Ana and Mia: The Demonic Siblings

In this day and age "thin is in" according to society, however some people take this idea to an extreme. The desire to be thin consumes them, taking over their every thought until it eats away at them leaving nothing but an empty shell of a person. This is a disease, it's not simply some fad that girls go through and out grow in time. A disease such as this can be fatal. We all have had moments where we have experienced regret over something we ate, but image if you had those thoughts after every piece of food that entered you mouth.

Girls who suffer from this obsession have mental illness called an eating disorder. The most common eating disorders are Anorexia Nervosa (characterized by extreme low weight, distorted body perception, irrational fear of gaining weigh, and extreme food restriction)and Bulimia Nervosa (characterized by episodes of binging and then purging of food through vomiting, use of laxatives, and diuretics).

There is also an eating disorder that slides under the radar due to the difficult to spot symptoms; this is EDNOS, Eating Disorder Not Otherwise Specified. People with this eating disorder often appear to be fine due to the fact that they are able to maintain a normal body weight and have a select amount of symptoms that are often a mixture of bulimia and anorexia.

Many people find it difficult to believe that people suffering with this disease actually have a disease because they cant understand why, for example, someone with anorexia can't just stop starving him or herself and eat like a normal person. But in the mind of an anorexic the thought of eating food and gaining weight is worse than dying. For girls with anorexia the counting of calories becomes a compulsion, the less they eat the better they feel. For girls with bulimia they gorge themselves on food, because they often go through periods of starvation, then force themselves to purge it up often times "purging" the bad feelings as well.

Approximately 11 million Americans suffer from an eating disorder. People with eating disorders feel like they have an internal voice constantly telling them that they are fat, that they aren't good enough, and that they have no choice but to listen to it. These diseases are tricky because those who suffer from them become very secretive and sneaky; they will do anything to lose weight, even if that means lying to those around them. I know this because I have two people that are very close to me who suffer from eating disorders.

My sister developed Bulimia Nervosa in her junior year of college. I remember her visits home and how she would eat incredibly large amounts of food never really stopping, then she would disappear up stairs for a while and fall asleep. I noticed that she was losing weight and I knew that with the waysheate this was impossible. A couple of times I heard her coughing and hacking in the bathroom but when I would confront her about it she just got defensive and would change the subject. My parents began to notice as well, there were vomit stains on the toilet bowls and my sister had begun to look sickly and malnourished. But she always insisted that nothing was wrong with her.

Eating disorders are not just about losing weight, they are used as a coping mechanism for the individual, and this was precisely what my sister was using it for. My sister is borderline personality and was in denial of the fact that she needed help therefore she turned to bulimia to help her cope with her self-loathing. This past summer she did finally get help and is now living a healthy life. However she still has that little voice inside of her head telling her that she isn't good enough, calling her back to her eating disorder but now she choses to ignore it.

My good friend also suffered from an eating disorder, Anorexia Nervosa. During her junior year of high school she began severely restricting her food intake. She also became addicted to laxatives to the point where she would be swallowing handfuls of the little pills to rid herself of any food she ate. This caused her to become very dehydrated and on several occasions she had to go to the hospital to receive fluids through an IV. My friend got down to 97 pounds and was 5'5'' by the time she was admitted to a hospital.

The problem with eating disorders is that they are a very secretive disease and can go unnoticed for a long time doing permanent damage. A person with an eating disorder can cause severe and lasting damage to their organs and bones due to lack of nutrition and dehydration. Although this disease is tricky to spot there are warning signs: sudden obsession with food, dramatic weightless, sudden decrease in self esteem and self image. These are some red flags that are often the signs of an eating disorder.

I hope to have raised awareness of a lethal and sneaky disease. I have almost lost people dear to me due to this disorder and I hope to help people to be able to identify this disease in others to prevent future heart ache.

Work Cited
Anorexia Photo:
http://www.bloghavoc.com/search/label/anorexia%20info

Bulimia Photo:
http://www.thailabonline.com/clinicalnews2.htm