Anorexia

[Kitten]

Originally posted by Tony Leone
Quite frankly, it's the anorexic's fault as much as society's. Hell, society wants people to be thin, but who the **** is society to tell people anything? and why the hell do people listen to what other people say?

I have a problem with that statement.

Anorexia and bulimia are eating disorders, notice the key word "disorders". You'll blame the person who has the disorder for having it? Will you blame a schizophrenic for being a schizophrenic?

I think that to a large extent anorexia and bulimia are a consequence of the values of today's society, however it's simply a manifestation of a greater problem. People who have eating disorders many times don't do it to look pretty or for other superficial reasons; many are depressed and are looking for some measure of control when they can find none elsewhere.

A quote comes to mind from a gymnest, Christy Henrich, who died a few years back from anorexia. She weighed 60 lbs by the end of her life.

"My life is a horrifying nightmare. It feels like there's a beast inside of me."

Still want to say it's her fault?

Meow

Very good point, Kitten. Most anorexic's have deep seated problems with their own self image and self esteem. Blaming them doesn't help anything. Actually, it's a stupid, foolish thing to do which exacerbates the problem.

Alot of the disorders which don't show overt signs of psychosis- depression, phobias, eating disorder, ad naseum -are highly misunderstood. You wouldn't believe how many times I've been told by very intelligent people "Why are you so miserable? You have a good life- a good family, a place to live," etc.

(Sighs)

(Glares at computer)

.david
-insomnia... ugly...

hey, i've been anorexic + bulimic+ binge eater + i don't know what. I hate myself. I've been binging the past 4 days and gain 1 kg after losing 2 and i am already tearing hair out of my head!
I can stand it no more! it's killing me. Everytime i look at myself in the mirror and i wonder what i'd look like if i'd were to be 5 kg lighter.
i think i'm going craszy
shitshitshit

[Chez Daja]

Err, way to bring up a topic almost three years old.

Well, dunno whether this'll be closed or deleted, but I'll add my piece so as not spam. All for activity anyway, right?

I've suffered with anorexia. It was actually only a light phase, though. On and off for about two years I hardly ate. Only when my mother would force me. In the end, I decided to try my best to regain myself... I managed to, and I'm healthy now, although I'm still trying to avoid eating a lot of the time.

[Yuki-onna]

An interesting disease. I don't know if it's considered mental or physical, but I see it as a bit of both. Usually it's people in puberty psyching about their appearance and focusing on what the model world tells you what to look like. That and all the hormones could be messing with your brain.

Like they always do. Constantly. They're following me...<_<...>_>...

But it's sucky yada yada yada malnutrition stunted growth mutated babies and such. I had a friend once who was severely anorexic, it was ****ing sick. She was 17 and looked like 12, like she was a heroine addict, and she was constantly fainting around or absent from school...her ****ing doctors just told her she was healthy too.
I wonder what became of her....

Myself, I can't not eat. My god if you deny me food when I am hungry I'll eat you alive. I've been called anorexic because I'm skinny...not that skinny but...oh **** them.

What kind of treatments are provided for anorexia anyway? I'm curious.

[Chez Daja]

I was wondering the same, but whenver I ask a doctor, I get an off-hand answer.

Gawd, their just like an off-topic member of TFF. >=[

Bascially, they work their way AROUND treatment info and say "as long as you eat healthily, you'll be fine"... then they tell me to go home and take a rest. It's like "THATS NOT WHAT I WANTED TO KNOW, YOU D!CK."

Doctors are seriously ducks.

Quack.

[Asheis]

This is.. partially off topic, but related at the same time.

Has anyone ever heard of just a plain old loss of apetite, entirely? like... the person either doesn't register the pain in the stomache as hunger, or they just dont feel it?

That's what my sister says her problem is.. She weighs probably... 86-88 pounds atm. She's 16, almost 17. It scares me. Of course... she's got other problems that could entirely be related, but which are probably too personal for me to share on a public message board.

As for my opinion? I've studied eating disorders a bit in psychology. The people literally SEE themselves as fat. It is a problem with the mind, as far as i've heard. It's really strange.. because their mind thinks they are fat SO much, that's literally what they see.

Of course, if our culture wasn't so spaztic about people being stick-skinny, then it would obviously not even be a problem.

[Ton]

Anorexia comes under the the psychological classification of physical model, with situational factors involved as well. So it's a physical problem, and believed to have a physical cure, by psychologists at any rate. There's study's done with mono and dio zygotic twins, about this and Bulimia and many more. parental influence is a large part. So yeh.

As for opinion. These people find it hard to stop it, I feel sympathy for them. But it is there own fault.

I don't believe it is just a "choice" people make because of society. I find that people with depression are more subject to anorexia or other eating disorders. Therefore it IS mental as well. I have always been a healthy eater, but I dicovered when I was diagnosed with PPD that my eating habits began to change with it. PPD is a certain kind or depression that can last up to a year. After I obtained the disease my eating almost stopped completely dropping 30 pounds from my body within 2-3 months.

[$Nanaki$]

I know someone who is anorexic, and all she does is talk about her weight, and says she needs to lose it, and such, for her personally i think it is just an attention thing. I am by no means trivializing this, but i do think the media is partly to blame for this, the fact of seeing models rail-thin and putting the message across that if you are not thin you are not pretty.

Personally, I like a girl with a little meat on her bones, and i do think there is a difference between having a bit of weight on and being fat to the point of having it affect your health, but i aggree that all the talk about weight in the media is hurting rather than helping those with weight problems as well as anorexics.
What's the solution? I honestly don't know. All i know is that i am a friend to my friend and help her in any way i can, but i also know that's not enough. U think it has more to do with a mindset than anything else, we need to let womwn (and men) know that being thin isnt the answer=--it is who you are inside that counts (and don't give me that bullshit about how it doesnt count--i know everyone hypes on image but i dont buy into that).

[Tiffany]

Yep, although I think there's a difference between the people who talk about it and the ones who don't. I find the ones who are constantly talking about it and flashing it around are the ones who don't really have the disorder, but are wanting the attention, like Nanaki said.

I've known people who have had this disorder, and the ones who've truly had it, do NOT talk about it at all, from the apparant 'shame' of it. Since I've never had it, I don't understand this shame of theirs, but I assumed it was because they didn't want to admit that they had a problem, which is typical of most disorders.

I think the media is partially to blame too. I'm by no means overweight, in fact I am exactly where I should be for my height/build, but even I feel like I'm pudgy when looking through my magazines, or watching TV. Self-image is a definite bitch.

[Yuki-onna]

I think mostly it's an obsession kind of like OCD, an urge to replace some kind of emptiness in your soul...

Oh...so deep...this sentence is reading me...

[Chez Daja]

Firstly, Tiff, or Nanaki, if either of that was directed at me (not sure if it was or wasnt?) I did state it wasn't that bad for me. I also got forced to eat after a few days.

I wouldn't be ashamed to admit anything about myself. Sure, I'm ashamed of it, just don't care about what is said about me. My scrape with S.A.D, my slight scrape with anorexia, my phase of self-harm... It's all in the open. It relieves stress.