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Awareness week aimed to counter eating disorders
Thursday February 25 2010
There is a difference between eating disorders and disordered eating,” Sandy Spayd, director of student wellness and campus health, said. Sometimes college students experience “disordered eating,” eating in different routines and not eating healthily due to stress. Feb. 21 through Feb. 27 is National Eating Disorders Awareness (NEDA) Week. According to www.nationaleatingdisorders.org, the purpose of NED Awareness Week is to reach out to those suffering from eating disorders and encourage them to seek help. Another mission is to reduce body image issues because eating disorders are life-threatening illnesses.
Eileen Wagener, college health liaison, put into perspective how someone from Elizabethtown College who comes into the health center with an eating disorder is helped. Typically, one with an eating disorder would schedule an appointment with Marge Natividad, nurse practitioner, or another physician from Penn State Hershey Medical Group. These individuals would compile a history of the student’s eating disorder, including the student’s weight. Patients do not have to see their weight if it is detrimental to their health. A blood test would then determine electrolyte levels.
According to Wagener, an eating disorder can dangerously affect levels of electrolytes. If needed, an electrocardiogram is performed to check the heart for irregular rhythms, which is sometimes a symptom of eating disorders. The student would then be referred to Counseling Services to follow up on any emotional issues.
“I’m not too familiar about the College giving information about eating disorders,” sophomore Dan Silver said. “It’s difficult for athletes to get some of their meals. They eat at odd hours and can develop bad patterns.”
Silver, who is on Etown’s basketball team, explains that some athletes may feel they don’t deserve to eat after a bad game, or sometimes they eat a lot before bed due to having no time during the day, which are both unhealthy choices.
There are many types of eating disorders. Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder which causes people to starve themselves and lose great amounts of weight. It is a serious disease that is potentially life-threatening. There are four main symptoms of anorexia: resistance to maintaining body weight above a minimally normal weight, intense fear of gaining weight or being “fat,” denying the seriousness of low body weight, and cessation of menstrual periods in women. Approximately 90 to 95 percent of those with anorexia are women, but males do experience this and other eating disorders.
Binge Eating Disorder (BED) consists of recurrent binge eating without using compensatory measures to counter it. Those with BED frequently eat large quantities of food in short periods of time, feel out of control over their eating behavior, feel ashamed or disgusted by their behavior, and eat when they are not hungry or in secret. This eating disorder is estimated to affect 1 to 5 percent of the population, and 60 percent of those suffering from BED are women.
Bulimia nervosa is also a serious sickness characterized by a cycle of bingeing and purging. There are three main symptoms: regularly taking in large amounts of food while feeling no control over one’s actions; regularly vomiting; taking laxatives or diuretics, fasting, and participating in obsessive exercise to compensate for binges; and extreme concern with body weight and shape. About 80 percent of those with bulimia are female, and they usually appear to be of average body weight.
Wagener detailed the difficulty of treating an eating disorder and explained that long-term therapy is usually necessary. In severe cases, however, the patient may need to be hospitalized or seen in an inpatient facility specializing in eating disorders.
According to Spayd, when a student presents an eating disorder here at Etown, a “multi-pronged” plan is established.
“The student needs to be comfortable with information being shared between health care, counseling, and possibly the athletic department,” Spayd explained. However, Spayd clarified that it is the student’s decision to make a change.
Eating disorders negatively affect not only the patient, but also the patient’s family and friends. Approaching someone who may have an eating disorder can be difficult.
“They usually feel invisible and disconnected from those around them. Let them know you see them and want to know what they have to say,” Spayd said. “It’s their choice, and they need to want to change, not just because you want them to.”
Spayd points out that when considering eating disorders, we shouldn’t forget the prevalence of overeating and being overweight. Eating disorders affect all shapes and sizes.
For more information on eating disorders, visit The WELL, in Thompson 100. You can also visit the Web site, www2.etown.edu/thewell/, and participate in an eating disorder screening.
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