Living with bulimia
My teenage daughter is bulimic and we've tried lots of ways to help her. She tends to be worse in winter when she's feeling down but we've discovered that a light box can help. It's a bright, artificial light that always lifts her mood, which means she's less likely to make herself sick. The small Light Therapy Pad With Nature Sounds is well priced at £69.99 on www.betterlifehealthcare.com. Well worth the money.
Margaret Blair, 37, Edinburgh
As much as I tried to help my daughter with her bulimia, I realised that she needed help from professionals. I got in touch with Beat (beat eating disorders) who told me that they could help her and that she could get support from other people going through bulimia and other eating disorders on the message boards. I persuaded her to contact them and now she's going from strength to strength. Visit www.b-eat.co.uk or call the helpline on 0845 634 1414.
Hannah Miller, 41, Dudley, West Midlands



4 months
lauren
I have lost a stone and four pounds in the past two months and reached my goal weight of 8 stone. I still don't feel very thin though. I aim to lose another 7lbs at least but my will power is flagging a bit. Im on hoodia and have bought other kinds of pills to try after those so let's see how it goes! I just want to be thin really. I have been on and off bulimic for about ten years now but never severely properly bulimic. The past 2 weeks have been horrible though. Every day without fail I have had as many as seven episodes of bingeing and puking daily and it's driving me mad. I got about 3 easter eggs over the bank holiday weekend and ate them all in one sitting. Then ate more and more and more. Cereal, cakes, ice cream, crisps, bread, anything and everything we've got in..Just for the sake of it. Because my bingeing logic has been 'if I am going to throw up I might as well stuff myself to the brim anyway'. I eat to the point where my stomache is physically bulging out and feels like it's about to pop. And I feel awful cos whilst stuffing bowl fulls of cereal and milk down my neck I am thinking 'urgh can't eat anymore' yet the binge goes on until the kitchen is empty. Then I make myself puke and it is becoming painful. I make myself do it until i cannot bear it anymore and feel like I've gotten rid of all the food inside me. But I always feel like I probably havent got rid of it all and there is still a pounds worth of chocolate sat in the pit of my belly. If i still feel bloated i take 3 laxatives for peace of mind which is pointless i know cos they take 12 hours to work. During the week the problem is not so bad because when at work I can restrict what I eat and feel good about it. But on sunday i literally spent the whole day bingeing and purgeing. I hate myself for it. I have been so good for 3 months and now I keep slipping in to greedy beast mode. My weight is not budgeing and my stomache must be expanding surely. I am even sort of planning on what I can binge on tonight. I really don't want to but part of me says 'do it!'. Im not getting help for it though cos I am no where near thin enough to warrant that. Just hope it stops and I can be a good dieter again.
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