Expert: Joanne - 9/27/2008

Question
Hi. I have wondered for a long time if I have an eating disorder.  It all started in high school while my sister was bulimic.  She and I sort of developed a competiton (I know that sounds awful) about who could eat less during the day.  It actually became kind of serious and a counselor I used to see each week said once that I had an eating disorder, but I have never been diagnosed by a doctor.  Things improved when I went to college, but now I'm struggling again at times.  I'm 23 years old, 5'1 and I weigh about 95 pounds.  In the last few months my weight has went back and forth a lot.  I dropped to 87 pounds a few months ago and it scared me.  I skip meals a lot, sometimes because I want to and other times just because I don't have an appetite.  I ate so little for so long about four months ago that I almost passed out at work.  
I am not extremely thin.  I actually look healthy, although most of the time I wish I was thinner.  I hate looking in the mirror and I've thought about making myself throw up after meals at times.  That's something else I used to do in high school as well, although not often.  
I've thought about talking to my doctor about this, but every time I go in I'm worried she'll think I'm overreacting.  She has never commented about my weight, so I assume it's normal.  I'm just concerned because I'm working on my counseling degree, but how can I help other girls if I'm still struggling?  I know I have a problem.  I just don't know if it constitutes an eating disorder.

Answer
Tina

I think this is definitely worth talking to your doctor about.  Whether or not your weight is 'normal' and no comments have been made, that is not to say that you aren't doing damage to your body!

It is not unheard of for siblings to enter some sort of rivalry, battling to have the lowest weight, especially when one is quite ill and diagnosed with an eating disorder.  The sibling can often become jealous of the ill sibling for the attention that they receive for weight loss - be it compliments, worry or even the arguements that can go with it, and decide that it is the best way to compete for that same attention.

I think that you will be in the perfect position to counsel people with eating disorders in the future, but at this point it would almost be impossible, and definitely hypocritical.  I always wanted to study dietetics if I didn't get into medical school, but I know that realistically I would not have been in a position to give others nutritional advice, and I couldn't have faced telling people what they should be eating when I couldn't follow the advice myself.  In the future, once you have got this sorted, you would make the perfect counsellor.  Sufferers quite often respond well to people that once knew what it felt like to be in their shoes.  You can provide insight that no other can and you will have an idea of what drives an eating disorder and what sort of things helped you fight the disorder.

I think that this sounds as though it would constitute an eating disorder, and really do think that you need to be assessed and possibly diagnosed, and then receive any treatment necessary for a good recovery.  I would reckon that this would end with an eating disorder diagnosis, but even if it doesn't get given a full-blown diagnosis, there is nothing to stop you receiving treatment for this.  There is a huge spectrum of eating disorders which can range from having slightly strange rituals such as chewing a food so many times before swallowing right through to full-blown anorexia nervosa, and therefore 'THE' eating disorder as recognised by the general population.

I hope that this helps and that you really do think about getting some help.  Please contact your Doctor, speak to your family or try to self-refer to someone that can provide you with professional help.

Please get back in touch if there is absolutely anything else that you would like to ask.

All the best
Joanne