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Tag: Anorexia

  • Rachael Farrokh: 40 Pound Anorexic Woman Makes Plea For Help On Crowdfunding Site

    Crowdfunding sites like Kickstarter, indiegogo and GoFundMe have seen their share of people asking support for their latest movies, inventions or what not. But Rachael Farrokh’s crowdfunding page is asking for something more, it’s asking for help in saving her life.

    The 37-year-old SoCal resident has been battling anorexia for the past decade and has left the 5’7” Rachael barely tipping the scales at 40 pounds.

    In a heartbreaking YouTube video, a skeletal Rachael appealed for help and admitted that “otherwise I don’t have a shot.”

    The video also shows the fragile Rachael being carried down the stairs by her husband, Rod Edmonson, who has given up his job to take care of her full-time.

    Her extreme anorexia has gotten to the point where she might die if she doesn’t receive the right treatment. Unfortunately, other hospitals are not willing to accept Rachael as her weight has become so low that she’s considered “a liability for them.”

    But the ACUTE center for Eating Disorders at the Denver Health Medical Center is willing and able to treat her. However, Rachael and her husband Rod Edmonson needs to raise at least $100,000 to get her in the program.

    This prompted the personal trainer to set up the page “Rachael’s Road to Recovery” on GoFundMe and posted the heartbreaking video in a last ditch effort to save his wife.

    Edmonson also wrote that it’s his “mission to get her” to the Colorado hospital. He also shared how society often oversimplifies anorexia so “people think it’s just about being skinny and that they just need to eat something and it will be all better.”

    It’s a sentiment that’s echoed by his wife, who also hopes that she’ll be able to help others suffering from eating disorders by raising awareness and getting rid of the misconceptions surrounding it.

    The couple has already raised more than the needed amount for the specialized treatment so let’s hope that Rachael’s story receives the happy ending it deserves.

  • Rachael Farrokh: 40-Pound Anorexic Actress Pleas For Her Life

    Rachael Farrokh, 37, weighs only 40 pounds, the result of a 10-year battle with anorexia.

    In an attempt to save her own life, Rachael Farrokh posted a video to YouTube begging for help. She and her husband, Rod Edmondson, have also launched a GoFundMe page that has raised more than $140,00 for her medical costs.

    Rachael Farrokh, an actress by trade, took to social media for help after she said she had exhausted all other options.

    “My name’s Rachael. I need your help,” she says in the YouTube video. “In order for us to get there — and I’m not one to ever ask for help — I need your help. We need your help. Otherwise, I don’t have a shot, and I’m ready to get better. So please, if there’s anything you can do to save my life, please click this link that you’ll see and do anything you can. Anything will help.”

    Rachael Farrokh’s husband wrote on the GoFundMe page that hospitals have refused to treat his wife because she doesn’t meet minimum weight requirements.

    According to the site, Farrokh has undergone blood transfusions, blood clots, edema and has suffered heart, liver and kidney failure. “She is at a critical point. … Her days are limited if we don’t take action immediately,” he writes.

    Initially, Farrokh, who lives in San Clemente, California, hoped to raise enough money for treatment at the ACUTE Center for Eating Disorders at the Denver Health Medical Center.

    “My doctor wants me to stay here (in California) and is bringing the hospital basically to my bedside,” Rachael Farrokh said Friday. “I’ll have a doctor, a registered nurse, therapist and other specialist treat me from home. My eating disorder doctor has set all of this up for me.

    “She actually has provided even extra care because right now she doesn’t think it’s safe for me to make the travel across country to a treatment center. We are trying to build up to that point to travel to a specialized treatment center like Denver Health.”

    Rachael Farrokh will be required to slowly increase her calorie intake in increments of 25 calories.

    “What people don’t understand is I can’t just eat a cheeseburger because it could kill me,” she said. “We have already started. It’s going OK. I have good days and bad days just like anyone. What kept me really up and fired right now is the love and support and motivation from everyone who has reached out to me — thousands of people. I had a bulimic girl tell me she pulled her head out of the toilet and (sought) treatment after seeing my story.”

    Rachael Farrokh said she is resigned to the reality that she may not be saved, but she wants to help others by bringing light to her affliction.

    “I want to bring awareness to this disease because it’s going unnoticed and there’s a lot of shame around eating disorders right now,” Rachael Farrokh said. “It’s inspiring me to want to get better — I want my struggle to help other women know that they aren’t alone. This terrible disease should not be kept in the closet of shame.”

