Holly

A Student's Story of Hope

I look like a normal, well-adjusted 15-year-old high school sophomore. I like talking to friends on the phone, riding my bike, watching TV, and spending time with my boyfriend. I make above average grades and like math and science classes the best.

However, about a year ago, my weight dropped to 72 pounds. I lay in a hospital bed with unkempt hair, fragile limbs and a sunken face. I was seriously ill. The villainous disease was not cancer or AIDS. I had anorexia, a condition which afflicts many teens and young adults, especially young women.

It all started in late summer. I gradually cut back on what I was eating while being very active as a cheerleader. Soon the pounds began to fall away. At first, no one seemed to notice that I was losing weight. I preferred baggy clothes which hid my condition. Eventually, however, people began to notice my weight loss - it was unmistakable. I became unusually fatigued and irritable and couldn't concentrate. Then my grades fell. People noticed that I didn't eat much, if at all. I was absent from school a lot. The people around me started to realize that I had a problem.

When my parents suggested that I had an eating disorder, I denied it. I became defensive when my friends expressed concern. Even after two doctors said I had anorexia, I denied it. I believed the only way to make myself well was to control my diet.

My parents became very frustrated. They tried forcing me to eat, they tried reasoning with me, they even had my friends try to make me eat. None of these tactics worked. Finally, they showed me an article about a TV star with anorexia.

The actress' story moved me. Somehow the article convinced me that what everyone had been saying was right. Before I read the article, I thought I was alone - I had never heard of anyone suffering from an eating disorder before. Suddenly, knowing that I wasn't alone changed my life. For the first time, I realized that I had anorexia.

While this realization was my first step to recovery, I still couldn't beat the disease. By December, I weighed 82 pounds. In January, I was down to 72 pounds. The doctors warned me that if my weight dropped below 70 pounds, I would be at significant risk for major organ failure. My body would simply stop working.

I was hospitalized for treatment. Luckily, I made rapid improvement. I voluntarily ate a carefully controlled diet. My weight gradually increased. I went to therapy both alone and with my family. After only a few weeks, I went back to school. I quickly regained all the weight I had lost.

Not everyone recovers from anorexia and few recover as quickly as me. I am still in therapy. However, I will always be at risk for a setback but right now it looks like I will remain healthy.

None of my teachers helped until after I began to recover. I wish one of my teachers, counselors, or even my cheerleading coach had said something to me about my problem. The words, "you may have an eating disorder" would have influenced me more coming from one of them rather than from a friend or parent. Maybe if a teacher or someone else had shown me the article about someone with anorexia, I would not have suffered so much.

My teachers did help after I began to recover. They made my transition from the hospital to school as easy as they could. With my permission, they told my classmates that I had been treated for anorexia. My teachers briefly described anorexia and asked the students to be supportive of my recovery efforts. By sharing this information with the other students, the teachers helped me come back to school without having to answer a lot of questions about where I was or how my recovery was going. This took a lot of pressure off coming back.

The teachers encouraged me to talk to them if I needed to. They really showed that they cared and wanted to build a supportive relationship with me.

I urge teachers to look for students who might have an eating disorder - watch for students' weight loss, extreme perfectionism, increased absences, poor concentration, and lowered grades. If you think that a student has an eating disorder, observe that student during lunchtime. Does s/he consume a reasonable amount of food? This observation can be very revealing.

What you can do to help a student who you think has an eating disorder depends on the kind of relationship you have with the student. If you are relatively close to the student, talk to the him or her to show your concern. Telling the student about others who have had an eating disorder can be very helpful. Certainly, you should refer the student to the school counselor.

Another helpful tactic is to call the student's parent(s). This might be especially good if you do not have a student-teacher relationship which allows frank conversation regarding personal problems. In any event, becoming aware of the signs of anorexia and other eating disorders. Educating students regarding these phenomena may be the most helpful thing a teacher can do.

By: Holly

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This document was last updated 8/13/97 by Chandra Hawley.
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