# How do people with eating disorders (specifically not eating enough) manage? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 21, 2026, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-with-eating-disorders-specifically-not-eating-enough-manage/1032465 "2026-08-21T12:22:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![sb1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a87d85/32.png) [@sb1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sb1953)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2026, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-with-eating-disorders-specifically-not-eating-enough-manage/1032465/61 "2026-08-27T19:33:19Z")
My daughter has an eating disorder. It is so sad to see her getting thinner and thinner. Her typical response to food is to leave the room at mealtimes. She will get up in the night and sneak food from the fridge, eat it and go back to bed. When she gets so hungry she is miserable she drinks alcohol (vodka). Eventually she gets nausea that won’t stop, then her husband sees that she is hospitalized and put on vitamins and regular diet, and returns home. In about a year the cycle happens again. She refuses to discuss what is going on and will not seek psychiatric help. she is 45 years old. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2026, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-with-eating-disorders-specifically-not-eating-enough-manage/1032465/62 "2026-08-27T19:41:24Z")
> [@sb1953](#): > > In about a year the cycle happens again. She refuses to discuss what is going on and will not seek psychiatric help. she is 45 years old. I’m just so sorry to hear this. It is the most heartbreaking disorder. And there is so little one can do to help an adult who doesn’t want help. :gentle hugs: ---
**Author:** ![sb1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a87d85/32.png) [@sb1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sb1953)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2026, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-with-eating-disorders-specifically-not-eating-enough-manage/1032465/63 "2026-08-29T12:36:24Z")
Thank you I will see her today. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2026, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-with-eating-disorders-specifically-not-eating-enough-manage/1032465/64 "2026-08-29T14:22:07Z")
> [@TruCelt](#): > > :gentle hugs: me too ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2026, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-with-eating-disorders-specifically-not-eating-enough-manage/1032465/65 "2026-08-29T14:39:24Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > Diazoxide is also an option. Obviously your medical team would know better than me, but I don’t know if they’ve discussed them as options. Yes, I’ve had insulin levels measured. They seem to spike in reaction to a lot of dietary sugar, including fruit, but it’s not as bad-- my doctor thinks the fiber in fruit helps the sugar to be released a little more slowly, plus I don’t eat it on an empty stomach, unless it’s with something like Greek yogurt, because protein will help slow he sugar down. I actually have a lot of fruit, and some of the more carb-heavy vegetables in my diet, but I’m careful about how I eat it, and I strongly avoid anything with added sugar. Keeping dietary sugar very low, pretty much kept things under control until a couple of years ago, and no one knows why, but the CGM has made it clear the my sugar will spike higher and steeper than anyone realized. I’ve never had gastric bypass surgery, and was first diagnosed with hypoglycemia around age 25, when I was pretty slender. There’s an autoimmune disorder in my family, where the pancreas is the target. It causes so-called “juvenile diabetes” to strike adults sometime around age 65. It can happen any time after about 50, and as late as 75, but the peak age is 65, if I understood my doctor correctly. Since my doctor has never mentioned this treatment, I wonder if it can mask the onset of this type of diabetes, which I’ve been considered at high risk for? Additionally, my father died of pancreatic cancer, so if it has even a very low, but significant association with that, my doctor probably wouldn’t give it to me. ---
**Author:** ![billy-jack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac91a4/32.png) [@billy-jack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billy-jack)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2026, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-with-eating-disorders-specifically-not-eating-enough-manage/1032465/66 "2026-08-29T19:23:53Z")
One guy with diabetes told me that he has no issues with blood sugar as long as he eats channa dal every day. According to him, channa dal has the lowest glycemic index of any food. In case you haven’t seen it, channa dal is a lentil tht resembles a split pea. Some unscrupulous people will label packages of split peas as channa dal to command a higher price. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-with-eating-disorders-specifically-not-eating-enough-manage/1032465.md?page=3)