(Loving Hec's "translation". My visit was too short...I really wanted to meet him. Not in a creepy single-person-hanging-out-in-the-park way.) One day, must attempt to grok baseball, but will have to start from "strikes bad. Tree pretty." so intimidated, I have to say.

I really need Hivemind help. My niece, 18, went to 6 months of rehab for drug abuse at the end of her senior year of high school, She did go to college and finished her freshman year. She has not started using drugs (she has weekly drug tests) but has been drinking and her bulimia has gotten worse. Because of this, her mom said she had to go back to rehab or leave the house. She left, crashed with friends for a couple of weeks and is now at my mom's house (with her mom's blessing). I believe she is getting outpatient care.

We all have lots of experience with substance abusers, so that's beng dealt with. However, none of us know how to handle the Bulimia. No one else in the family has had an eating disorder. What is the best course? Insist she stop eating? Insist she eats? Stop her if it looks like she is going to go vomit? Let her talk about it? Tell her not to alk about it?

I've gotten seriously invested in the Gordon Ramsey show - I think what I like in reality shows is seeing people actually working at their craft and learning their jobs during the show.

This is a different one, more focused on him and his regular life. But I like HK, too - that scene when that girl burned her hand you really saw how damn good he is, that it's not all just bluster.

This other show, The F Word, I think will hit BBCA soon. Him at home with his kids (where he's making them raise the turkeys for Xmas dinner), in his restaurant with various celebs, doing a handful of dishes, and then a cook off. With his mom, in one of the eps I saw.

To show I can think of things other than family tsuris, let me mention that I LOVE Gordon Ramsey.

What is the best course? Insist she stop eating? Insist she eats? Stop her if it looks like she is going to go vomit? Let her talk about it? Tell her not to alk about it?

My only experience with this was a friend who was dangerously anorexic when we were in high school. She was in and out of the hospital a few times, and has been in therapy most of her life. From what I could tell with her, therapy was the only thing that got her through it.

I think with eating disorders, a lot of it has to do with control. So "catching" her about to vomit, or ordering her to eat/not eat, may only make the situaiton worse, in that she might be more careful about hiding it.

I'm so sorry she's going through this. Vibes for you and her and your mom, Robin.

None of the bulimics I know would listen to friends or family, Robin. I'm with Amy on the professional help.

There are excellent short-term outpatient treatments for bulimia these days. One is a cognitive-behavioral treatment, and the other is based on interpersonal therapy. Both of these have been proven to help most people in a short time.

The only problem is that the treatments are relatively new, so that you usually have to be in a large city or a university town to find the real thing.

Headdesk. Headdesk. Headdesk.

I need a new fucking life.

{{SuziQ}}

What be up?

{{{Suzi}}}