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Every year millions of teenagers
suffer from eating disorders such as anorexia, bulimia and obesity.
My friend Lorna was one of those people.
From her early teens Lorna believed
she was fat, problems at home and bullying at school didn鈥檛 help
and so she resorted to anorexia.
Lorna didn鈥檛 realise she had anorexia,
she believed she was just limiting her food intake, and with all
of the problems around her this was something she could control
and so it continued.
Everyone at school desperately tried
to get Lorna to eat, we even tried force feeding her, buying food
she liked and getting teachers involved.
Unfortunately nothing worked and
two years later the doctors finally recognised she had a serious
condition.
Lorna was taken to see the doctors
and dietitian to weigh her regularly to monitor her weight to make
sure she was putting on weight.
This was when Lorna was taken in
to a clinic specially designed for people with eating disorders.
Here she received medical attention to encourage her to start eating
again.
Lorna was encouraged to eat small
regular meals to introduce her into the habit of eating again. The
staff provided information about food and eating a balanced diet
to have a healthy body.
This lasted a year and Lorna鈥檚 eating
did improve. When she came back to school she would eat but not
infront of too many people, so we would eat in the head of years
office a lot until she felt she was ready to eat in the dining hall.
Now Lorna eats regularly and although
she still has her bad days she is starting to put weight on and
look better for it.
| The
problems are not over |
Unfortunately her eating disorder
has caused problems in other areas. As Lorna stopped eating her
body weight fell so much that her periods stopped. Although this
is serious, Lorna has been lucky because in some cases people have
gone so far under weight that their organs have been damaged.
However Lorna鈥檚 anorexia may have
caused one of the most heart breaking consequences. It could mean
she will have fertility problems later in life, meaning she might
have difficulties having children.
Also, Lorna is on medication that
she will probably have to stay on and this could cause problems
for a child, for example it could develop downs syndrome.
This is a chromosomal abnormality
whereby the child has an extra chromosome, which causes them to
be mentally disabled.
Lorna also missed a lot of school
while she was in the clinic even though she was given some education
from the James Brindley School, which specialises in educating children
in hospital.
Through this scheme Lorna was given
Science, Maths, English, Geography and German lessons, however she
did have to drop German and Technology when she returned to school.
| Did
the anorexia cause epilepsy? |
Unfortunately Lorna developed epilepsy
through her anorexia which meant she missed a lot of school because
she had to leave lessons because she was having a seizure.
Doctors aren鈥檛 certain the anorexia
caused her epilepsy but it was only after she returned to school
that she had serious frequent seizures.
These seizures meant that Lorna missed
a lot of lessons because she had to be taken down to the medical
room everyday and in most cases she was taken to hospital.
Lorna is currently taking medication
to control her epilepsy, it is this medication which could cause
her fertility problems. Although Lorna鈥檚 anorexia has caused her
many problems, she is getting better.
| How
can you help someone with anorexia? |
Her eating has improved and she has
been out of the clinic almost a year and is coping with her A levels.
Now that she is taking medication her epilepsy is under control
and because her condition was noticed in time she was able to receive
medical attention.
Remember, this condition kills 1
in 10 sufferers, therefore if you know someone with anorexia you
need to get outside advice. Try to support them and encourage them
to talk about what鈥檚 wrong and why they are doing this.
If they do receive help in time
they can be helped and lead a normal life but if its left too long
it can cause fertility problems, organ failure and in the most extreme
cases death.
Luckily Lorna was helped in time
and although it has caused her problems she is once again leading
a normal life.
| Continued.... |
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