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Young sufferers of anorexia and bulimia who try to hide their eating problems from their parents and doctors are turning to a growing number of Internet chat rooms dedicated to perpetuating their illness.
A pilot study released on Monday of U.S. eating disorder patients aged between 10 and 22 showed that up to a third learn new weight loss or purging methods from Web sites that promote eating disorders by enabling users to share tips, such as what drugs induce vomiting and what Internet sites sell them.
But the study — published in the American Academy of Pediatrics’ journal Pediatrics — found that eating disorder sufferers were also learning new high-risk ways to lose weight from each other on Web sites aimed at helping them recover.
A wave of pro-eating disorder sites showed up on the Internet between 2001 and 2003, prompting operators of several Internet hosts to try to remove such sites. But the study showed many pro-anorexia and bulimia sites remain accessible, with most patients finding them and pro-recovery sites through chance searches.
“I feel so sick eating as much as 800 calories,” a teen-age girl, who called herself “berlinium,” wrote in a pro-anorexia chat room on Monday.
“And then for some reason now when I try to purge, I can’t get anything up. I mean I am literally shoving my fingers past my tonsils, but nothing,” she said, adding that she had just bought a drug off the Internet to induce vomiting.
While half of the parents surveyed said they were aware of Web sites promoting eating disorders, only 28 percent had ever discussed these sites with their child and only 20 percent said they placed limits on their child’s Internet use.
Sometimes, you have to wonder why parents believe “their” kids couldn’t possibly do something stupid or self-destructive?
The girl in that picture is fat.
Suicide is a disease. Assasination is an extreme form of criticism
yeah its photo shopped, theres some website out there with the real ones, although there isnt much difference in them
theres more that are editted too
type anorexic into google images and hey presto.
not good though.
i hate myself i wanna be slim more and more i need help
i think she looks beautiful, i really do.
your all stupid to think otherwise
Wow, that is so offensive of you who say that it is not a disease.
I have been struggling with anorexia for over two years. I will get through the day, then realize as I’m going to bed I haven’t eaten, yet again. Then I shrug and say “good, at least I’ll get thinner.” Every day, at least seven times, I stand on the scale praying the numbers have gone down. I wake up to headaches, heart problems, hunger, dizziness, fainting, shaking, cold, and other things. You don’t think this is a disease?
girl taste something besides your own throw up or nothing get some sodium fats oils sugar and just EAT SOMETHING
am sorry but she looks amizin am guna b that skinny soon i hope
am tryin ma hardest bt it int wrkin
n all u dikeds that say its sik its gawjous people love skinny people nore than ft people
You know…all these people saying that it isn’t a disease, that it’s completely in control, etc etc…ever heard of something called BDD? It means…that no matter how you look, when you look in the mirror, your brain distorts what you see. It IS a mental illness. Just like schizophrenia or depression or bipolar disease.
You don’t know what it’s like to look in the mirror…and see yourself twenty pounds heavier than you actually are. To restrict yourself until your body forces you to binge eat out of instinct…and then to feel so bad about it you HAVE to purge it from your body. To have your weight fluctuate so much that you can’t even tell if you’re really losing weight or if it’s just water, or maybe your scale sucks.
Seriously…who cares whether or not the picture is photoshopped? Even if that one is, there are TONS of pics that are NOT photoshopped out there that are entirely real.
The reason ana’s cling to each other is because people take it upon themselves to tell us that we’re not sick, just stupid. At least the other girls understand what we’re going through. I would rather cling to a girl that’s giving me advice on how to kill myself slowly than an asshole who tells me I’m just too stupid to stop.
This witch is so skinny, she should eat a box of butter, lol im Overweight and Loving it, it is liberating to be fat and proud of yourself, being fat means your strong and powerful which is Ownage
I’m 14, and I can see how disgusting anorexic people are and I don’t ever plan on becoming anorexic, or even limiting how much I eat because i’m 5’1” and weigh 95 lbs.
People say I’m anorexic, but YIKES!!! That person in the picture needs help.
I would also like to add that several of my friends are honest to god anorexic and it is most definetely a real disease.
people with anorexia do not decide to have it.
They have an illness which affects the mind.
who are these people that say “its all in the mind”??? ERR HELLO! thats the MOST immportant part of your body, so you can’t say its JUST in you head.
the picture IS shocking, but it is shopped. there are plenty of picture out there that really show the ILLNESS that is anorexia and bulimia.
ok i would like to just say that i don’t know the exact classification of a disease but you can’t say that a disease of the mind is self-induced. you can’t think yourself into depression. you just have a genetic dispostion to get it.
oooh ther’s alot of tension here. which isn’t helped by those stupid b*****ds taking the mick.
i feel for you out there suffereing. everyone suffers. in different ways. but you can’t dismiss someone who is suffereing for a different reason. there isn’t a more IMPORTANT disease.
#44,
#41,
Well said. Right the way through the blog we’ve only had one viewpoint upon the subject– looks like it’s about time people saw what it’s like on the other side of the fence.