  • Demi Lovato On Eating Disorders: Not A Choice

    Demi Lovato spoke out recently about eating disorders, giving a shout out to an organization that provides help to those suffering from them, as well as from additional mental illnesses. She also made mention of the fact that those with eating disorders don’t have any choice in the matter.

    “Having an eating disorder doesn’t show ‘strength.’ Strength is when are able to overcome your demons after being sick and tired for so long,” she said. “There’s a wide misconception that anorexia and/or bulimia is a choice and you often hear people say things like ‘why doesn’t she just start eating?’ Or even ‘just stop throwing up.’”

    “It’s the ignorance and lack of education on mental illnesses that continues to [put] mental health care on the back burner to congress even though this is an epidemic that is sweeping our nation, and causing more and more tragedy every day,” she continued.

    Demi Lovato gave that shout out to @DBSAlliance, and she got lots of response via Twitter.

    Demi made sure to end her info share with a tweet that very clearly indicated her frame of mind.

    Demi Lovato has long suffered from an eating disorder. She knows firsthand the health repercussions and the stigma that is attached to the mental illness. Kudos to the ‘Heart Attack’ singer for sharing so openly everything she knows, and for helping to raise awareness about this disease that can kill.

    If even one person is saved from an eating disorder because of Demi Lovato’s actions, she will no doubt feel wonderful about having worn her heart on her sleeve.

  • Curt Schilling’s Son Overcomes Anorexia in a Powerful Way

    Former Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling has something to celebrate these days.

    The baseball star’s son, Gehrig Schilling, has overcome the battle of his life — a years-long struggle with anorexia.

    Diagnosed with the eating disorder when he was in middle school, the young baseball player has used his experiences and his own love of baseball to beat the debilitating mental illness.

    According to Gehrig, his mother, Shonda, first noticed the problem when his eating patterns changed. She took him to a doctor, who eventually diagnosed the disorder.

    “I was actually pretty close to being put on a feeding tube for a while,” Gehrig, who weighed only 78 pounds in 8th grade, told the Boston Globe. “I had to ease back in and eat a lot of protein in order to get my weight back up,” he said.

    Once the diagnosis of anorexia was determined, Gehrig began the healing process by sharing his experiences with others. In the process of becoming a mentor to other young sufferers of eating disorders, he found he was healing both physically and mentally.

    “It’s been really neat to see him be honest with people about what had happened, and talk to other people and be able to be a mentor,” said his mother.

    Another healing outlet for Gehrig is a passion he shares with his father — baseball.

    Following a difficult loss in the final game of the season in his hometown league, Gehrig said his father gave him some advice that applies to the sport and life.

    “He told me, ‘You don’t always have your best stuff,’” Gehrig said. “He said initially it’s really hard to get back into the game, but you gotta roll with the punches and then deal with what’s going on, what the reality of the game is, and just pick each other up as teammates.”

    The family has had much to overcome throughout the years. His younger brother, Grant, has Asperger syndrome, and his sister, Gabby, 17, suffers from hearing loss. Both parents have fought cancer, and the family has had to deal with the collapse of his father’s video game company, 38 Studios.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Dr. Drew’s Daughter Admits To Battle With Eating Disorder

    Paulina Pinsky, 21, has admitted her battle with bulimia and anorexia. Paulina is the daughter of Celebrity Rehab host, Dr. Drew, who specializes in addictions. The news broke out just in time for National Eating Disorders Awareness Week.

    The revelation was done in an essay posted on the Columbia Daily Spectator website wherein Paulina wrote about her 7-year struggle with eating disorders. She said that she felt pressured by many people around her – even by her own mother – to be a perfect girl. Indeed, Paulina seemed to be the perfect girl from the outside. She was a competitive ice skater, a cheerleader, and got good grades in school. Inside, however, she was suffering from the pressure of being perfect.

    Paulina also said that she told her mother that she has been throwing up since seventh grade. After a long silence, her mother finally responded with “Well, get your teeth checked.”

    It came to a point when Paulina would throw up eight times in a day just to handle the stress of living at home during spring break. She said that her mother’s perfectionism was one of the causes of her low self-esteem and purging. It was then that she got scared and finally took action to recover.

