Woman Dying From Anorexia Speaks Out About Her Battle With The Illness, Asks The World For Help
Woman Dying From Anorexia Speaks Out About Her Battle With The Illness, Asks The World For Help
A woman suffering from anorexia is speaking out about her illness in the hopes that she might save herself -- and others battling the same disease.
Rachael Farrokh is 37, and has been anorexic for a decade. In an emotional YouTube video posted online last month, Farrokh said she is fighting for her life.
Im 57", 40-something pounds, Farrokh said. I need your help ... Otherwise I dont have a shot.
Farrokh, who lives in San Clemente, California, is said to have once weighed a healthy 125 pounds, but after she began suffering with anorexia, her weight began to plummet.
I just felt out of control, Farrokh told ABC News. At first it was innocent, where I wanted to drop a few pounds to get better abs.
Farrokh's weight loss has reportedly caused her a slew of medical problems. According to a GoFundMe page set up by Edmondson , Farrokh has experienced heart, liver and kidney failure, osteoporosis, blood clots and edema.
Edmondson says hes had to quit his job to care for his wife full time.
She is at a critical point, he wrote on GoFundMe. She desperately needs the highest level of care possible.
According to the couple, most hospitals and treatment facilities will not take Farrokh because she doesnt meet their minimum weight requirement.
Dr. Michael Strober, professor of psychiatry and director of the eating disorder program at the UCLA Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital, explained to ABC News that the refeeding process of people suffering from anorexia can be extremely risky.
"Refeeding syndrome results from metabolic changes that are associated with feeding an individual who has been calorie-depleted," Strober said. "So, the feeding needs to be carefully monitored. The refeeding syndrome will involve the bodys attempt to adapt to sudden introduction of nutrients ... Too rapid increase of calories can result in the metabolic adaptation which is associated of a number of hazards, which can be life-threatening."
According to NBC News, there is one facility in Denver which specializes in refeeding patients who have extremely low body weights . Edmondson says he hopes his wife will be able to seek treatment there.
"People think it's just about being skinny and that they just need to eat something and it will be all better," he wrote on GoFundMe. "The reality is people are hurting so much that they're trying to make themselves disappear, and if we ignore it we let them. I don't want this fate for my wife."
As of early Thursday, over 1,000 people had donated more than $40,000 to the campaign. Edmondson expressed his gratitude for the outpouring support.
"This is a long road and you all are helping turn [my wife] around," he wrote on Facebook this week . "She reads all of your posts for therapy when she feels down and it shuts the eating disorder down in the process as a distraction. She is going to beat this once and for all. I don't feel alone anymore and I love you all."
Farrokh says she hopes her story will inspire others suffering from eating disorders to seek help.
"To be honest, I live moment by moment, day by day, because my odds aren't very good," Farrokh told ABC News. "The recovery process for an anorexic, it's ridiculous. If you're going to make it, you're going to have to get out there. You have to go out and meet life. Go to treatment because it's not going to come to you."
According to the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders, eating disorders have the highest mortality rate of any mental illness . The organization says that only 10 percent of men and women with eating disorders receive treatment.
you can see pictures here.. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/05/21/rachael-farrokh-anorexia-video_n_7349224.html
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I wish the pic's of her would have come through.
Anorexia. Obsession with one's wight is easy to slip into. My wife is angry at me because I stopped eating except for one bowl of cereal a day (granted, it was a big bowl) and sometimes nothing until I had lost 50lbs in 6 months and was down to about 180lbs. However I started eating again and went right back up to 192. Now granted that's not as bad a the 230lbs I used to weigh, but the idea of gaining that weight back genuinely terrifies me. I'm back down to eating just cereal once a day, but have to wait until I go to a drug store and weigh myself (my wife will not allow a scale in the house), to see if I'm losing. I'm going to get back to my Air Force weight of 175 from 40 years ago or will stop eating altogether until I do. I'm taking vitamins which do help keep me going.I refuse to have a big gut.
I will admit I do love munching on celery. Apples too. I guess I could squeeze a few in, as long as they are very, very, very low in calories. I also like eating nuts, like cashews, but the good ones are hard to find. I have to go to Whole Foods to get the good ones in bulk. The problem is when we go out to eat at "The River" or in downtown Palm Springs, there are fudgeries there that have incredible fudge!
RW...They need counseling as well as Medical treatment.
MM...Please be very careful, Anorexia is nothing to fool around with . When my oldest daughter was a Freshman in High School, she had a boyfriend that was abusive and controlling. (we knew nothing about this) All of the sudden she stopped going to school and eating.. She is 5"7 and got down to 112 lbs.) When we saw that she was spiriling out of control and refused to eat anything at all, we got her into treatment. I'm very happy to say that today she isdoing fine. But I know that it can "rear it's ugly head' at any time.
Sounds healthy to me!!
There was a time back in the late 60s hippie days that I got involved with a girl who decided that we should both go on a brown rice diet. Brown rice for breakfast, brown rice for lunch, brown rice for dinner. I really did start to lose a lot of weight but didn't see much of a change in her body. One day I was walking around the corner, looked into the window of a diner and there she was eating a cheeseburger. Both she and her brown rice supply were then thrown out of my house and I went out for a fabulous filet mignon meal to celebrate.
I don't think I could eat only brown rice....I think I would get too hungry.
I bought some raw hamburger meat today and I have the rest of the ingredients (I'm pretty sure) to whip up some Steak tartare......I love that! My wife won't go anywhere near it. She does "accept" me ordering it at restaurants, just like with escargot, but not at home. Of course it's most properly served with a raw Quail egg, but I guess a chicken one will do..... hmmmmmm.................
Or I could just fry up a meat patty with melted cheese. Not as fancy, but also good.
It's great, but I can't find my bottle of the most unappreciated spice on the rack, celery salt. Without that (and Worcestershire sauce) I'm out of luck until at least tomorrow. (sigh). I did have a good hamburger steak though.
Sorry you had to go thru all that, dear Raven (and how nice to see you, BTW), but you are right. We all need a balanced diet. And that includes fruits and veggies. I don't buy into extremes either, but that's just me.