Life after anorexia: IBS

People often speak about the risks of anorexia and bulimia – how they can kill you, make your bones brittle and your hair fall out.

However, I want to talk about one very overlooked side effect, Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS). For many years I have starved and punished my body. I have abused laxatives, purged perpetually, binged frenziedly and outright refused to eat. Historically, my behaviours have left me in a critical state however my recurring battle now lies with IBS.

IBS is a fairly common complaint and is overlooked as a harmless idiopathic syndrome. However, IBS dictates my life and impacts both my physical and emotional health. I am 21 years old and I cannot eat without severe bloating, stomach pains and gastric reflux; I live off Gaviscon and other gastric medicines. I suffer from gastroparesis and irritable bladder syndrome. I do not have normal ‘bowel habits’ and suffer from rapid and extreme fluctuations. I am somewhat incontinent; my bladder is weaker than a 40-year-old woman with 5 children. I cannot bounce on a trampoline, I cannot sneeze, and I cannot hold it in. Much of my life revolves around the loo, I cannot sleep through the night or go on long journeys and despite being told that with weight restoration my symptoms should ease, that has not been the case. Almost five stone later and my symptoms have not subsided.

I hope that in time things will ease but I worry that this is a life sentence.

Not a day passes in which I do not regret how I have abused my body. I did not think I was harming myself or that my behaviours held consequences.

Nonetheless, the cold hard reality remains that if you abuse your body eventually it will break. The human body is an amazing and resilient yet fine tuned machine, it will adapt and survive under challenge but like all things, it has its limits.

Your body needs energy. Your digestive system needs food and is meant to work in a ‘forwards’ direction. If you abuse this balance then ultimately your body will begin to reject food and it will fail to digest as nature intended. Your metabolism will cling to energy giving you a somewhat ‘fatty’ exterior meanwhile your stomach will reject its contents after years of abuse. Re-swallowing food has become a daily occurrence, unpleasant I know, but painfully true.

Eating disorders are not glamorous and they are not without risk. If you are suffering please do not dismiss the damage to your health, it is very real. Eating disorders and their side effects do not need to be a life sentence, but only we, the sufferers, have the power to break free.