    Paulina is currently in her junior year at Barnard College. Just this month, she hosted the Body Positivity Week in school, which consisted of different activities, such as photo shoots, yoga sessions, and talks about eating disorders. She is a year and a half into recovery from her eating disorders and has been learning how to have a functional relationship with her mother.

    According to Dr. Drew’s statement, he is proud of his daughter for having the courage to recognize that she needed help with her condition. He also recognized and praised his daughter’s actions to help others and empower women who are suffering from eating disorders.

    Paulina Pinsky talks about her struggle

    Image via Facebook

  • Dr. Drew: Daughter’s Lonely Struggle With Body Image

    You would think a man who made a name for himself offering “medical” opinions nobody asked for and exploiting the public breakdowns of the rich and famous for personal gain would be far more observant as to what goes on closer to home.

    Dr. Drew Pinsky’s daughter Paulina has revealed that she has been struggling for years with a combination of negative body issues and mountains of pressure to be “perfect”. She says though this pressure was placed on her by both of her parents, it had been especially hard dealing with her mother.

    The New York Post reported that Pinsky, a Barnard College junior, wrote on the Columbia Daily Spectator’s website that life in the presence of her parents had become virtually unbearable.

    “Purging eight times in one day to cope with the emotional stress of being home during spring break had finally scared me enough to take action.”

    The 21-year-old said that she had tried to open up to her mother about what was happening to her during a car ride, finally admitting details about her bulimia.

    After an awkward silence, Pinsky claims her mother said to her, “Well…get your teeth checked.”

    Pinsky stated that this isn’t the only inappropriate commentary her mother has shared about women’s body issues.

    When the young woman commented to her parents over dinner about all the mean and disturbing opinions she’d heard about Kim Kardashian gaining weight because she was pregnant, her mother apparently responded with, “Yeah. She got ­really fat.”

    Dr. Drew, who didn’t seem interested in crossing Paulina’s mother, simply added that Kardashian’s weight gain was probably excessive.

    “You know, it’s very unhealthy for the baby to gain that much weight.” he’s alleged to have commented, “Could be eclampsia.”

    Paulina Pinsky feels very strongly about the issues women struggle with when it comes to their bodies. She sees them as often fueled by negative, insensitive commentary similar to what she suffered through at home.

    “I am a year and a half into recovery after a seven-year battle with bulimia and anorexia, and this spectacle makes me furious . . . This public shaming is making the world a harder place to live in.”

    Dr. Drew did release a statement to about Paulina’s recent revelation and road to recovery:

    “We are so proud of Paulina and her outreach to help others and particularly empower women. When she recognized she needed help, she sought treatment and actively engaged in the process. And now she is using her insights to help others.”

    Hopefully this support will be more than cosmetic in nature now that the cat is out of the bag regarding the previous behavior of him and his wife towards their child.

    Image via YouTube

  • Candace Cameron Bure Talks About Bulimia

    Thirty-seven-year-old Candace Cameron Bure spoke with Thea Andrews of Omg! Insider where topics focused on her upcoming book, Balancing It All, as well as her adult struggles with bulimia. After her time portraying D.J. Tanner on the popular television show Full House, Candace moved to Montreal with her husband, Valeri Bure. During this time, Candace was dealing with pressures relating to her career as an actress and being the new wife of a professional hockey player.

    “I talk about the emotional struggle that I had in dealing with just a totally new life. That really was the time of identifying with being an actress and that being my whole life, and then now being someone’s wife and moving to a new city, a new country even. I turned to food for comfort and had to find a different source, ’cause clearly it wasn’t a healthy way to deal with things. So that’s really when my faith was kicked up a notch and sought comfort in my relationship with God and not with food,” Candace said.

    Candace says that her struggle with bulimia happened after her time as a famous child actress. As a well-known child star, Candace received support and guidance from the adult figures in her life. “I think I was very protected by my parents and the producers. They all had a sensitivity about it. Even the one episode of Full House where D.J. goes on a crash diet for a few days, they asked me would I feel comfortable doing an episode about that,” she said.

    [Image Via Wikimedia Commons]

  • Eating Disorder Risk, Brain Size Linked in New Study

    Earlier this week, a new study revealed evidence that certain eating disorders and alcoholism could share a genetic link. Now, another new study is showing that anorexia may be more prevalent in people with larger brains.

