Oops! I got anorexia!

But, why did my child get an eating disorder?

"Unintentional onset of anorexia nervosa"

"inadvertent weight loss may be as powerful a trigger as intentional dieting to initiating anorexia nervosa in predisposed individuals..."

Since intentional dieting is practically an obligation in modern society if you were not born with the DNA to be a six-foot size 0, I guess that might explain the rest of the cases.

Weight loss causes eating disordered thoughts and behaviors in genetically predisposed people. Whether you "choose" to lose weight or you get a stomach virus or you start running cross country: it is the weight loss that is the common factor.

Why is this one of the most controversial concepts in eating disorders?

Comments

  1. Here in the UK I'm not sure that it really is THAT controversial. I'm constantly surprised by the way it gets challenged in some places when ideas which seem to me just plain crazy go unnoticed. That said of course there's plenty of confusion and disagreement about over EDs over here just as there is in the US - we're just as muddled, it's just a different muddle!

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  2. Sorry to post OT, but if you get a chance can you please post a comment over at LiveJournal's business community? They seem to think that hosting their proanorexia communities is ok because "it's not illegal to aspire to be thin".

    http://community.livejournal.com/lj_biz/241884.html?thread=12454876#t12454876

    http://community.livejournal.com/lj_biz/241884.html?thread=12609500#t12609500

    Coffeechica is the LiveJournal employee and she says she is speaking on behalf of LJ. This is so wrong.

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  3. This information gave me a lot of insights about my eating disorder problem. Thank you for your beneficial information. I think it's very crucial for a struggling person like me, who wants to overcome this agonizing problem to have this kind of information available. I also found another site: http://emotional-eating.org, which gathers a lot of useful information on eating disorders issue.

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  4. I think that it would help in the studies if the blinders were removed. There are stresses that cause us to lose weight as well, and those at risk can't get off that merry-go-round from hell without support. They didn't INTEND to get sick. It really shouldn't be considered a choice no matter how attractive they make it appear to one another in their communities/cults. It's hard to distinguish between the different risks. Some seemingly step right into it without knowing how deep it gets. I believe for my daughter it helps her most that she's reclaimed life fully and allows no room for ED. It's healthy denial.
    I also think my daughter's cross country kept her weight lower than it was meant to be, therefore creating the risk for her ED.To me this was akin to weight loss. An outsider using a scale and BMI charts wouldn't have picked up on this. Our charts don't fully show the weight requirement for athletes! [notice they say that the charts may not apply if you are an athlete] Well, then how come Drs. settle on the low side as healthy for runners? They should be heavier with stronger body mass.
    It was mother's intuition that knows what it knows even though we can't easily back it with facts.I only wish I knew then what I know now! She allows herself to be...no scales needed. She may have been fast when she ran but in reality she didn't love to run. We walk, hike, swim, all healthy but low impact. And if we ever NEED to run we can. I'm not a fan of running these days. I never was all that into competitive sports but now even moreso. I find myself wanting to scream to the H/S's to STOP it! Walk instead!
    I think we see things differently now. Eyes wide open.

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  5. On the other hand, the LJ pro-a that is one of the more popular ones is quite interesting. As a mother trying to support, encourage and cope with recovery lurking there has been a huge help. By eavesdropping on the concerns and thoughts there I have been able to talk more to my son about his issues. Selfish of me, maybe, but I can appreciate that the participants need a safe place to talk.

    The moderator of that site carefully screens those who wish to join the community, she is struggling with recovery herself and is providing the space for the others to talk without fear of trolls who would mock them. They are fragile enough already. Recovery is always encouraged. Those who want to be anorexic as a diet plan are firmly discouraged and a blatant and graphic description of the physical and emotional price of anorexia is there for all to read.

    I wish I could reach out and tell the girls and occasional guy how beautiful they already are.

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  6. What's interesting about this is that my two most severe occurances of AN (the first onset and my last horrific relapse) were immediately following starting SSRIs. Which drastically reduced my appetite. I mean, I had started off at the beginning wanting to be 'healthier' and to lose 5 pounds, but it wasn't until I started the SSRIs that it went into overdrive.

    The lightbulb in my head just went off.

    'Course, I'm still on SSRIs today, only with a mood stabilizer because of strong family hx of bipolar. I probably have some sort of atypical version of it.

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  7. As a mother of a 14 year old boy who is suffering from anorexia of unknown origin that began after a month of intermittent bouts of flu this just makes so much sense. Now , 3 months later, that he's well on the way to recovering the 9 kilos he lost he's completely back to " himself " in every observable way. He sure didn't mean to lost the weight & very quickly got trapped into starvation behaviour. Maudsley parents via the internet gave us the strength to give to him to fight & recover. That his care team at the hospital is still looking for the cause raises question !

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