Have I shrunk/damaged my brain permanently?

[boy of misery]

Hi..

I'm a 19 y/o male. 4 years ago, I used to abuse myself by dehydrating and starving my own self. I was 5'8 in height and my lowest weight was 100 lbs. This weight stayed for a few months.

Do you think I've done permanent damages to my body, especially to my precious brain due to malnutrition that severe?

Regards.

[Saranoya]

You asked us a very similar question to this one a few months ago, except that it was about a different body part back then.

Why? I mean, why does it matter? I know of few things that have been empirically shown to shrink people's brains, except for sustained and severe alcohol abuse. But if you were suffering from Korsakov's Syndrome (which is what alcohol-induced brain shrinkage leads to), trust me, you'd know.

Even if you are having problems due to self-inflicted brain damage, there's little anyone can do to actually reverse the damage. People with real brain injuries learn to live around them by practicing and practicing the things that have become difficult for them to do, and then practicing some more, in hopes that their brain will eventually re-wire itself around the damaged areas.

So the answer to your question strikes me as irrelevant. If you have no significant problems functioning in daily life, well good for you, that means your brain is fine. If you are, then all you can do is keep trying the things you want to be able to do, intil your neural pathways hopefully adapt to make those things possible again.

Now go do something a little more useful than dream up disaster scenario's involving your own body. OK?

[Wise Young]

Originally Posted by boy of misery

Hi..

I'm a 19 y/o male. 4 years ago, I used to abuse myself by dehydrating and starving my own self. I was 5'8 in height and my lowest weight was 100 lbs. This weight stayed for a few months.

Do you think I've done permanent damages to my body, especially to my precious brain due to malnutrition that severe?

Regards.

The brain is quite tough. It can probably withstand starvation and dehydration for short periods without permanent damage.

Wise.

[t8burst]

Originally Posted by boy of misery

Hi..

I'm a 19 y/o male. 4 years ago, I used to abuse myself by dehydrating and starving my own self. I was 5'8 in height and my lowest weight was 100 lbs. This weight stayed for a few months.

Do you think I've done permanent damages to my body, especially to my precious brain due to malnutrition that severe?

Regards.

My guess is yes considering you repeated post idiotic questions to a spinal cord injury forum when you don't have a spinal cord injury.

[boy of misery]

@Saranoya: I don't really have any problems in daily life, but I just feel less sharper, slower, and less noticing informations. I feel very average now, not that sixth sense-like and gifted kid, I might proudly say.

@Wise Young: My thought is that it will obviously not recieve any damage, only if you still have fats/muscles left in your storage. But, what if they run out?

[boy of misery]

Can anything decrease intelligence/decrease your ability to gather and process informations..permanently?

Possible causes:

1. Long term lack of sleep
-Sometimes I get full rest, though

2. Doing nearly nothing
-I got dropped out from school. So yeah, I haven't done anything much since I was 15, 4 years ago. I've been only playing _one_ video game instead of anything (well, it's an addictive online game). I didn't meat new people. I didn't socialize. I didn't experience/learn new things like the other kids my age did. Have some parts of my brain permanently deactivated due to long term lack of arousal and usage?

3. Long term lack of exercise
-Lack of exercise leads to poor flow of blood to the brain. Can severe lack of exercise make brain cells die?

4. Eating disorders
-I'd become very thin. My lowest weight was 100 lbs and I was 5'8. Have I reached the point where my body had permanently shrunk/damaged my brain by taking nutrients from it due to survival mode? At one point, I also didn't drink when I was too thin, so it also might have something to do with blood flow.

5. Severe depression
-I've been suffering from it for years.

6. Combination of all
-More likely describes the situation.




Please don't troll or flame me. I've had enough of it. It's a pity because proudly I can say that I was very gifted when I was younger, before all these series of abuse in my life.

If you happen to have knowledges about brain and its development, and if you don't mind to spare some time for me, please give me your Yahoo! Messenger.

Thanks!

[hlh]

Depression/anxiety can make you feel this way. This is one of the most common causes of thinking problems like you describe.

You clearly have some very serious problems from your past, and need to work them out with a therapist and medication. It can definitely get better. I promise you.

But this is not the best place to help you. Talk to your primary care doctor for a referral to get you started.

[christopher]

Merging 2 similar posts by BOM.

[SuprSi]

Oh my god, you ask the derpiest questions.

Althought I thought your penis atrophy one was quite hysterical. You must be the only person on earth that would go onto a public forum to announce he has a small dick. On these grounds I suspect you do indeed have permanent brain damage.

ps. Go away

[boy of misery]

I've heard and read about cerebral atrophy and I think it's the scariest thing that could've done to me

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerebral_atrophy

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15860169

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/1....1096/abstract