Blog 9

What should a woman do if she has a friend whom she suspects to have an eating disorder?

Eating disorders are common among young women and can be triggered by social, emotional and biological factors in women’s lives. Pressure to “fit in”, a desire to avoid consuming food as a way of dealing with emotions and feelings of euphoria when skipping meals are behaviors that can undermine one’s health, self-esteem and sense of competency (Alexander, 2010). Talking about eating disorders with a friend or loved one can be a difficult subject to bring up, and I have had to talk to a friend about it before. A couple of years ago my best friend was going to get married and wanted to look good in her wedding dress. I knew that she was working out a lot at the gym but what I didn’t know is that she had become a bulimic in the process. She drastically started loosing weight, and I told her that maybe she shouldn’t exercise so much. One day I caught her in the bathroom getting rid of the lunch she had just eaten. I didn’t know what to say so I just jumped right in and asked her what she was doing. Of course she denied everything at first and we would get into fights about it frequently. I would tell her that I was worried, and I just wanted her to get help. Then one day she admitted it and started saying how she just wanted to look good in her wedding dress and it had just gone too far. She asked me not to tell her fiancé, and I wanted to keep her trust so I promised not to. She said she couldn’t stop because she liked the way she looked in clothes. At five feet four inches tall she now weighed 98 lbs. Pretty much all I knew about eating disorders at the time is what they can do to the heart. I do cardiac ultrasound for a living and frequently scan patients with eating disorders. I proceeded to tell my friend what she was doing to her heart and surprisingly it scared her. I also told her that she was probably hurting her teeth as well by frequently vomiting. The heart stuff scared her enough that I was able to talk her into getting some help. She checked into an outpatient eating disorder program and after a few months had gained all of her weight back that she had lost. Two years later she is happily married and doing fine. I often wonder what I would tell someone if I had to do it again. Pretty much all you can do is earn their trust and let them know that you are there for them and worried about them. You can also point out whatever facts you know about eating disorders and recommend counseling. I got lucky in that my friend trusted me enough to help her.

References
Alexander, L., et al. (2010). Nutrition, Exercise, and Weight Management. New Dimensions In Women’s Health. Sudbury: Jones and Bartlett Publishers.