Quiz answers !
January 11, 2008 by angelique
Filed under Women's Health
ALERT!
The following are answers to a quiz that can be found at Liberty Kontranowski’s Teen Style Lounge, a site devoted to all things related to teen fashion.
Before reading the rest of this post, why not jump to Liberty’s site first and test your ED knowledge?
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1. FALSE
(Though many anorexics are very thin, bulimics are often of normal weight due to their constant bingeing and purging. It’s difficult to eliminate all the calories consumed during a typical binge — often 10,000-20,000 calories… or more… in one setting — so weight loss may not be a symptom of bulimia in many individuals.)
2. FALSE
Though anorexia and bulimia are typically documented and reported in younger persons, new research has shown that there are many women and men who have eating disorders into their middle-age and senior years.
3. FALSE
Anorexia and bulimia are more prevalant in women, but are found in males as well. Currently, the National Eating Disorders Association(NEDA) estimates that there are approximately 10 million women and 1 million men battling EDs in America alone.
4. FALSE
Anorexia education has only been around a short time, and the term “anorexia” has only been used since the late 1800s; however, it’s likely that EDs occurred throughout human history.
5. FALSE
Eating disorders can be found all over the globe in practically every culture.
6. FALSE
Some bulimics choose to purge their food by other means than vomiting, including laxative or diuretic usage as well as compulsive exercising.
7. FALSE
It is possible for an ED sufferer to have characteristics of both diseases. Additionally, an anorexic could eventually become bulimic or vice versa.
8. FALSE
Although eating (or a feeding tube) is often a first step for anorexics/bulimics who are severely underweight, it’s important to remember that EDs are not about weight or food. Simply ingesting sundaes, hamburgers, and chips won’t make anorexia or bulimia “go away”.
9. FALSE
Inpatient treatment is one method of treating anorexia and bulimia. But for many sufferers, out-patient treatment works well, too. The most reasonable treatment for an anorexic, bulimic, or binge eater can be determined by a mental health professional who specializes in eating disorders.
10. FALSE
At a low body weight, all women will cease menstruating; yet it’s important never to assume that the loss of menses automatically means conception is impossible. Sexually active anorexics and bulimics should still exercise precaution and use prophylactics/contraception for their reproductive health and safety.
Posting this quiz is a wonderful idea. It helps provide clear information that can combat prevalent and false ideas about eating disorders.
I would add that while birth control is always a good practice when someone is sexually active and not prepared to conceive a child, it is also true that severe anorexia can seriously limit a woman’s ability to conceive.
Another point missing from the quiz relates to bone strength. Many young women with eating disorders develop osteoporosis. It doesn’t hurt, and it doesn’t show. Some anorexic women who are only 17 years old have lacey bones comperable to a very old and fragile woman.
That said, stating health risks will not scare a person into recovery. But they might scare a person into treatment!
I hope so. I’ve recovered from bulimia and have been a psychotherapist dedicated to eating disorder recovery for many years. It seems that girls and women need to notice that the eating disorder eventually causes more pain than they can bear before they are willing to risk giving it up.
This requires a desperate kind of courage because they genuinely face the unknown in the therapy work. It can be almost impossible to imagine a life without the eating disorder. Yet, a glimmer of the freedom that might be possible if they were genuinely free of the behavior, the thoughts, the anxiety, the planning and strategizing, the need for the cover up lies
can keep a person on the recovery road.
Thank you again for this site and this quiz. You are giving many people an opportunity to awaken to their own potential recovery.