    The study, published in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, specifically found that the insula and orbitofrontal cortex in anorexic girls are larger that girls without the eating disorder. The insula is a portion of the brain involved in taste, and the orbitofrontal cortex is involved in the body’s fullness response after eating.

    “While eating disorders are often triggered by the environment, there are most likely biological mechanisms that have to come together for an individual to develop an eating disorder such as anorexia nervosa,” said Dr. Guido Frank, lead author of the study and a psychiatry professor at the University of Colorado School of Medicine.

    The study looked at a small group of adolescent girls. Some had been diagnosed with anorexia nervosa, and some had not. Those diagnosed with anorexia were found to have larger left orbiofrontal, right insular, and bilateral temporal cortex grey matter. For those same girls, orbitofrontal gray matter volume correlated with an aversion to “sweet tastes.”

    Guido and his colleagues believe their findings reveal how people diagnosed with anorexia are able to go without food. The researchers also suggest certain larger portions of the brain could predispose people to develop anorexia. The study’s findings corroborate those found in a study published earlier this year that found a link between brain size and anorexia in adults.

    (Image courtesy Thinkstock)

  • LeAnn Rimes Denies Rumors of Anorexia

    When LeAnn Rimes entered rehab last year, rumors swirled that the actress was suffering from an eating disorder, as pictures of the country singer looking very skinny had surfaced in tabloids. Rimes denied the rumors, stating that the rehab was needed to “develop coping mechanisms” for the bullying the star says she was a victim of.

    Now, Rimes has addressed the eating disorder rumors and much more in an interview with the Daily Mail. The singer stated that she never had a problem with eating, and that her weight loss was stress-related.

    My mind wouldn’t shut off and my heart was breaking,” said Rimes. “Now I’m secure about my body, although I’m like any other woman and have my moments of self-doubt.”

    Rimes’ stress stems from an affair she had with actor Eddie Cibrian in 2009 after the pair met on the set of the TV movie Northern Lights. Rimes at the time was married to her first husband, Dean Sheremet, and Cibrian was married to Brandi Glanville, who is now a reality TV star. Their affair became public, and Rimes endured years of criticism from both tabloids and Glanville.

  • Crystal Renn: Plus-Size Model Shocks Industry With Weight Loss

    In our culture, size is everything. It’s an important factor in just about every aspect of our lives: food, lodging, technology, money. In general, we want bigger, better, more…except when it comes to women’s bodies.

    Nowhere is this idea more prevalent than in the fashion world. Hollywood bears quite a bit of the scrutiny, as well, but models have gotten dangerously thin in recent years and have prompted a conversation about what it takes to be successful in an industry based on looks. To the general public, that sparkly, glamorous world is like a different planet, populated with beautiful, impossibly thin people who make it look easy.

    But it isn’t easy, even for some of the most famous faces on the runway. Public scrutiny and harsh media attention make it difficult for women to alter their appearance in any way, and a “normal” sized woman–size 6, 8, or 10–is considered fat or “plus-sized” in their business. Actress Ashley Judd recently penned an essay regarding the attitude towards appearances after being slammed by media sources for looking “puffy” after she took steroids for a sinus infection.

    The general attitude towards size has been a problem for model Crystal Renn, who has built a career on being one of the few highly sought-after plus-sized women in fashion after battling eating disorders brought on by the pressures of being thin to get work.

    “I’ve been a double-zero, children’s clothes, at 95 pounds, and I’ve been all the way up to a size 16 and everything in between. Now I’m a 6, 8, sometimes a 10 depending on what designer I’m wearing. And that’s an interesting place to be in fashion, where extremes are the norm,” she said.

    Her battle with anorexia was detailed in a self-penned book called Hungry: A Young Model’s Story of Appetite, Ambition and the Ultimate Embrace of Curves, and after a recent appearance at an event in New York where she was unrecognizable, friends are worried she might have fallen back into the clutches of the disorder.

    “It’s simply bizarre that ‘normal’ is the new overweight,” she writes in her book. “We’ve seen that super-skinny women can be as unhappy as the fattest fat girl. We know how awful it is to obsess about every calorie. We’ve just opted not to make ourselves crazy.”

    Renn says she’s been doing yoga and feels good about her new look, however, and recently landed a coveted spot in Sports Illustrated.

    “I have found a place of stability when it comes to how to view my figure,” she says.

