Eating disorders of any kind are painful, and often chronic. After writing about OSFED, I feel its very important to draw attention to a diagnosis within OSFED- Atypical anorexia.
So what is atypical anorexia?
Atypical anorexia is diagnosed in eating disorder sufferers who meet most, but not all, of the diagnostic criteria for an anorexia nervosa diagnosis. This could mean that they have every symptom, but are still at a healthy BMI, or are underweight but have not lost their period.
If you suffer from atypical anorexia or have even been at a healthy weight whilst suffering from an eating disorder, you've most likely been met with some pretty damaging comments. I spoke with a girl named Alice*, an anorexia sufferer with a previous diagnosis of atypical anorexia, about the struggles she faced whilst seeking help and support for her eating disorder.
"There were countless times where I just wanted to give up," she said, "the way I was treated just fueled the disordered part of me, pushing me to keep losing weight until people really realized I had a problem. Most people want to just congratulate you on losing weight until you look 'sick enough', I've had some people laugh in my face when I was finally ready to open up about my struggling, I was just made to feel stupid and not important enough until my eating disorder had almost killed me."
And its not just by friends and loved ones that atypical anorexia sufferers struggle to get help from. Many of them struggle to get help and be taken serious by doctors and mental health specialists.
"It took so much searching and most of my money to find doctors and therapists to take my eating disorder seriously. There were times when I'd finally have the money and courage to go seek help from a doctor. They'd listen and I'd feel like I was finally going to get the help I needed, until they'd weigh me. Nothing after that, just a diagnosis and them telling me to come back if it gets worse, basically 'come back when you're underweight'."
Alice then went on to describe all the damage her body and mind suffered whilst she was literally dying to get the 'atypical' taken out of her anorexia diagnosis. Needing IV electrolytes from being so malnourished and dehydrated, seizures from low blood sugar, having to drop out of school. Not to mention the impact it had on her family. "Mostly, I think they were terrified. It shocked them that I was treated like I wasn't yet sick enough after they had to watch the way my eating disorder was destroying me. Sure, there always going to be someone sicker than someone else, but everyone deserves help."
Alice was finally able to be admitted into an inpatient facility, but not before she was severely anorexic. Atypical anorexics should be able to get all the help they need, no matter what weight. Waiting until they are severely underweight is leaving it to a point where the disorder has completely spiraled out of control, and a lot of sufferers are at the point where they are so malnourished that their brain can barely function logically. The more underweight you are, the higher at risk you are from fatal refeeding syndrome . The dangers of any eating disorder are both mentally and physically damaging, and nobody should have to destroy their life to prove it and be able to get help.
"I destroyed my body for a peace of mind I never got."
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