Eating Disorder awareness

Hello, I am Lowri  and I have anorexia. From looking at me you would never know because eating disorders are mental illnesses that only sometimes have an effect on your physical health and appearance. I am now physically recovered and I’m working on my mental health but 6 months ago it was a whole other story. I was being dragged to one doctor to the next, having blood tests, checking blood pressure, not being able to participate in sports because I would get too cold (in summer) and more importantly – hurting all my friends and family and myself. Eating disorders include anorexia, bulimia and ednos (eating disorder not otherwise specified) and affect girls and boys and any age from 6 – 90 however it is most common in adolescent girls. It is estimated that only 10% of eating disorders are anorexic, 40% bulimic and the 50% ednos.

Eating disorders can begin by any trigger such as bullying, sexual abuse, family troubles or just the odd comment of ‘you look fat’. But not every person will react to this trigger. Only people with this disordered mind will react to the trigger. Say if you decided to starve yourself because you thought you were a bit overweight, someone without the genetics of an eating disorder would realise it was silly after skipping one meal. However if you had a disordered mind you would get attached to the pain you felt starving or purging (making yourself sick) and carry on. The desired outcome may not always to become skinny, it may be because you felt you didn’t deserve food or that you want to prove somebody wrong.

Anorexia had the highest death rate of mental illnesses the reason being that health complications such as organ failure, heart failure, malnutrition can kill but sufferers are also more likely to commit suicide as a result of the pain they are going through. Less than half of sufferers will completely recover from their condition, around a third will continue to live with their illness but maintain at a low healthy weight  so they can’t be forced into recovering and around 20% will ultimately die from their illness.

You cannot tell if someone has an eating disorder just by looking at them. While it is true that some sufferers of anorexia are severely underweight, some are not, and the majority of eating disorder sufferers do not have anorexia. Those suffering from bulimia may be within the normal weight range or may be overweight, while those with binge eating disorder are often overweight. However for an indicator to as whether you have an eating disorder, Professor John Morgan created the SCOFF questionnaire, if you answer yes to 2 or more of the following questions it is advised for you to seek help

Do you ever make yourself Sick because you feel uncomfortably full?

Do you worry you have lost Control over how much you eat?

Have you recently lost more than One stone in a three month period?

Do you believe yourself to be Fat when others say you are too thin?

Would you say that Food dominates your life? 

If you would like to contact Beat (the leading charity for eating disorders) then the number is: 0845 6341414

Or find out more about eating disorders and ow you can help then look at the BEAT website

Remember, recovery is the only option.