Heya sorry it's taking me a couple of days to udate but I'm trying to do as much as I can. There's a lot of anorexia info in this so you can totally skip it if you don't feel like reading it. I have put in the website address where I got the info it's form the NHS website (I'm British by the way and it stands for National Health Service) and there's more infor on the website if anyone wants to take a look! Much Love xoxox
No-one's POV
A single tear slid down Troy's cheek. All he could think about was why was she doing this. It had only taken him a matter of seconds to know what was going on once he looked through the window. He knew that he couldn't face confronting tonight. It had to think about this, and probably talk to the gang, especially the girls maybe they would know how to help him sort it. He quietly climbed down from the balcony and dragged himself home. By the time his feet crossed the threshold to his home his mind was in overdrive. He decided that he needed to do some research. He couldn't help Gabby unless he knew what was really going on with her and maybe it would tell him what to do. He typed the word "anorexia into google and this is what he came up with. This was the website address: http://www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk/articles/article.aspx?articleId27 . The information that he found said:
"Anorexia nervosa means loss of appetite for nervous reasons. However, this is misleading because people with anorexia nervosa may have a normal appetite, but drastically control their eating so as not to satisfy their appetite. People with anorexia do not wish to starve themselves to death, but they may deny the seriousness of a very low body weight.
If you have anorexia you may have an intense fear of gaining weight and losing control of your body shape. Your focus on food may become a means of controlling your life. You may feel life is just happening to you and that what you eat is the one part of your life you are able to control. To exercise control over your body shape, you may use restrictive dieting and/or intense exercise programmes. You may also use laxatives and diurestics.
Although it is likely that there is some link to the importance modern society places on being thin, the causes of anorexia nervosa are complex and are also linked to feelings of control and self-worth.Anorexia nervosa often starts between the ages of 15 and 25, but it can develop in children as young as 10 and in older people. Although 90 of those who develop anorexia are women, the condition also affects men. Anorexia nervosa is found in all social groups and almost all cultural groups.
It is difficult to estimate how widespread anorexia nervosa is, but surveys suggest that 1 of young girls (age 15-25) have the condition."
Troy needed to know what the symptoms were as well. Because he needed to be 100 certain that this was what was wrong. For the physical changes he found:
"The physical changes that anorexia nervosa can cause include:
slow, progressive weight loss, often starting with a normal weight-reducing diet. Children and teenagers with anorexia may still gain weight, but not enough in relation to the normal growth rate for a person of their age,
stomach pains, swollen stomach and constipation or diarrhoea
fainting, dizzy spells and feeling cold,
downy hair growth on the body,
dry, rough or discoloured skin,
hair that thins, breaks or falls out,
swelling of the hands, feet or face,
teeth problems, caused by acid from the stomach rotting away the tooth enamel during repeated vomiting
insomnia and fatigue
loss of bone mass and the onset of osteoporosis (brittle bones) caused by low calcium levels,
low blood pressure,
changes to pulse rate and rhythm caused by changes in blood potassium levels, and
blood changes, including anaemia, low white cell count, plasma and platelet abnormalities"
He also discovered that anorexia can affect behaviour:
"Anorexia nervosa can also cause personality and behavioural changes. A person with anorexia may:
have an intense fear of gaining weight and a distorted perception of their own body shape - even a normal, healthy body weight may make them feel tense and panicky,
spend an excessive amount of time in front of a mirror and see themselves as very fat despite visual evidence to the contrary,
wear baggy clothes to disguise their true weight,
deny that there is a problem with their weight,
become depressed
experience mood swings,
become more serious, introverted or restless,
feel guilty, lose confidence or self-esteem, or become less assertive and more dependent
lose interest in their normal activities, becoming focused on their diet,
develop rituals attached to eating and hiding food,
over-exercise,
begin vomiting in secret and/or taking laxatives, or
use appetite suppressants and/or diuretics"
Even after finding out the symptoms and knowing what anorexia was Troy sill couldn't be certain this was the cause. Gabriella meant the world to him but for now he would have to sit back and observe. This is because so far she had only shown a few of the symptoms. He decided he would go to bed, that way he might dream up a solution to this major problem.
Gabriella's POVAll Saturday I was working out. It was the longest that I had ever went without a break. Troy had left me a couple of messages but I ignored them all. My mum had started to become really annoying. I think she must have known what was wrong because she started to come home earlier and try and make me sit down to meals which I refused to eat. And all through today she had been bringing yoghurts and smoothies up to my room for me. But every single one of them went untouched. I had a feeling that Mrs Bolton had told my mum something. After she did tend to fuss over me an awful lot. I carried on until about nine o'clock at night, then decided to record the good progress that I was hopefully making.
Gabriella's DiaryDear Diary,
Today I worked really hard to make sure I put right the things that I ate at the Bolton household on Friday night. I decided to have some fun and measure my waist and thighs and see how far I had come since a doctor had done this a couple of years ago. I wrote them down somewhere but I can't seem to find them now. But I do remember that my waist is now 3inches smaller!!! I was a bit worried earlier because I thought I heard rustling outside but I think it was just the neighbours cat. I really don't want to go to school on Monday but I suppose I can just avoid everyone. That way I can just do this myself. Their all to busy to care anyway.
Still Day 15 Start Weight: 119lbsLast Wighing: 102lbs
Current Weight: 99lbs
Weightloss; 3lbs
Total Weitloss: 20lbs
No-ones POVGabriella went in the bath after she had finished writing in her diary. At 10.15 she went downstairs to get a glass of water.
"Gabriella" her mum was sat on on the sofa in the lounge in front of her laptop. "I have to go away for two weeks and I have to leave tomorrow. There's a work conference in New York and I have to go…would you like to come with me sweetheart?" Gabriella knew that her mum was hoping she would say yes, because she wanted to make sure she was ok. However Gabriella saw this as a way for her mother to watch over her like a baby…like she didn't trust her.
"Mum I don't want to have to catch up on two weeks of work. Plus me and Sharpay and Taylor are going shopping next weekend and we've had it planned for a while." Gabriella knew that her mum would back down if she played the school AND friend card. She had always been very serious about her school work and because she had moved cross country so much she had never had any real friends that she had stayed in touch with. And her mother knew that she was extremely close with the rest of the gang. Especially because she was an only child and the youngest of all her friends, they were like her brothers and sisters.
"Okay then well I already called the gangs parents to let them know what's happening incase you need anything and Taylor and Sharpay told me to tell you that they're organizing a sleepover at each of their houses. So as long as you turn up at school get your work done and keep the house clean…then I'm fine with you staying here."
"Okay mum night!" Gabriella went off to bed hoping that her friends wouldn't notice that she wouldn't be eating at the sleepovers. And she prayed that Troy wouldn't talk about Friday night because as far as she was concerned it was already forgotten.
Let me know what you think I'm having some pretty good ideas about the chapter and all I'm gunna say is that Troy does have a bit of a temper tantrum and someone will end up in hospital because of something that someone else did!!
Much Love!
xoxox
