faulker053

I want your input. I need to hear your voices. For EDAW 2015, I have volunteered to present to two medical residency programs—one in Boston, MA and one in Providence, RI on what doctors need to know about eating disorders.  I've incorporated recommendations from twitter responders and from Aspire , but I welcome more input. Here's what I have to share with new doctors so far: Avoid the ‘Don’t ask, don’t tell’ approach .   Patients rarely volunteer behaviors they feel ashamed of—bingeing, purging, diet pill and laxative abuse.   So providers need to ask. Nicely. Casually. Non-judgmentally. Include basic ED screening questions at routine visits. Early action is not just for college admissions . Eating disorders are best identified early and treated promptly. We wouldn’t simply wait it out to see if blood sugars simply turn around in a patient with type 1 diabetes. Take eating disorders as seriously as you would cancer, or The time is now for improving medical management of...

There is no one better suited to write this post than the person struggling with an eating disorder. No, it's not my post; it's a heartfelt, insightful guide from someone really in the know about what those in recovery desperately need from their caring community. This post didn't come easily. It was 'Thursday's Patient's suggestion that it be written, and my invitation for her to write it. And it took guts to put it out there, to stand naked, so to speak, and shout out that help is needed. Read it and respond--on this post and to your loved ones. Email, FB, Twitter--share it however you'd like. But do share it. Because the more you express your needs, the more you can be supported; the more you withhold, the safer your eating disorder is, maintaining the status quo. Enjoy! It's going to take more than this to recover. But it's certainly a start. Someone you care about has an eating disorder, maybe she is anorexic or bulimic. Maybe she abuses or misu...

What I Learned at the AED Meeting I’ve exceeded my 1 week limit between posts, but I’ve got a really good excuse—I’ve spent the past 4 days at the Academy of Eating Disorders (AED) Annual Conference. So I thought I’d share some personal and hopefully meaningful observations about eating, recovery, and miscellaneous thoughts: Day one, 4 hours of workshop, and what did they serve at the refreshment break? Coffee, tea and water. Period. And I wanted calories. Food. I was hungry . Half a day learning about a treatment for anorexia and I couldn’t find anything to eat! But it only got better from there—really. One of several courses eaten at Barley Swine I spent a large percentage of my 24 hours each day doing 2 things—learning about eating disorders and planning and arranging to eat—where to go, whom to go with, and what to order, to name a few. And I must say, Austin Texas has some fabulous food! My top picks?  Barley Swine and La Condesa—simply divine! Another evening we were 8—two ...