Anorexia: What You Want, What You Get

Another excelent video by Holdingon.

*Please see sidebar for more ED videos, recovery quotes, tools, and resources.

Eating Disorder Bloggers: What Others Are Posting About

A sampling of what other bloggers have recently been talking about on their Eating Disorder Blogs:


ANOREXIA: A FEEDING TUBE COULD BE IN YOUR FUTURE
Medusa

The ins and outs of PEG (Percutaneous Endoscopic Gastrostomy) and NG (nasogastric) feeding tubes...

So, what are NG and PEG feeding tubes?

They are medical devices used to provide nutrition to those who cannot obtain nutrition by swallowing. Feeding tubes are often a last resort for chronic anorexics.

An NG tube is passed through the nose, down the esophagus and into the stomach, and a PEG tube is inserted through a small incision in the abdomen into the stomach.
Read in full here.
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RECOVERY OR RECOVERED?
Life With Cake: Bulimia Recovery Blog

A couple of years ago, I volunteered at a nonprofit eating disorder organization, USF Hope House for Eating Disorders. Upon meeting me, the director posed the question, "Do you think it's possible to be "recovered" from an eating disorder?"

With all of my OA program knowledge, and knowing that her program wasn't 12-Step based, instantly I replied, "No." Was she serious? Recover from an eating disorder? I had learned better.

Since then, I have questioned the term "recovered" often. "Recovered" could be rather subjective, depending on who you ask. Read in full here.
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WHAT HAPPENS TO THE DROP OUTS?
ED Bites: Carrie Arnold

Eating disorder research is made especially difficult due to the large number of patients who prematurely drop out of treatment. Sometimes, this happens in such numbers that the studies are, essentially, invalid. This is also why studies of eating disorders in adolescents are much more successful than those in adults: parents can usually (but not always) be called upon to insist that their child receive care, even when the child isn't exactly enthusiastic about the whole idea.
Read in full here.
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ED RECOVERY: DEALING WITH THE UNEXPECTED
ED Recovery Blog

One of the first things that anyone tends to learn when they start to take a closer look at eating disorders is that it’s not really about the food: it’s about emotions and control. When everything is upside down and feels twisted inside out, sometimes it feels like the only thing that you can control is what you do or do not eat - and in what quantity. Part of recovery is recognizing that there are other ways of taking control in life and learning “more effective coping mechanisms.”
Read in full here.
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SIX-YEAR-OLDS AND EATING DISORDERS
Feed Me: Harriet Brown

This Canadian article, published last November, is one of the few I've seen anywhere that overtly links comments and teasing about weight with eating disorders. A significant percentage of teens with eating disorders are overweight at some point. As this piece points out, other people's responses to their weight can start them spiraling down into the hell of an eating disorder. Read in full here.
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THE TIES THAT BOND
F-Word

I took college courses in my senior year of high school and attended for two years after, but then took a several-year hiatus. When I returned in my early-to-mid-20s, I was thus often the oldest student in the class. Combined with the fact that I had a professional job and had been financially independent for years already, I often felt old much in the same way I imagine Clint Eastwood feels standing next to the cast of High School Musical.

So, I well understood the palpable discomfort of the woman, who looked to be about the age of my mom, walking into my women’s history class for the first time on the third day of class. If I, one who is approaching just 30, feel out of place in our mostly undergrad class, I’m sure this woman felt very awkward indeed. Read in full here.

Healthcare Reform: Help Keep It A Priority

"As he prepares to take office, President-elect Barack Obama faces many pressing issues. And some will urge him to defer efforts to achieve healthcare reform, suggesting that it will be too costly, too difficult, or not a sufficiently high priority."

The above postcard can be found at Mental Health America. Please fill one out and send it to help keep Healthcare Reform a priority.

sources:http://mentalhealthamerica.net/

Fat Talk Free Week: October 13th-17th

Get educated. Get involved. Make a difference!

"10 million women are dealing with eating disorders in this country, which is more than are suffering from breast cancer. It’s time we take control over our own destinies, our own bodies, and our own inner dialogues. We’re changing the conversation to create a more positive body image for ourselves, our mothers, our sisters, our daughters, and our friends.
It’s time to free ourselves from fat talk, and focus on the healthy ideal–which looks different for every woman–and focuses on health, NOT weight or size."

It starts with you. It starts today!

Sign the Fat Talk Free Promise.

“The Top 5 Things You Can Do Now to Promote Positive Body Image”



sources:http://www.bodyimageprogram.org/

Eating Disorders In the News: Aug 2008

Size Zero: Here We Go Again
Super-skinny models dominate the autumn fashion shows, and now MTV is actively promoting competitive dieting. Jonathan Owen and John Sunyer report Sunday, 31 August 200

"As the New York fashion industry prepares to launch new collections starting on Friday, followed by London on 14 September, attention is again drawn to models and their weight.

