Imprisoned by an Eating Disorder

It's called bulimia. A disease this woman has suffered for the past three years.

I know that one day I'm going to wake up, though. And something's going to go wrong. And it may be too late. Or I may be able to do something about it. But I just don't want to have to keep doing it until that happens.

So you think you'll survivor this?

Sometimes, yes, I do. And sometimes I'm real realistic and I think, if I keep this up at the intensity and the rate that I'm doing it now, I probably won't be around next year.

24 years old, single, and a part time sales clerk in a department store. She's been starving and dieting, binging and vomiting since she was 15 years old. Today, her weight is 95 pounds. Three times she's been hospitalized.

Once, two police officers came with a court order and took her to a treatment facility where she was committed for five months against her will.

My doctor classified me as psychotic. I spent, maybe, 6 to 10 hours a day binging and vomiting.

Eating tremendously?

Even though I worked. Mm hm.

Eating volumes?

Volumes. Going from restaurant to restaurant, which is something I do. I guess it's different than most bulimics because I, unfortunately, have the funds.

And then throwing it all up.

Throwing every bit of it up. I wouldn't keep anything in me. Not even a grape. You know, I just felt intense guilt.

Day after day?

Mm hm.

Sometimes, she stays home and eats continuously for two hours. This is one such meal. A half gallon of milk, a bottle of Pepsi, a quart of eggnog, three sandwiches, potato chips, tuna salad, ice cream, cinnamon rolls, a bottle of wine, cupcake, cereal, a can of soup, a hamburger, a baked potato, and lasagna.

Two hours from now, in her words, she will look pregnant and weigh 10 pounds more than she does right now. This is hard to believe-- this obsession-- and I wondered how it all began. What was her first experience with bulimia? Her first night. It came almost three years ago right after the end of a diet.

I had eaten so much at one point. I think we went to the Boston [INAUDIBLE]. And I just stuffed myself. And I was so miserable and so uncomfortable that, in the middle of the night, I just couldn't sleep. I couldn't lie down in any position without just being in such a painful state.

So I went to the bathroom, and I just literally and voluntarily forced myself to get sick. And I felt so relieved.

That was the first time.

I think that was the first time.

How'd you feel about it?

I got on the scale, and I felt wonderful, because I was able to maintain the weight loss that I had struggled with for a long time.