A Fort Worthian

[Kelpie]

Hello, everyone! I've been anorexic my entire adult life until recently. Finally I had enough and started gaining weight and packing on the pounds in all the wrong places, namely hips and breasts. I am male but obviously I'm wondering what's going on. The last time i saw my doc i was still thin but we had hormone tests done to see what was causing the breasts.. but my hormones were normal. As a result, I don't know if it's intersex or just some crazy coincidence so when I saw this site while surfing I decided to join in, dig around, and see what i can learn.

[miriam]

First I'm not a doctor - see your doctor for a diagnosis or for more information.

Second: anorexia goes with low leptin secretion and this influences the hypothalamo-pituitary-gonadal function in males. So if you start to eat again, leptin secretion increases and so is the production of testosterone and SHBG. The testosterone is converted into estrogens by an enzyme called aromatase and that results in gynaecomasty. This also happens to adolescent boys and has nothing to do with any intersex condition. In most cases the gynaecomasty will disappear when the levels of all the hormones involved return to normal.

Third, re-read the paragraph under 'First'.

I hope this helps.

Groeten, Miriam

Hello, everyone! I've been anorexic my entire adult life until recently. Finally I had enough and started gaining weight and packing on the pounds in all the wrong places, namely hips and breasts. I am male but obviously I'm wondering what's going on. The last time i saw my doc i was still thin but we had hormone tests done to see what was causing the breasts.. but my hormones were normal. As a result, I don't know if it's intersex or just some crazy coincidence so when I saw this site while surfing I decided to join in, dig around, and see what i can learn.

[Kelpie]

So the hormones would be normal when i was anorexic and then do those odd things as i gained weight? Would they also effect my body fat distribution as well?

You:
Second: anorexia goes with low leptin secretion and this influences the hypothalamo-pituitary-gonadal function in males. So if you start to eat again, leptin secretion increases and so is the production of testosterone and SHBG. The testosterone is converted into estrogens by an enzyme called aromatase and that results in gynaecomasty. This also happens to adolescent boys and has nothing to do with any intersex condition. In most cases the gynaecomasty will disappear when the levels of all the hormones involved return to normal.


BTW - It DOES help . Any info helps (and it was interesting info) However, It's not just the gynaecomasty. It's also the hips and fat all over. Which might just me getting fat but I'm staying fit and everything still looks well toned..better toned, actually, and feminine. It sounds incredible but there you are. Lately, I've had people say ma'am to me from behind and double take when they get a load of the front.

RE your first paragraph; It's OK! My first goal in using the site is general education not diagnosis anyway.

It's great meeting you and thanks for taking the time. I'm writing down what you said and taking notes. :)

[Kailana]

there is also a more simple possibility. It is likely that your breast(used generically to describe your chest) and hips, were some of the few areas that still had fat, with no body fat anywhere else, those fat stores you did have are filling up quicker, meaning your gaining shape in those locations, first, but with less fat on the rest of your body, very little fat cells, present to plump up to go along with the denser fatty areas on your body.

I was actually wondering about your age? mostly to do with the hip and breast developement, are you sure its breast tissue that is growing and actually hips?<----bone structure, breast tissue versus fat stores plumping up? If your still in your teens, id be a bit more worried about Miriam's knowledge about aromatizing testosterone, if your not done growing, developing the estrogen's would or could actually cause bone developement changes along with fat shifting to more female location's. but if your into your mid 20's or older, you shouldn't have to worry that your bone developement will change, but might have some concerns about how the fat is sitting. If your not comfortable with the man boobies/ ginocomastia(breast tissue), you can always get those removed, if its just fat, it'll be even easier.

Oh and ask your doctor about aromatizing testosterone, cause Miriam does have a bit of knowledge upstairs. I swear she's a Genius. If she had a diabolical/power hungry nature i am sure she could rule the world.

[fraulein_Maria]

[QUOTE=Kelpie;15945]So the hormones would be normal when i was anorexic and then do those odd things as i gained weight? Would they also effect my body fat distribution as well?

BTW - It DOES help . Any info helps (and it was interesting info) However, It's not just the gynaecomasty. It's also the hips and fat all over. Which might just me getting fat but I'm staying fit and everything still looks well toned..better toned, actually, and feminine.

