.  Your body will even take from your vital organs if it does not get enough fuel to function.  Your body needs more food for more nutrients.  Your body doesn’t lie.  It will honor you as you honor it.  
The research and those before you have proven weight gain with the right balance of nutrients (including fats) is the way to feel your best and eventually get your body regulating effectively to obtain and maintain your period.
To learn more about anorexia and different treatment levels of care, visit the bella vita website.

Best,

Dr. Patricia Pitts
The Bella Vita
Los Angeles, CA
Helpful - 0

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