Barb's Daily Dose

Moms suffer PTSD too

I met a very nice woman the other day, whose son returned from 2 separate year long tours in Iraq and one in Afghanistan. She was a very upbeat and positive woman with a ready smile and twinkling happy eyes surrounded by more than a few laugh lines.

Son in Iraq

Her son joined the National Guard, before 9/11 when he was 17 and after the war started, he was pulled out of college and sent to basic training for a year, then off to the Middle East he went as an Army Infantry soldier. He lost a lot of friends. When we talked about her son’s readjustment to life back in the states, she became quiet and she said that it was hard on everyone.

As we talked, she made no political statements, said that she has no energy to even think about one side or the other, and is focusing all her energy on helping her son “get his life back.”

Understanding Eating Disorders

Barbara was recently on The View From The Bay speaking about young women and anorexia. Click here to view her informative segment! Continue reading for some great information.

Anorexia affects over 10 million young women. There are many things that contribute to this including social and cultural messages about being thin and pressures to be perfect. Eating disorders affect women of all ages, but many times begins in adolescence when young women are forming their identity. Anorexia is a serious mental illness, not a choice. It’s important for parents to know how to find the clues to recognize anorexia, bulimia or other eating disorders and when to seek help.

Facts:
• Anorexia is the 3rd most common chronic illness among adolescents

• 9 million girls and 1 million boys are affected

• 95% of girls with eating disorders are between the ages of 12 - 25

• 50% of girls between 11 and 13 see themselves as overweight

• 80% of 13-year-olds have attempted to lose weight

• Death is a serious consequence of anorexia


The following are commonly asked questions regarding eating disorders in adolescents.


1.What are the warning signs that parents can be aware of if they’re concerned about anorexia:

• Besides being thin, their child might be have:
- Dizziness or fainting
- Brittle nails
- Thinning of the hair on their head, from lack of vitamins
- Soft downy hair on their arms and legs as the body tries to insulate itself and stay warm after the protective layer of fat is gone
- Loss of periods or irregular periods, when we lose too much body fat, estrogen levels drop and periods become irregular or stop completely. Each woman has a different threshold for how much weight they need to have normal periods.
- Dry skin, cracks along the lips
- Shivering, because they’re cold
- Wearing extra layers of clothes when it’s warm outside
- Signs of dehydration
- Stress fractures from bone loss, when too much body fat is lost, estrogen levels drop and the bones become less dense and more likely to fracture.

2. What might parents notice?

a. Many times the teen will say they’re not hungry and refuse to eat
b. They might exercise to excess, such as 2-3 hour runs and then 1-2 hours at the gym
c. Be preoccupied with food, talk about it more than usual
d. Taste the food, then spit it out
e. Have rigid eating rituals, such as cutting up meals into tiny pieces, then moving food around on the plate, and only sampling small bites
f. Talk about food obsessively, but not eat it
g. Prepare large or elaborate meals for the family and not eat it
h. The teen may make up strange excuses for not eating, a different excuse every day
i. They might eat only a few “safe” foods usually those low in calories and fat, such as apples with yogurt
j. You may notice repeated weighing before and after exercise and eating
k. They may start the use of laxatives
l. They may have elaborate food diaries