>>> Kelpie, in addition to my experience in mental health, i grew up with a friend with anorexia nervosa, so my first question so i can be certain i'm not steering you wrong is to ask this.....

is anorexic what you call yourself, or is this your formal Dx? next, you say you've had it your entire adult life. you don't say how old you are, but its important info.
If by adult you accurately mean over 18, how many years is your "entire adult life"? Boys continue to grow and fill out up until 21 even though they are of legal age by 18.

Operating under the assumption that it is a formal Dx, and that your still a teen (because that's when anorexia usually begins... early teen years) i just want to say one thing.....

Your obviously an intellegent lad, and i'm sure you've googled anorexia and seen what i'm about to tell you... please, its not meant in any way as insult...

But anorexics by definition see there bodies as through a "fun house mirror" thinking they see fat when everyone else sees someone near death by starvation. It is not unreasonable to assume that what your perceiving and what others perceive... don't match.

I haven't dealt with acute teen-age issues in a long time, and i admittedly have not kept up on the latest in anorexia research... But i do hope and pray that there is medicine available now that wasn't available for my friend..... who died of anorexia... and whom i miss very much.

Please get help. i'm sure someone's heart is breaking with helplessness watching you waste away.

[Kelpie]

Thanks for all your well wishes. I'm definitely looking into things. And ya i know about fun house mirrors and such. I had access to a doctor that told me that i was way too thin. now that im looking for work again it's a little more difficult. As for age im actually in my 40s.. not really a lad any more I'm afraid. I would always get fat along my hips and belly and I remembered that "pinch an inch" rule.. and I always seemed to have a little more than an inch. Recently, letting myself eat hasn't been too difficult for me, although I do have to get myself to eat as I often forget to when I get into things.

The breasts are definitely breasts and i've been in for a mammogram to make sure their alright. The other thing that has me wierded out is my bum, which i wouldn't really call fat, because I keep fit. It's just huge.

It's been three years since i've started putting on weight. I'll tell you, I had no idea just gaining weight could take such a long time. I just had no appetite.

Anyway, i do feel a bit shy about just talking about myself, but thanks so much for the warm welcome and even if it's not an intersexed condition I hope no one minds if i poke about and learn.

PS. Oh yes.. I started "dieting" when i was 15.. and I do wonder if my bones and fat could indeed have shifted because of that, as Kailana suggested above.

[fraulein_Maria]

[QUOTE=Kelpie;16036]Thanks for all your well wishes. I'm definitely looking into things. And ya i know about fun house mirrors and such. I had access to a doctor that told me that i was way too thin. now that im looking for work again it's a little more difficult. As for age im actually in my 40s..

>>> if this is so, i'm much relieved. I still remember how my friend died nearly 20 years later... and i always wonder what i could have done more/different to help. She would be about your/my/our ages by now had she lived. She's probably the reason that i stopped keeping so much inside... and began risking giving voice to the things i think and feel... tommorrow may be too late.
I'm glad i learned that lesson before my wife came along... shortly before now that i think of it... or i would never have gotton the courage to say i loved her. As it was, it took me six months to get brave enough to kiss her. Can you imagine? Godde, i was one up-tight mess! I'm still terrified of women that i really like.... easy to be bold when ones heart is not invested. Anyway, thank you. :) <<<

not really a lad any more I'm afraid. I would always get fat along my hips and belly and I remembered that "pinch an inch" rule.. and I always seemed to have a little more than an inch.

>>> only if you insist your stomach be flat. All the women in my family (and most of the men too) have a "pot" in front no matter how thin we get. For the guys, its the fact that testosterone tells a man's body to "put fat here" if there is so much as an extra milligram. for women, estrogen tells her body to put it on her hips and thighs. For those of us with hormone issues, it winds up in both places. <<<

It's been three years since i've started putting on weight. I'll tell you, I had no idea just gaining weight could take such a long time. I just had no appetite.

>>> fry your thyroid gland with too much hormone and it'll pile on fast. not recommended. <<<

Anyway, i do feel a bit shy about just talking about myself, but thanks so much for the warm welcome and even if it's not an intersexed condition I hope no one minds if i poke about and learn.

>>> your welcome. :) <<<

PS. Oh yes.. I started "dieting" when i was 15.. and I do wonder if my bones and fat could indeed have shifted because of that, as Kailana suggested above.

>>> bones for sure. in fact, have you had a bone density scan? We all tend toward osteoporosis here, and the anorexia alone could leave you vulnerable to it. <<<