Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Ipecac

Let me just start by stating that I know ipecac syrup is super bad for you.  I would not recommend anyone using it & I would never use it (again).  It was meant to be used to make people throw up when they ingested poison, but is no longer recommended to be used.  It used to be able to be found easily (in a drug store or aisle) but is a lot harder to come across now.  It can damage your heart tissue/cause heart problems, among other things.  Please do not ever use the stuff.

I first came across ipecac syrup at home.  It was in a first aid type of bag my mom had.  One night in high school, I had gone down to the track to run & afterwards decided I wanted some candy bars from the grocery store behind the track.  I didn't have money on me so I made the jaunt home & then back to get them.  I ate them (don't remember how many but it was prolly like 3-4) & took the ipecac syrup.  In less than a half hour my stomach felt horrible & I got sick.  I used ipecac 2 or 3 more times after that (not within the same week or month even though) but then I stumbled across actual information (Beyond what was on the bottle) online while doing research in school & once I saw the heart tissue damage possibility, decided not to use it again.  I briefly reconsidered this decision when I was living in Florida, after high school, but thankfully stuck with not doing so.

The second time I used it, which I do remember was again with candy bars, I couldn't make it upstairs to the bathroom to throw up & ran out the front door & vomited off the side of the porch.  Thank goodness there were no neighbors around (I was living in a complex of townhouses & the time so even though I was on an end one, there were 3 more attached to mine, along with 4 more building that made a circle).  I only used it when I was home alone & knew my mom wasn't on her way home, so that wasn't an issue.

The stuff worked like it was supposed to the few times I used it.  It made me feel absolutely awful-horrible-sick-to-my-stomach & it seemed like it got whatever (usually candy) I had binged on back out.  But like I said, based on the possible side effects alone, I would never recommend anyone use it & would surely discourage anyone who was considering using it (& have done so at least a couple times in comments on blogs).  PLEASE, PLEASE STAY AWAY FROM THE STUFF!

I only share this because this is how I first got involved with Mia.  Before this point I had already done restricting & binges & stuff, but never purging.  And after my last ipecac use, it would be a couple years or so before I would (successfully anyway, not for lack of trying) purge again.  All future attempts after ipecec were purely on my own, with no assistance other than trying to gag myself to the point of puking.  I've already wrote a post about the first time I succeeded at doing that when I first started blogging almost a year ago.

Of course, I would never recommend anyone take up purging or any other sort of disordered eating habit, because even if you think you'll just do it for a little while to help with weight loss or to make you feel better in some way, that's usually not the case.  It becomes a part of you & takes over & it becomes harder & harder to turn back to before it started.

I hope you are all having a wonderful week thus far & rather it is or not, I hope the rest of the week looks up for you.  I'm so glad to have a place I can come to & talk about things like this that I can't (or rather won't) in the 'real world' outside of this blog. <3

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