Eating Disorders

...ba href=/eating disorder/a/bs like anorexia, bulimia and binge eating —?

many of whom have not been getting the treatment they need.The estimate is based on occurences overseas, which the experts say are applicable to Bermuda.

Up until last year, doctors referred all cases overseas but now a small team at the hospital’s Child and Adolescent Services is trying to bring local relief.Right now the department is helping three teenagers and physicians have told them of at least ten other cases.

Given the number of people the experts would expect to see with disorders, the low figures suggest there are a lot of people who could be dealing with the nightmare illnesses all on their own.

Anorexia is characterized by self-starvation and excessive weight losss.

Bulimics binge eat and then purge through vomiting, taking laxatives or over-exercising.

Binge eaters eat beyond the point of feeling comfortably full.

They don’t purge, but they might go on fasts, repetitive diets and be consumed by shame and self-hatred.In a move to increase awareness the department has called in London specialist Professor Janet Treasure.

She’s giving a free presentation for parents and anyone else who is interested on Friday at the Bermuda High School for Girls Auditorium between 5.30-7.30pm.Another presentation for health professionals has been scheduled for Monday between 5.30-7.30pm at the Heritage Workshop opposite the Liberty Theatre.

Cost is $30 with a light meal.Staff at Child and Adolescent Services are working wit...

...ba href=/eating disorder/a/b.“When you are in group therapy for ba href=/eating disorder/a/bs, the first thing you think is: ‘Am I going to be the thinnest one in the room?

If not, I don’t want to be there.’”As she got thinner, friends and family would ask her to her face if she was anorexic.

“After a while they just accepted that was my new size,” she said.With the anorexia came bulimia.

She’d binge eat and purge, either making herself sick, taking laxatives or fasting.She said: “Eventually, I hit rock bottom.

I couldn’t hold a job.

I was a drug addict but with food.

I wasn’t in control of my life.

I would sleep on the kitchen floor, the bathroom floor.

I didn’t know if it was day or night.

Sometimes I didn’t know if I would wake up the next morning because my heart was beating strange because of the electrolyte imbalance.”After years of suffering Ms Schaeffer did what all sufferers have to do eventually, she made the call and sought help.She said: “It’s very private and people keep it secret, but if you suspect someone has an ba href=/eating disorder/a/b, I’d encourage you to approach them.

The National ba href=/eating disorder/a/bs Association has very good advice on how to approach people.

I wish people would have approached me.”Ms Schaeffer found a therapist who taught her to look at the disorder like a relationship.

“He taught me to look at the disorder as a separate entity, like an abusive boyfriend,” she said.

In the end she divorced herself from it.Today she speaks out to give other sufferers hope.

She says the underl...

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