After the furore at London Fashion Week last spring, with calls for a ban on size-zero models, not only has nothing been done, but the unrealistic super-skinny image is now being positively promoted again internationally.

MTV is under fire for promoting competitive dieting and fuelling the damaging size-zero catwalk culture, following the announcement that it is to launch a controversial new TV show in which girls must lose between 30 and 80lb in the hope of becoming a model. The channel is advertising the show Model Maker with a request for "girls willing to shed the pounds" in a three-month boot camp in a quest to become a "self-confident, high-profile fashion model".

Recruitment adverts – featuring the statement "Women come in all shapes and sizes, but models don't. Skinny, no body fat and size zero are the words and phrases associated with models. Chubby, well-fed, and big-boned are not ..." – have been condemned by eating-disorder charities as promoting extreme dieting."

Read in full here.

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Eating Disorders Aren't Cool

Windsor Star. Published: Saturday, August 30, 2008

"A Quebec retailer of women's clothes is justifiably being praised for pulling from shelves a run of 450,000 catalogues featuring images of borderline anorexic models. Peter Simons of La Maison Simons acted quickly to recall the catalogues because he felt the images were "unsuitable" and "destructive to a more vulnerable portion of the population which is exposed to anorexia.'

Read in full here.
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Binge Eaters Not Getting Help
By Siobhan Courtney BBC News Fenella Lemonsky is a compulsive over eater.

"The 40-year-old from London said she has had issues with food from childhood.

"When things used to go wrong, the food was there," she said.

"I would turn to it and it would make me feel better. I have been trapped in a destructive cycle of binge and over-eating all my life."

Whilst stroking her dog Simbur, Fenella talks openly about her ritual of binge eating.

"It would be secretive, I would eat in private, all binge eaters do.

"It doesn't matter where you are, as long as there is space to put the food in front of you and then just get the food down, that's the most important thing."

Read in full here.

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The Dark Side of a Midnight Feast

Telegraph.co.uk

"Nocturnal eaters who wake up to devour calories are suffering from a recognised illness, says Tamsin Kelly. Nigella Lawson may have made the midnight munchies look glamorous as she crept downstairs to whip up feasts in her clinging black satin dressing-gown.

But for sufferers of night eating syndrome, excessive and uncontrollable feasting during the night can cause misery. In typical cases, people who suffer from night eating syndrome are prone to stress and disrupted sleep.

Each time they wake, they head for the kitchen to eat food high in carbohydrates, such as chocolate, cake, bread and biscuits. Night eaters may consume half their daily calorie intake after their evening meal and this frequently leads to weight gain. Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania found typical nocturnal eaters consumed 500 calories more than those whose sleep was undisturbed."

Read in full here.

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Skill Based Therapy May Curb Eating Disorders
Reuters

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - "Women who suffer from bulimia or binge-eating disorder and who have borderline personality may be helped with "dialectical behavior therapy," results of a pilot study suggest.

Dialectical behavior therapy, or DBT, is a form of cognitive-behavior therapy originally developed for women with borderline personality disorder -- a disorder characterized by recurrent suicidal behavior and multiple problem behaviors.

Standard DBT is a comprehensive, multi-component "life skills-based" treatment targeting behaviors that threaten a person's life and interfere with therapy and overall quality of life. DBT helps people be mindful of their emotions and regulate their emotions and tolerate life's ups and downs."

Read in full here.



sources: http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/fashion/news/sizezero-here-we-go-again-913931.html http://www.canada.com/windsorstar/news/editorial/story.html?id=6366504b-3cef-429f-89df-88679c14f976 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7587515.stm http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/main.jhtml?xml=/health/2008/08/30/hnighteat130.xml http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSCOL85693420080828

Poll: My Eating Disorder, One Word At A Time

What words help define your experience with your Eating Disorder? In the sidebar you will find an anonymous poll, My Eating Disorder, One Word At A time, where you can share your words with others who also suffer with an ED, and help those that don't to better understand.

If the list is missing words that are important to you and your experience please feel free to share them in the comment section.

If you are in recovery or seeking recovery, please check back. Upon the completion of this poll will be a similar poll about your recovery.

Participation is always greatly appreciated. Thank You.

Completed Poll Results:

My Eating Disorder, One Word At A Time (choose as many words as you feel fit your views, feelings, and experience, with your ED, excluding recovery).

