Dakota Fanning at the Orphans' play opening night

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massive update

Hi!! 

So over the weekend I've been having lots of tests, medical and psychiatric, so that my discharge can be planned! And this morning i had my review :)

so most of you know that i've been in hospital/inpatient for...8 months ish now? when i first started posting here as an ill 13 year old with a bmi around 10, a heart rate of 35bpm, breathing difficulties, serious incontinence, inability to walk properly etc etc people thought i was going to die.

but following my review i can assure you all that i have beaten anorexia nervosa. 

my bmi is up from just over 10, to 17.8. 

my heart rate is at a perfectly healthy 80bpm, over double what my recovery began with!

i am very energetic, i can breathe and walk normally and am almost ready to return to ballet classes. 

my bladder muscle has pretty much fully restrengthened and whilst i SOMETIMES (happened yesterday for the first time in 17 days, and only happened because i am now weaning off my incontinence pills) do still wet myself i'm definitely almost back to normal!

i have A LOT of home leave these days and i've been able to enjoy days out with my mum and with my friends

i am enjoying my food and feeling much better about myself. there's now 'a boy' on the scene hehe, and if i was ill i know that wouldn't happen! i also think i might be starting my period soon...

so, yeah :)

recovery can be done :)

i'm always here for advice x

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Study: THIS Common Pre-Marathon Habit Could Cause Serious Side Effects

It's been a scary week for marathon runners; it feels weird to write anything marathon-related right now without addressing that first. But once we take a step back, we know that, ultimately, running is still good for us -- more likely to do our bodies good than to do them harm. Now, however, a new study shows a potential danger that many marathoners face every time they toe the line. And it's due to a common pre-race ritual -- one that I've definitely done, and you probably have, too!

So what should we NOT be doing before a race? Popping painkillers. Everyday OTCs like aspirin, ibuprofen and acetaminophen can cause serious side effects when paired with endurance sports, says the study, published today in the online journal BMJ Open -- serious enough to affect your performance, or even land you in the hospital.

When German researchers surveyed nearly 4,000 runners after a local marathon and half marathon, 49 percent of respondents said they'd popped pain meds beforehand in hopes of a pain-free race. But overall, the medicated runners were five times more likely to suffer complications during or after the event, including stomach cramps, cardiovascular problems, gastrointestinal bleeds, blood in their urine, and joint and muscle pain.

Those who took medication were slightly less likely to drop out of the race due to muscle cramps -- but more likely to drop out because of GI distress (which, if you ask me, is worse than a little knee pain). Nine of them also ended up in the hospital for kidney failure, bleeding ulcers, or heart attacks, compared to none of the non-medicated runners. Taking more than the recommended dosage -- as 43 percent of ibuprofen users in the study did -- raised the risk of side effects significantly.

Painkillers prevent the formation of prostaglandins, hormone-like substances involved in the body's inflammatory process. But, the authors say, prostaglandins also protect the body under extreme stress (e.g. marathon running), and without them, we're at risk for more serious injury.

Bottom line? Use pain meds sparingly, and only when you really need them. And if you're relying on them to get through your workouts, talk to your doctor about a safer, longer-term solution. Stay safe out there, runners!

Do you ever pop pain meds before a run? Will this change your mind about it? Tweet us at @amandaemac and @SELFmagazine.

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Image Credit: Arthur Belebeau

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Zyprexa

Just wondering what others experiences have been on zyprexa?

I've been on and off it for a good 3 years and I'm a good 15kg over my where I feel happy. I'm on 7.5mg at the moment but I have a feeling it will be upped to 10mg tomorrow as my symptoms have increased.

Have others experienced weight gain? And at what dose? I've been on as high as 15mg before. My doctor says it doesn't cause weight gain, but it does. It makes me want to eat and eat. However I've tried pretty much every other atypical antipsychotic there is and the only other one that really work was respiridone and that caused lacatation so I had to come off it (it didn't cause weight gain or increased appetite so that's a bummer). I'm just at a loss at what to do next. I try and stick to a mealplan that my dietitian has made up which seems fine but I have been going over it by a fair bit because I just crave sugary food so much- chocolate to be specific. I try and keep it out of the house, but that isn't always possible unfortunately and if it isn't there then I'll eat something else processed which occassionally leave to purging (like 1-2 times a week).

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Doutzen Kroes V Natalie Portman

Natalie Portman rocked the very same style dress to the Golden Globes more than a year before Doetzen. As a longtime Lanvin-fan, it was no surprise to find Ms P wearing a fashion-forward gown designed by Elber Albaz. Opinions were mixed when the Black Swan star wore this during award season, but our fashion editor Dana loved it even then.