    While it may not be feasible in the fashion biz, where models need to fit into a certain size range for the ease of designers–whose dress forms are all the same measurements–many think that size shouldn’t matter at all, whether it’s a 2 or a 20. The point is to get women at a healthy level in both mind and body, to feel good about the way they look and to do it in a healthy way. The fact that the media is placing such importance on Renn dropping weight simply adds to the vicious cycle of size-consciousness in our society.

    (image)@ttedesco
    Tammy Tedesco    It is amazing how we view women’s body sizes in this country. This is why women have body issues. http://t.co/pz5Kujyn #behealthyandhappy(image) 4 minutes ago via web ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    (image)@jennifermerritt
    jennifermerritt    And, let the Renn hate begin in 3, 2… Former Plus-sized Model Crystal Renn a Shadow of Her Former Self http://t.co/kaVaubUa(image) 34 minutes ago via Tweet Button ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    (image)@JRosellenM
    Jennifer-Rosellen    So shocking!!! Crystal Renn is literally unrecognisable as she shows off her blonde hair and even slimmer frame http://t.co/YB7BZc5w(image) 4 hours ago via Tweet Button ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

  • Miley Cyrus Slams Gluten and Takes Pilates Classes

    There have been rumors that Miley Cyrus is anorexic but the star says that her slimmed down figure is the result of Pilates classes and adherence to a gluten-free diet.

    In a recent tweet she admitted that she missed fried food and resorted to smelling a bag of it to quell her cravings.

    Apparently she is a big fan of Carl’s Jr., America’s fifth favorite fast-food chain:

    (image)@MileyCyrus
    Miley Ray Cyrus    I can’t eat it. So I’m just gonna smell the shittttt out of it! My mouth is LITERALLY watering. http://t.co/QbXM1faU(image) 2 days ago via Twitter for iPhone ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    (image)

    Miley was never on the heavier side but now she looks like a swimsuit model as she bares her midsection in a black and pink bikini.

    The gluten-free guru said in a Twitter post that she is allergic to the protein composite and gave it up for health reasons, not as some diet intervention.

    (image)@MileyCyrus
    Miley Ray Cyrus    For everyone calling me anorexic I have a gluten and lactose allergy. It’s not about weight it’s about health. Gluten is crapppp anyway!(image) 2 days ago via Twitter for iPhone ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    Miley isn’t the only celebrity who should stay away from gluten for health reasons. Elisabeth Hasselbeck has Celiac’s disease, Ryan Phillippe told Men’s Health magazine that he is allergic to gluten back in 2010, and Saints QB, Drew Brees is a gluten-free athlete.

  • NEDA and Tumblr Partner to Combat Eating Disorders

    Tumblr has been applauded by the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA) for taking a stand against the promotion of eating disorders on its site. Tumblr’s Media Watchdog program has been flagging pro-anorexia/bulimia websites and directing keyword searchers of this disorder to resources for help.

    Tumblr also approved a new policy banning blogs that promote the glorification of self-harm while still allowing for discussions around it. This caused some controversy as to where Tumblr would draw the line on certain blogs built by a community of depressed people. Others claimed that the policy infringed on their freedoms to discuss life choices. Tumblr V.P, Andrew McLuaghlin decided to adress these concerns by stating that “Tumblr is committed to protecting our users’ freedom of speech, even when it’s uncomfortable or controversial, [but] at the same time, we firmly believe that the active promotion or glorification of self-harm is just plain wrong. While we very much want Tumblr to be a place where those struggling with these difficult conditions can find solace, community, dialogue, and understanding, we don’t want Tumblr to be a place that hosts blogs dedicated to triggering self-harm.

    NEDA has recently launched a new campaign called Proud2Bme.org that is supposed to helps U.S. teens develop a healthy sense of self-esteem and provide examples of what “real women” look like.

    The spirit of this video is that women who are not 5″10 and 110 pounds are beautiful but it also serves to insult women who possess more Barbie-like physiques. By insinuating that slim bodied women are not “real” and promoting obese women as being a truer representation of the female species we are sending teens the wrong message.

    Binge eating is an eating disorder too!

    Do you think that NEDA has crossed a line by promoting morbidly obese women and deeming tall and thin physiques as being sickly or fake? Is this video perpetuating myths that most models suffer from eating disorders?