Medical Complications in Patients with Eating Disorders: An ER Perspective

A healthy-looking young woman comes into the emergency room complaining of lightheadedness, dizziness, tiredness, dehydration and constipation. She tells you she doesn’t know what’s wrong, but what she is not telling you is that she has an eating disorder. How do you find out? More importantly, how do you avoid complications that may arise from using conventional treatments for patients without eating disorders?

I often come across questions posted on websites and forums asking if others have experienced a particular symptom, what could be causing it and whether going to the hospital is necessary. I am not a physician, not training to be a physician and not doing research in anything directly relevant to medicine or health. Moreover, I always use caution when answering questions online – the best advice is to go see a doctor (but of course, that’s not always possible, unfortunately).

My goal with this post … Continue reading →