WINNER: It has to be Natalie, hands down - if only for having the fashion foresight to pick this on-trend look a full 15 months before it would really hit its stride. Also Nat's updo allows the gown to do the talking, but in our heart of hearts we still can't totally fault Doutzen for opting for curls that glossy.

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Weekend Project! DIY Waterproof Coasters

Meet one of SELF's Editorial Assistants, Alyssa. When's she not scoping out the latest pop culture trends for our Entertainment department, Alyssa can usually be found DIYing. We tap into her craftiness to find out what she's whipping up every week.

As I get older (and yes, I know 23 isn't really "old"), I go through more and more life stages with my friends -- and right now, we're all heavily into the "moving out" phase.

With so many apartment-warming parties to go to, I needed a few unique gift options (Because really, how many tea kettles does one apartment need?), and these DIY photo coasters seemed like the perfect solution. You can take creative license with these and use whatever image you want -- one ripped out of a magazine, printed off a camera, or in my case, a few of your Instagram photos. (We love the site Prinstagram for printing ours!)

You'll need:

4 plain coasters (we got ours for under $8 at Crate and Barrel)Mod Podge in "Glossy"A sponge brushClear Acrylic gloss spray

Trim your photos to the size of the coasters, making the image end slightly before the edges of the coaster. Coat the back of your chosen photo with a generous dose of Mod Podge (but not too much -- you want it to dry, after all!).

Let the Mod Podge dry for about 15 seconds, then place your coaster over the photo and press gently, adhering it to the sticky side of the photo. Allow it to dry for at least 20 minutes without picking it up (Patience, students.)

One the photo is applied to the coaster, it's time to topcoat. You're going to want to coat the image and coaster with at least three coats of Mod Podge, allowing it to dry for 15 minutes (or until clear) between coats.

Once the final coat has dried, spray all of the coasters with a clear acrylic gloss spray, which ensures that they're waterproof/drink proof. Because you know you'll be putting a few margaritas on these babies!

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Pets Battling Cancer Can Join Clinical Trials Too

Vets, physicians say a new system may speed up drug discovery for dogs, cats and humans

By Barbara Bronson Gray

HealthDay Reporter

THURSDAY, June 13 (HealthDay News) -- If you hear that a friend's beloved family member has joined a clinical trial for cancer treatment, don't assume the patient is human.

Cancer is the leading cause of death in older dogs and cats, and clinical trials offer hope that effective medications will be developed -- for humans and their four-legged friends, cancer experts say.

The new National Veterinary Cancer Registry, launched last month by a national team of animal and human cancer doctors, will point pet owners toward clinical trials that might benefit their beloved companions and speed up the development of life-saving therapies for humans.

"We will be able to decrease the cost and beat the time involved in drug discovery," said the registry's founder, Dr. Theresa Fossum, a professor of surgery at Texas A&M University's college of veterinary medicine.

Because many similar diseases affect people and their animals, veterinarians and physicians say a lot can be learned from studying how treatments work in cats and dogs.

The drug-assessment process could be accelerated by a simple fact: dogs age many times faster than humans, and their cancers progress more rapidly too. Also, many canine and feline cancers -- including sarcoma; non-Hodgkin lymphoma; leukemia; mesothelioma; and bone, ovarian, kidney, uterine and oral cancers -- are virtually the same cancers humans have.

Experts not involved with the registry said the concept of the database looks promising.

"These clinical trials would be more real-world than a lab experiment," said Dr. Peter Rabinowitz, associate professor of medicine at Yale School of Medicine and head of the Yale Human Animal Medicine Project, which studies clinical connections between human and animal medicine.

Dogs often are an interesting model for better understanding environmentally induced cancers, Rabinowitz said. "Asbestos causes cancer in humans 35 years [after exposure], but if you're a dog, you get it in four to five years, so we can see how the cancers develop more naturally," he said.

Fossum said she has always been bothered by the slow and cumbersome way drugs are tested. "If it's a cancer drug, they're going to put a human tumor in a mouse ... but it's not very predictive of how drugs will work in people," she said.

Then, after tests to see if the drugs might be toxic in humans, the drugs are evaluated in human clinical trials, which take more than a decade to conduct. "So the drugs that are coming out now were starting [to be evaluated] 12 years ago," she said.

Testing the drugs in pets speeds up the process, allowing researchers to determine if a medication works before taking it to human clinical trials, Fossum said. With a pet owner's informed consent, "we can try a new drug that seems promising a lot sooner," she said.

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