Teens with Eating Disorders
Many people assume that eating disorders are the problem of teenagers only. (At thirty-something, I'm a perfect example of how wrong that assumption is!) While not only teens struggle with eating disorder, I'd venture to guess that a good percentage of adults with eating disorders - started their disorders when they were teens. Make sense?
We've heard a lot of uproar in recent months, about the increase in "pro-anorexia" websites. Just recently a reader of mine, here at the Suite, posted the following note: "...I am 14 years old and can see where an eating disorders could come in handy. I dance and it would be awesome to dance professionally, but I would be considered overweight. I am 5'2" and weigh 125 or probably a little more. I'm pretty slim, actually, you can tell it's mostly muscle, but do you think the New York City Ballet would accept me at this frame? I think not. While it may be wrong to say that I'm fat or overweight because I'm a lot slimmer than most people, isn't it good to diet so that you won't be offended by thin people? That may sound mean, but it's the truth, you shouldn't sit there and take it, you should take control. Sometimes anorexia or bulimia seem like the easiest way out. That is at least how I see it. Eating healthy can be a major hassle, but if you don't want to put in extra effort to watch your calories, just get on-line and find a pro-eating disorder website. This is a weird way to put it, but why would you consider it terrible to fast for one week or even five days? Do you presume that it will always snowball? The truth is, it would be nice to be able to be anorexic, for me anyway, for just a week. I simply don't have the will-power."
Good Grief! How do I answer that? I've said before that I'm no expert... I'm not a doctor or counselor... I'm just a survivor... I'm someone who still struggles with an eating disorder more than 20 years after I first started.
Well, if you're curious, here's how I replied: "I'm glad to see that there are young people reading my topic here... I think it's important to explore and learn about eating disorders when you are young. Perhaps you won't turn out to be in your mid-thirties and in your 21st year of an eating disorder, like me. Perhaps you won't have to have the dentist tell you that you need to have another 6 teeth replaced because of the damage that 20+ years of vomiting have caused. Perhaps you won't have to spend a single day in the hospital, never have to receive IV fluids because vomiting and/or laxatives have left you so dehydrated and unbalanced your electrolytes, never have to experience a feeding tube and never have to have an EKG to track your unstable heart. Perhaps you'll never spend the night in the ER with your best friend, while doctors try to figure out how to stop the bleeding in her esophagus.
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