Swallowing foreign bodies.

It's called seriously needing mental help. She's 19 and doing this??

It's a button placebo.;-) How many buttons you gotta swallow before you're not hungry? They say
they're not suffering ill effects, but if they're doing this with a gang-like mentality, they may
not be willing to admit it.

--

Virginia "Forgiveness is easier to obtain than permission."

www.thedesignuniverse.com

"Alasdair Baxter" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

My neice (19) and some of her mates have taken up swallowing various foreign bodies "for fun". The
items swallowed include watches with the batteries taken out, marbles, coins, buttons, necklaces,
ankle chains, plastic model men, and squishy plastic aliens etc. I am assured that none of the
items are sharp, pointed or toxic.

They have been doing this for over six months now and no-one has suffered any ill effects. My
neice says that the objects just go down the toilet like everything else they swallow.

Apparently this activity stops them wanting to take "fattening" snacks.

Please, can someone tell me what this condition is called if, indeed, it is a condition and what
harm, if any, is likely to follow from continuing with it.

The girls see no need to go to the doctor as they are not feeling ill.

--

Alasdair Baxter, Nottingham, UK.Tel +44 115 9705100; Fax +44 115 9423263

"It's not what you say that matters but how you say it.
It's not what you do that matters but how you do it"

Alasdair Baxter said:

Please, can someone tell me what this condition is called if, indeed, it is a condition and what
harm, if any, is likely to follow from continuing with it.

Dunno what it's called; but it certainly *is* a condition deserving of medical attention: I once had
a girlfriend who was seriously eating-disordered (first anorexia; then bulimia too...) and who had
finally taken to eating handfulls of *gravel* when the pain of hunger got too strong. If that didn't
work, she would (I discovered) occasionally eat pieces of old food found in street trash or/and
drink a whole bottle of vodka 'to take the pain away'.

Point is, your niece's behaviour has *already* reached the point of serious self-harm.

But here's the problem. If you do nothing, the sufferer can greatly damage their health and may even
die. But if you get them into treatment for their basic eating disorder, the success rate is not
great, and the relapse rate after treatment is horrifyingly high. And if someone other than the
sufferer gets involved and 'outs' them to a doctor (which was the mistake I made...), the problem is
made more complicated because of trust and 'control' issues.

In short, there is no 'clever option' here. I wish I could suggest one; your post brings it all back
to me. Jeez.

All I can say is: speak to a 'professional' asap. It's 'pot luck', and in any case psycho-medical
science is (was?) still pretty much at a loss in this field. But they'll tell you the latest
'correct' thing to do...

My girlfriend had (this was 1997) every available kind of help (wealthy family, you see). Nothing
worked; bad outcome. The poor, poor love.

Ph.

After watching some of the European flicks I wouldn't mind just licking some of theose
"foreign bodies"

"Alasdair Baxter" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

My neice (19) and some of her mates have taken up swallowing various foreign bodies "for fun". The
items swallowed include watches with the batteries taken out, marbles, coins, buttons, necklaces,
ankle chains, plastic model men, and squishy plastic aliens etc. I am assured that none of the
items are sharp, pointed or toxic.

They have been doing this for over six months now and no-one has suffered any ill effects. My
neice says that the objects just go down the toilet like everything else they swallow.

Apparently this activity stops them wanting to take "fattening" snacks.

Please, can someone tell me what this condition is called if, indeed, it is a condition and what
harm, if any, is likely to follow from continuing with it.

The girls see no need to go to the doctor as they are not feeling ill.

--

Alasdair Baxter, Nottingham, UK.Tel +44 115 9705100; Fax +44 115 9423263

"It's not what you say that matters but how you say it.
It's not what you do that matters but how you do it"