The Eating Disorder In My Family

I have an aunt who has spent her life battling her eating disorder: anorexia nervosa. My uncle says this is one of the best explanation he’s heard on eating disorders and really helped him try to understand what she’s been going through

When I say she’s battled it, it’s been a very hard fight. She’s in the hospital right now and has been for a month; a woman in her 60s. It’s not an illness that lets go just because you get older.

We just got the great news that she’ll be released on Thursday but we also know this might not be the last hospital stay. It’s been like this my whole life, and from what I’ve been told, most of hers. There have been good times – years even – when she’s managed to get on top of it; where we all thought we could breathe. The smallest thing could set it off again, though and we never know what it’s going to be – a car accident, a happy visit with her daughter – both have been triggers.

What exactly are clinical eating disorders?

According to a 2002 survey, 1.5% of Canadian women aged 15–24 years had an eating disorder, and while women are statistically more likely to get an eating disorder, they affect men as well.

Clinical eating disorders, according to The National Eating Disorder Information Centre (NEDIC), include:

Anorexia nervosa – When you lose a lot of weight because you’re hardly eating anything, and might over-exercise. You probably can’t or don’t admit how underweight you are. You may not initially look very thin, but may be far too thin to support your health. You can be so thin that every bone in your body shows, but still feel “fat”. When you feel fat it makes it hard to ask for help or hear advice from others because, to you, “fat” has come to mean “being bad”. You could also know that you are much too thin but don’t make changes because you’re so afraid of food and gaining weight. To you, this would represent losing control over yourself.

Bulimia nervosa – When you binge and purge. You eat out of control and then try to get rid of the calories. You fast, make yourself vomit, abuse laxatives, or exercise too much. These ways of purging harm your body and don’t help you accomplish what you want. Your weight may go up and down a lot.

Binge eating disorder – When you eat so much you’re uncomfortable, eat to comfort yourself, eat in secret, or keep eating as part of a meal or between meals. You feel a lot of shame or guilt about your eating. Binge eating is also called compulsive eating. It is not the same as bulimia because you do not usually try to get rid of the food you’ve eaten.

Eating Disorder Not Otherwise Specified (ED-NOS) – When you experience a mix of anorexia, and/or bulimia, and/or binge-eating symptoms, but don’t fall neatly into one of these medical categories, you may have an Eating Disorder Not Otherwise Specified (ED-NOS). If you have an ED-NOS, you should also receive the help and resources provided to individuals who have a “neat” clinical diagnosis.

Sometimes it’s not that easy to spot someone with an eating disorder. Elite athletes show significantly higher rates of eating disorders than the average population, and 20% of overweight girls and 6% of overweight boys report using laxatives, vomiting, diuretics, and diet pills.

Eating disorders can also kill

Anorexia nervosa has the highest mortality rate of any psychiatric illness – it is estimated that 10% of individuals with AN will die within 10 years of the onset of the disorder.

Even if an eating disorder isn’t to that extreme, any kind of disordered eating pattern can cause us to feel out of control, further lowering self-esteem.

Find help by looking at the local options available to you. There are both individual and group counselling available.

~ Women’s Health Clinic – Provincial Eating Disorder Prevention & Recovery Program Phone: 204-947-2422, ext. 137 in Winnipeg
~ Health Sciences Centre – Adult Eating Disorders Service Program Phone: 204-787-3482
~ Health Sciences Centre – Child & Adolescent Eating Disorders Service Program Phone: 204-958-9660
~ eatingdisordersmanitoba.ca