Mom, Please Help: a True Anorexia Bulimia Story.Part 3

When Amy and I saw our local doctor, he told us that Amy had this dangerous disease called anorexia.

Well! I nearly fell of my chair; I just could not understand how in the world this had happened to Amy. I knew absolutely nothing about anorexia, except what a had read about movie stars who supposedly had all these kinds of problems through the stress of keeping thin for their careers, but Amy was only a little girl. She didn't have these kind of pressures how could she have anorexia?

Dr Thomson told me what he could and recommended we try and get Amy to see a councilor as soon as we could. He told me people die because of anorexia, it is a psychological problem not an eating one.

That the eating is a symptom of a bigger problem and we have to get to the bottom of the problem to fix it. There is nothing he could prescribe only getting her to a councilor was her only chance, or she probably would die.

I sat there completely dumb founded, my little girl could die. I didn't know what to say my heart was in my mouth, tears were flowing down my face, I was shaking and all colour had drained out of my face. I could see the concern on the doctor's eyes and he told me just to relax for a moment.

She was only 14 how could she die? I went to see the doctor thinking he would tell me it was just a normal teenage thing and not to worry as she would grow out of it: not to be told my baby could die.

We did get Amy to see a councilor a very good one for this kind of problem. For the next 2 years we battled Amy's devils and we thought we were starting to get on top of things. It was during these sessions that we found out that Amy had taken the death of her grandmother extremely badly and had bottled up all the emotions.

Also that missing out on the dance performance coming on top of all the bad emotions was a major turning point in Amy's life. To us it was a mole hill; to Amy it was Mt Everest.

During the next 2 years I read and studied everything I could find on anorexia and it was during this time I started to think about the secret I was to put into action a little bit later, which was to change everything.

Amy seemed to be hanging in there with the problem and although she did not start to have significant weight gain she did improve, or seem to improve may be a better way of saying things. After about 15 months Amy all of a sudden started to eat more, we were overjoyed.

She would even eat more than her brother sometimes and he was a big eater. We thought at last we were getting on top of this thing and even though she did not put on weight we were not that concerned.

We simply thought that after nearly 4 years of virtual starvation it would take the body a little while to revert to normal metabolism.

We never even noticed that Amy had started to binge eat and then purge herself, not only after dinner but after every meal. I was well aware that this could happen and I did keep an eye out but Amy was very cunning and sneaky, going to the bathroom down stairs in the pool area where she knew no one would go. Of course we didn't find out until it was too late.

It was August 24th 1999 we had to go away for 3 weeks on business. We received a phone call from my sister Betty who was staying looking after the house and kids. She said that Amy had collapsed at home and was in hospital and we better get back as things are not looking good.

Well! I totally panicked, I had promised myself that no way was I going to let Amy die and now there was a strong possibility that it just may happen.

The recriminations started to come thick and fast in my head, why did I go away, why didn't I see what was happening, it is all my fault, what a bad mother I am, I was worried sick.

We got to the hospital 12 hours later catching the first plane out we could get. Amy was on a drip and looked very ill, my heart fell, I was so worried this was the worst I have ever seen Amy looked and I feared of going to lose her. Amy was in and out of conciseness, I just sat there and prayed to God that he let her live.

The doctors told me her potassium level was 1.9 very low: low enough in fact that her heart could stop beating. This was the worst time in my life, to sit there and think you are about to lose a child is the most emotional traumatic thing you can go through, and my heart goes out to all those who have sat in my position.

Amy pulled through I believe with the help of God.Later I found out that Amy was vomiting up to 15 times a day over the 3 weeks while we were gone and her system just reacted to the abuse and she collapsed.

Although this was a very traumatic time for me and all the family, it did have a very positive outcome.Finally,I found the right treatment for Amy and now she is healthy and inspired by her bright future.