Lost amid the controversy over Terri Schiavo’s feeding tube and the recriminations surrounding her death is greater awareness of eating disorders.
Medical records suggest Schiavo’s condition was caused by bulimia and a severe potassium imbalance in her blood, which led to cardiac arrest and brain damage.
“The most important message–and which hasn’t gotten the press–is that all of this came about because of her apparent eating disorder,” said Joanna Popper, a Miami Beach documentarian who was bulimic for eight years until she sought help from a therapist.
“I didn’t want to live like that anymore,” said Popper, 32, who along with Arne Zimmermann co-produced the new video “The ABCs of Eating Disorders: The Documentary.”
“So many eating disorders start as a little diet and … turn into deadly habits. Here was a beautiful woman who went down this path, not able to deal with the emotions going on in her life. So many people out there are also caught up in this emotional battle and don’t know how to deal with what is going on in their life. They don’t see that it’s going to be such a big deal.”
It’s treated, she said, like “an accelerated diet.”
Nearly 10 million women and 1 million men are affected by anorexia nervosa or bulimia nervosa, and 25 million more suffer from a binge eating disorder, according to the Seattle-based National Eating Disorders Association.
Moreover, eating disorders are hitting younger girls, including the preteen set, and more men. An April 2001 report in the Journal of the American Psychiatric Association said one male suffered from anorexia for every four females; for bulimia, it’s one male for every 8 to 11 females.
But eating disorders are seldom covered by medical insurance, a reality Popper and the association feel should be a wake-up call in the wake of Schiavo. Popper said shame often keeps victims from seeking help.
“If there were less shame, better insurance, involved for people with eating disorders, many people would `come out’ faster and get help. Denial is a big part just like with alcoholism. But part of that denial may come from the fear of having other people know what you are doing and what their perception of you might become,” said Popper, who became bulimic at 21.
She didn’t tell anyone she was bulimic at the time, not even while seeing a therapist.
“I know I was always concerned with looking good and appearing strong and invincible when I had an eating disorder.
“But if eating disorders were treated as something that happens to `normal’ people and not only shown in the very extreme cases and celebrities, it might be easier for people to stop and accept that they have a problem, stop denying, and get the help they need.”