#43,
A good mindset to have, and to be honest, I envy you.
#40,
Honey, THAT is not beautiful. Well, not THAT beautiful really… She looks much better in the original picture.
xoxoxoxox
omg!thats disgusting i mean why do they like to look that way… eewwww lol makes me feel fat man thats disgusting its hell lindsay lohan how ever you spell her name made it in the top 100 hottest ppl and she’s a damn freckled skeleton!
okay, that woman is really ugly. skinny is one thing but i can see her freakin skeleton.
omg that girl is soo beautiful! I hate myself i’m soo fat and wish i could be that skinny. i’m 5 feet and weigh 63 pounds. theres just so much fat on me i can’t stand it! everything about me is ugly and gross. people are always looking at me and saying i’m soo fat!!
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and I think she is one of the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen!!!!No fat…..all woman!!!Very sensual,alluring and sexual.Whats not to love?
omg that is so ugly. if u think that is pretty you should get a like cuz thats only encouraging those ppl. seriously eeeewww
MIKE:
Well. Where to start.
Okay. I’m a sick, sick person. Don’t worry, I don’t have cystic fibrosis, terminal cancer or some contagious disease.
No. I’m just extremely unhappy, even though I have a great life and everything I need and/or want. I just hate myself and regret everything I do. I just have panic attacks. I just align things about fifty million times, ajust the curtains, and bite down on tissues because a little voice in the back of my head tells me I have to.
I just go to therapy once a week where they do a urine analysis and weigh me. Just a therapy where I celebrated finally killing one of these demons inside of me.
And you might think, ‘Oh, that’s no outstanding accomplishment’. But I’m proud of myself. I really am.
Though I might have a few more ghosts to bust, I succeeded in killing the one that was killing me. The one that possessed me. I was my own exorciser.
So, MIKE, please think twice about insulting people like me. You can’t just BE happy. You can’t just love yourself. It’s not that easy. For some of us, there’s a path that must be walked before we can attain bliss and harmony.
The mind is the root of all your problems.
i think its not right. people we must put an end to this!
It is possible to learn how to cope with panic attacks with a lot of hard work and perseverance. You can check out http://www.whatcausespanicattacks.com, they have all the information that you will need about panic attacks. It definitely helped me, and I can see an improvement in my condition already.
I’d bump uglies with her.
That’s disgusting.
And #49 you’re stupid. I highly doubt anyone calls you fat. 63 pounds and fat? Sorry Im not buying it.
How can people starve themselves like that? It’s reaaly stupid and immature, 2 do this 2 urself, no 1 deserves 2 be told they r 2 fat but even if ppl do, there is no reason 2 starve urself 2 make other people happy. Be confident with hu u r and know that u r beautiful just the way u r!
[Cripes! Did you text message this from your phone? – ed.]
Good reply#44
I don’t think it matters if we call it a disease, an addiction, a habit, or whatever. But it IS real. It starts with wanting to be thinner,even if you don’t need to be, and then you can’t stop.
I had it when I was twelve, I’m now 34. I had a therapist ask me if I thought it was a disease. I didn’t know what to say because I didn’t know. I had just called it that because it had been called that way to me. She made a pretty big deal about it. Looking back it’s like who cares what you call it, I just wanted to get better! I’m definately not a Dr. but I would like to see what the results would be by treating this as a habit. And I said TREATING it as a habit. I don’t care what you call it. I am talking about recovery purposes here. The real point is helping these people get better.
I don’t know what to think about people who actually go so far as to support themselves and eachother into being anorexic. It doesn’t make sense to me. I almost want to think they are faking it. Like they’re not REALLY anorexic,but just faking it for attention or because they WANT to be anorexic because it will make them skinny. They don’t realize what it is REALLY like to be trapped inside that kind of mindset. It’s awefull. And I’m not judging here, maybe there are different kinds of anorexia. I just know it wasn’t like that for me. Maybe because I didn’t have it long enough to get to that point or something, I don’t know.
Anorexics need treated with care and understanding. Making them feel stupid is only going to make it worse. Lot’s worse. They’re self esteem is already LOW,LOW,LOW. My sympathy goes out to anyone suffering from this condition.
Hey that photo looks scary to me.. Totally!! Why don’t you just check my site http://www.redchilirecipe.com, lots of great recipe.
Ps! Don’t wanna be one of that girl.
YEP FAKE. THEY HAVE BEEN PHOTO SHOPPED
http://www.snopes.com/photos/people/models.asp
i would like to ask permission to use the photo that is on google of the anorexic woma. this is for my ICT GCSE. please email me back within the next 3 days as i have to hand it in on the 26th MArch 2008
thanks
This looks like USE #49 for duct tape.
Understanding Mental Illness has a long way to go in this culture–as does allocation of resources.
I wish I understood more, could allocate resources, and had more duct tape.
Eek! EAT SOMETHING!