I saw a woman well into her middle aged years not long ago. The interview started off in the standard way--she didn't tell me anything I haven't heard many times before. But part of our assessment includes asking people about their eating habits. We do this because symptoms of depression often manifest themselves with the appetite, ie, eating way too much or not enough and the inevitable short term weight fluctuation that comes with this.
Of course, these same symptoms can be indicative of an eating disorder as well, so I always find this part of the assessment quite interesting. Especially with women.
The woman I saw recently had been struggling with her weight since she was a little girl. Admittedly, she was on the heavy end of the spectrum for a long time. So, when she was 20 she made the decision to get gastric bypass surgery. It didn't really take. Well, let me amend that: It took. She did loose a lot of weight. She also ended up in the hospital a few years later, close to dead, because of malnutrition.
You read that correctly. Malnutrition. Her body wasn't getting the nutrients it needed as a direct result of the surgery. (But she was skinny!) So she had to get that one reversed. And then she started gaining weight. So she went back in for a second one. Which didn't really work. So she went back in for a third one....
That's right. THREE gastric bypass surgeries in the course of about a decade. And then since that time, over twenty minor gut surgeries to go in and repair all the damage those three surgeries did to her digestive system. To this day, her bowels don't move regularly.
That last surgery was decades ago and she didn't gain weight after that.
Say You: She wins!
Say me: There's more.
Sure, she stayed "thin". And netted herself a little eating disorder known as "anorexia" following the last "successful" surgery. Not to mention a drug and alcohol problem. And a head full of intrusive thoughts that tell her, daily, even now when she is well into her fifties for crying out loud, that she is not good enough unless she's a certain number on the scale.
Oh, and one more thing: She has not one, but two chronic conditions.
So, you know the whole thin=healthy equation? Yeah. Not so much here.
Imagine that.
And she's not an isolated case, either. I've seen women in their 40s, 50s, even 60's that have put their bodies through all kinds of grief for years: Starving and binging and purging and exercising frantically and stuffing themselves with pills (no calories in those, you see). And then becoming suicidal.
All for the sake of a size 4 dress.
What's so disheartening is that it never seems to go away, this belief that one isn't thin enough. This belief that one has to walk around with a model's body in order to be worthy of space in this society. And if you're not there, you damn sure better be working to get there.
I know two women from my personal life, both in their 70's, that make frequent cracks about their weight.
In their 70's.
Geez, by the time you're 70 you should be able to enjoy your children and grandchildren and quite possibly even your great-grandchildren without worrying about whether you'll fit in those jeans when summer rolls around. You should be able to eat Chinese food and bon-bons with abandon, right? (Unless of course you're diabetic...but that's another entry).
Apparently not, though. Apparently we're doomed to count calories like misers count pennies. Apparently we're doomed to a life of indentured servitude to the scale and the treadmill and the number plastered on the inside of the skirt.
Something to look forward to. ->
Read the complete post at http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/tXCM/~3/i9RxCm1DEdA/worshipping-false-idol-thin.html
Posted
24 Aug 2009 11:53 AM
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Trench Warfare
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