Votes: 65

Desperation	43 (66%)
Hopelessness	47 (72%)
Fear	39 (60%)
Anger	42 (64%)
Shame	52 (80%)
Embarrassment	42 (64%)
Worthlessness	44 (67%)
Perfection	25 (38%)
Hunger	33 (50%)
Loneliness	47 (72%)
Rage	19 (29%)
Dishonesty	40 (61%)
Superiority	24 (36%)
Belonging	15 (23%)
Community	10 (15%)
Beauty	22 (33%)
Bones	31 (47%)
Achievement	38 (58%)
Thinspiration	21 (32%)
Control	42 (64%)
Love	15 (23%)
Doom	15 (23%)
Temporary	9 (13%)
Dieting	23 (35%)
Controlled	22 (33%)
Defeated	29 (44%)
Bloated	29 (44%)
Disgusted	50 (76%)
Powerless	41 (63%)

Would you like to share your experience with how shame relates to your eating disorder to be included in an upcoming post here at Weighing The Facts?



click here for more poll results.

EDNOS: Eating Disorders Not Otherwise Specified

Eating disorders not otherwise specified (EDNOS) involves disordered eating patterns. EDNOS is described in the DSM-IV-TR as a "category [of] disorders of eating that do not meet the criteria for any specific eating disorder." (Wikipedia)

Many with Eating Disorders are diagnosed with EDNOS. Those with EDNOS suffer the same signs, symptoms, health risks, and emotional turmoil as anyone else with eating disorders but may find it more difficult receiving treatment due to not meeting the criteria that qualifies them for treatment coverage from their insurance carrier.


Warning signs may include, but are not limited to:

• Hiding food to avoid eating
  
• Limiting food to certain types
  
• Excessive exercise
• Binging; eating a large amount of food in one sitting
  
• Use of laxatives or diuretics
• Hiding eating behavior due to embarrassment/shame
• Overeating to the point of feeling sick
• Showing unhealthy interest in weight and/or body image
• Purposely going long periods of time without eating
  
• Obsessing over calorie/fat content of foods
  

Diagnostic Criteria

 1 For females, all the criteria for Anorexia Nervosa are met except that the individual has regular menses. 

2 All the criteria for Anorexia Nervosa are met except that, despite significant weight loss, the individual’s current weight is in the normal range.

 3 All the criteria for Bulimia Nervosa are met except that the binge eating and inappropriate compensatory mechanisms occur at a frequency of less than twice a week or for a duration of less than 3 months.

 4 The regular use of inappropriate compensatory behaviour by an individual of normal body weight after eating small amounts of food (e.g. self-induced vomiting after the consumption of two biscuits.

 5 Repeatedly chewing and spitting out, but not swallowing, large amounts of food.
 6 Binge-eating disorder: recurrent episodes of binge eating in the absence of the regular use of inappropriate compensatory behaviours characteristic of Bulimia Nervosa. (Eating Disorders Org)

EDNOS is still a Disorder!

It is important to recognize that despite the lack of specific classification the presence of EDNOS symptoms is serious. The potential exists for these symptoms to develop into a categorical diagnostic eating disorder. Should a person NOT eventually exhibit such symptoms of a more specifically classified eating disorder the results can still be severe and most seriously, death. Any person exhibiting any symptoms above or additional symptoms ... should immediately consult a trained medical professional or psychiatrist for treatment. (EatingDisordersOnline)

If you, or someone you know, has EDNOS, it is extremely important that you take action and seek help.

Please see sidebar for link to Eating Disorders Help: Hotlines, Organizations, Websites



FINDING Balance : dedicated to consumer awareness and understanding of EDNOS


Sources:
http://www.eatingdisorders.org.nz/What-is-the-DSM.836.0.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eating_disorder_not_otherwise_specified
http://eatingdisordersonline.com/explain/ednos.php
picture: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sylvia/94180907/

Food And It's Affect On Mood

Medusa has a very interesting article concerning the affect food has on our emotions. Check it out: "Are We Emotionally What We Eat?"

Excerpt: "Starving causes people to feel high and spaced out and separated from their emotions," says Mrs Jade.

"When you starve, you don't feel the normal range of emotions. You feel kind of insulated from them. It doesn't mean you don't get depressed and miserable - you can get severely depressed - but we are talking about a narrowing of emotional range."

Sources: http://2medusa.blogspot.com/2008/03/are-we-emotionally-what-we-eat.html
Picture source: http://www.freefoto.com/index.jsp

The Truth About Eating Disorders

Eating Disorder Help: Hotlines, Organizations, and Websites

Sites listed in this video:
SomethingFishy.org
EdReferral.com
EatingDisordersCoalition.org
Gurze.com


The Truth About Eating Disorders
A Youtube video By: Beck4short

What I Have Lost To My Eating Disorder

In this video posted on youtube, one young woman reveals what she has lost to her eating disorder. "What I have lost to my eating disorder." A video by Nonamavi


What I Have Lost To My Eating Disorder
YouTube.com