I have a nice, shiny bruise on my knee, from smacking it on the turnstile in the subway. I have always bruised fairly easily, but never quite like when I was deeply anorexic. From the knee down, my legs were simply mottled with black-and-blue marks, most of which I couldn't remember receiving.
During my last residential stay, I was given several theories:
I was a klutz. Okay, point taken. I AM a klutz. In fact, I was voted "Class Klutz" in high school, although I'm sure it didn't help that I lit my hand on fire in chemistry lab the day before the vote and got rushed to the ER. With nurses and specialists baffled at my bruising, I was told (jokingly) to "stop running into stuff so much!"
I was Vitamin C deficient . Now, one of the symptoms of Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) deficiency is easy bruising, and in scurvy, the most severe form of deficiency, the most common cause of death is hemorrhage. Your capillaries leak uncontrollably, and your nose and gums bleed horribly. Not pretty. Supplements helped, but it didn't control things completely.
I didn't have enough fat on my body. This was fairly true. Fat is padding, and I basically didn't have any.
It turns out, though, that the lack of fat in my diet was as much to blame as the lack of fat on my body.
With the bruising not really abating, I finally asked my all-knowing psychiatrist about it. I pushed up my pant leg, and he took one look and said, "You're not getting enough Vitamin K." He went on to explain that Vitamin K is a clotting factor (which I knew), and that it is also a fat-soluble vitamin. Most Americans don't have Vitamin K deficiencies, because it is easily obtained from a variety of foods.
My problem, he said, wasn't a lack of Vitamin K in my diet. My problem was a lack of fat. Without fat in my diet, I couldn't absorb the Vitamin K that I was eating. Without fat on my body, I couldn't store the Vitamin K.
His advice? Not supplements, but fat. He jokingly (or maybe not so jokingly) calls lard the ultimate health food. "Eat more fat, Carrie."
When I stared
refeeding at home, my bruises literally disappeared within a week or two. I had been in residential treatment, among ED experts, who had failed to crack this mystery. Amazing. It was all about making peace with butter.
During my last residential stay, I was given several theories:
I was a klutz. Okay, point taken. I AM a klutz. In fact, I was voted "Class Klutz" in high school, although I'm sure it didn't help that I lit my hand on fire in chemistry lab the day before the vote and got rushed to the ER. With nurses and specialists baffled at my bruising, I was told (jokingly) to "stop running into stuff so much!"
I was Vitamin C deficient . Now, one of the symptoms of Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) deficiency is easy bruising, and in scurvy, the most severe form of deficiency, the most common cause of death is hemorrhage. Your capillaries leak uncontrollably, and your nose and gums bleed horribly. Not pretty. Supplements helped, but it didn't control things completely.
I didn't have enough fat on my body. This was fairly true. Fat is padding, and I basically didn't have any.
It turns out, though, that the lack of fat in my diet was as much to blame as the lack of fat on my body.
With the bruising not really abating, I finally asked my all-knowing psychiatrist about it. I pushed up my pant leg, and he took one look and said, "You're not getting enough Vitamin K." He went on to explain that Vitamin K is a clotting factor (which I knew), and that it is also a fat-soluble vitamin. Most Americans don't have Vitamin K deficiencies, because it is easily obtained from a variety of foods.
My problem, he said, wasn't a lack of Vitamin K in my diet. My problem was a lack of fat. Without fat in my diet, I couldn't absorb the Vitamin K that I was eating. Without fat on my body, I couldn't store the Vitamin K.
His advice? Not supplements, but fat. He jokingly (or maybe not so jokingly) calls lard the ultimate health food. "Eat more fat, Carrie."
When I stared refeeding at home, my bruises literally disappeared within a week or two. I had been in residential treatment, among ED experts, who had failed to crack this mystery. Amazing. It was all about making peace with butter.