by krzt3ll3 » Fri Nov 05, 2010 4:15 pm
I don't know if I'm in the right forum, but I hope someone can help me. One of my closest friends just moved back from France to USA for work. Long story short, she spent about 6 months here (in the US) from January to June 2010, where she lived with her ex-girlfriend (who is also a good friend of mine) and it was a very traumatic experience for her, since she was still very dependent on her ex and still in-love with her, but her ex treated her very badly. She moved back to France for a few months this summer, in order to get her visas and save up some money. She just moved back here about 2-3 weeks ago and has been/will continue to be my boyfriend and I's roommate. We noticed early on that she was really underweight and would eat little. We both knew something was up, but didn't really know how to bring it up. She opened up to us about 2 days ago. Told us this was difficult for her and she was ashamed of herself, but she told us she had been struggling with an eating disorder for a long time. She said her parents helped a lot when she moved back home and she felt like she was very close to overcoming the disorder. I've noticed that she barely eats with us, or takes a really long time to eat so she can act like she's done when we are and has eaten about 1/3 of what we eat. When we go to bed at night, if she drinks, we'll wake up to a kitchen filled with dirty dishes, an empty fridge and a what looks like a tornado went through the house. She fell twice in the shower so far and broke the glass door (I think she passes out from not enough food + too much alcohol). This is really concerning me because she admits to having the disorder and saying she's almost overcome it, but she doesn't eat much, walks to go everywhere and when we go to bed eats everything in sight and I'm 99% sure she throws it up after because I've found the bathroom to be a mess too and particles of food in the shower in the morning. It is very frustrating for many reasons, I care so much about her and want her to get better. At same time, I really don't want to come by as insensitive because I really truly love my friend and care about her and I know this is a very sensitive issue, but my boyfriend and I work really hard to make ends meet, and when we wake up in the morning to have all our food gone (and then find out it's been thrown up anyways) it's a little discouraging. What can I do to help my friend get better? I know with these things, depending on how I act and what I say, it could either push her further into it and make her try to hide it even more, or it could really help her to overcome this and get better.