Why is it that a severely underweight person suffering from anorexia can go to a doctor and get lots of help and counselling and yet a morbidly obese person can simply be told to eat less and exercise more?
Would a doctor laugh at an anorexic person and tell them to just go eat more?
It seems as if anorexia is treated as if it's not the sufferers problem but morbid obesity is, when really they are opposite ends of the same scale - what do you think?
2007-03-20 08:06:08 · 14 answers · asked by bumblecherry 5 in Health ➔ Other - Health
Yes a doctor would laugh and tell an anorexic to eat more. Been there, been told that several times. I wish people with anorexia could go to the doctors and get loads of help but more often and not they dont. I went to my doctor for help when I first got ill 12yrs ago, weighing 7stone 7lbs, it took for my weight to drop to just over 5stone for them to do anything. Ive had several hospital admissions but again only when I have been on deaths door. So please dont fool yourself into thinking people with anorexia get a good deal because they dont. Very few people understand it...and as a subsequence just laugh and tell you to eat burgers cause you will be ok then.
You'd also be surprised that most people DO think anorexia is the sufferers fault.
Just think of all the programmes on TV and books offering help and ideas on how to loose weight. Have you ever seen a programme on TV helping people with anorexia....like weight gain island, celebrity thin club. Nope. It would be good if there was. Id have been on it like a shot. There is no way enough help for people with anorexia.
You cant really compare anorexia with obesity because with anorexia most sufferers are petrified of food/weight gain etc. If they werent they could gain weight easily and not need help. Im not saying loosing weight from a morbidly obese pespective is easy but I doubt one is petrified of eating less.
I'll stop now as I could go on forever.
2007-03-21 21:48:50 · answer #1 · answered by dancingprincess 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Well actually Anorexics don't often get treatment till they are really suffering for a long time.
Most of the time anorexics are not discovered till they are severely under weight. Even then some doctors can be reluctant to refer then to proper help and believe that just feeding them will be enough.
Anorexia is a very serious mental illness, it has the highest mortality of any mental illness (including depression and over eating).
Morbid obesity is not taken that seriously because the incidence of obese people is increasing. Most of the time it is just simply though lack of exercise and incorrect choice of food and not because of an underlying mental illness.
The reason anorexia is taken really seriously is because it is a mental illness and often has little to do with the actually weight and issues with food but rather control.
2007-03-20 08:18:04 · answer #2 · answered by Borealis83 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
what a great question they are both at the opposite end of the scale .Anorexia is caused by peer pressure and media pressure making girls think they will look more beautiful if they are thin the fashion industry has a lot to answer for .
As for morbid obesity it can be caused through many illness and alot of these people eat so little you are surprised they are the size they are .
in both issues they all have an underlying problem,mental,physical who knows but they must be treated the same.
Bring back real women not sticks or as our American friends say size 0 what a joke.
2007-03-24 09:55:58 · answer #3 · answered by flickerboo 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
blecherbum,howsabout anorexia-weightloss as a consequence of a slow-burn generalized reaction to animal dander,food intolerance,chemical ingestion,,,,,if the person is always in the bathroom,,eats ok and food just goes through he.chemicals are in plastic,they're added to foods,dyes are in foods. It is screwy that doctors can be that idiotic,,,,,,,,folks with drugs and no food in the house often scream, holler at drs,staff,and nurses to get what they want.doctors who do not take the time to look at this person as deserving of their adequate skill and knowledge oughta be driving busses.if there were such thing as golden retriever flu,its a bet there'd be congressional hearings.you are right.they both are different expressions of the same hypo-hyper nutrition disorders.
2007-03-24 17:12:53 · answer #4 · answered by quackpotwatcher 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I am one hundred percent alongside you with this question!
I noticed, if there is a skeletal girl in the room, people look at her with horror or pity.
However, there seems so very little sympathy towards anyone who is overweight. Both can make a person so miserable. Both is life threatening. I fail to see why one gets so much support and help, and the other is almost treated as intolerable.by society at large it seems!?
2007-03-24 06:25:12 · answer #5 · answered by SUPER-GLITCH 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I completely agree with you, they are both mental health problems. However I am bulimic and have been for 3 years and when I told the doctor, i was told "it's a phase, you'll grow out of it"...i think it very much depends on the doctor.
2007-03-20 08:15:47 · answer #6 · answered by SH2007 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
on the contrary, excessive over-eating can be a sign of emotional problems that can be helped through a counselor. any doctor with common sense would refer someone with any kind of eating disorder to a psychiatrist, whether it's anorexia or over eating.
2007-03-24 13:28:29 · answer #7 · answered by Hillary M 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Anorexics are often laughed at and told to just go eat more...our medical system has many problems...more than we all know.
I am too tired to go into more detail...
2007-03-21 08:37:18 · answer #8 · answered by courage78 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
There is a 6 month waiting list to see a dietician in my area, i think the problem lies there. Dr's just give up.
2007-03-20 10:08:29 · answer #9 · answered by Rebecka 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
that's a very good question, as I would imagine similar mental health problems actually cause both.
there's such a shamefulness about being overweight in our society that I wouldn't be surprised if it has infiltrated medical workers' consciousness as well
2007-03-20 08:12:40 · answer #10 · answered by G*I*M*P 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