My friend has been starving himself and vomiting up his food consistently for the past 2 years i’d say, he’s about 65kg whilst being around 6’1, i try to tell him that it’s bad for your health and that sooner or later he’ll just put the weight back on again anyway, but he hasn’t, he’s stayed being relatively skinny and there has been no changes in his behaviour or personality in fact i’d say he’s much happier than he’s ever been.
In: Biology
Your friend has an eating disorder called bulemia nervosa. What they can expect is to lose their teeth pretty soon as all that stomach acid they’ve vomiting up chews through the enamel on their teeth.
They’ll also have a whole lot of other problems, like lower bone density, heightened risk of throat cancer, tears in the throat lining… Let’s stop to look at that one for a second.
Every time your friend throws up they’re bringing stomach acid up through their throat. Now that’s burning your throat. How seriously? It’s acid designed to dissolve a piece of steak or other meat. Except your friend’s throat is the piece of meat. If it happens occassionally (like when you’re sick) the body has time to heal, but with your friend regularly throwing up there’s no time to heal, so those burns become deeper and deeper.
Does your friend like talking? Because they can kiss that goodbye. The vomit will dissolve their vocal cords, and that’s not the worst of it.
One of those burns will eventually find its way to the carotid artery in their throat and one day while they’re throwing up they’ll feel blood rushing down their throat as they drown in their own blood. And there’s virtually nothing you can do to save someone when this happens unless you happen to have an intubation kit handy – and you won’t unless you’re in a hospital emergency room.
Your friend is killing themselves. They’re doing it slowly, but they’re killing themselves.
You need to tell someone and get them help before they find themselves lying on the bathroom floor vomiting up blood and then dead. And it won’t take long, I’d give them 30 seconds of consciousness, 1 minute to hypovolemic shock, and maybe 5 minutes until brain death at the outside. Even if you’re in a hospital when this happens the odds on getting help in time are slim.
Your friend needs help urgently. Before they end up dead.
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