A Prince George woman who has struggled with various eating disorders for more than 15 years is sharing her story to put eating disorders into the spotlight.
"I've struggled with my weight since I was a chubby eight-year-old when a naturopath my mother found put me on my first diet," said 28-year-old Nancy (not her real name).
"I watched my weight until I reached 12 years when I was placed into foster care. There I became self-conscious of my eating habits when others in the home told me I ate just like a bird, so I started eating more, and consequently gained weight. Then I was bugged and bullied about being chubby."
At age 13, the bullying in the foster home overwhelmed Nancy who ended up running away and soon found herself using drugs to shed pounds.
"I used cocaine for five years and simply didn't eat," said Nancy.
But when she stopped using, her appetite returned and she gained back more weight than she had lost.
She was soon tagged with labels from those years followed her like a beacon into adulthood - bulimic because she binged and purged, anorexic because she restricted her intake of food and addicted because she used drugs.
Her official label became "eating disorder not otherwise specified," because no one label fit.
"I was clean of everything when I had my first and second children, but the Ministry of Families thought I should be in treatment," she said. "I gained about 100 pounds during my pregnancies."
Desperate to lose the weight, Nancy turned to ephedrine, a decongestant found at that time in the diet section of drug stores.
Ephedrine, which is no longer an over-the-counter drug, worked well for her weight loss, but had the effect of exaggerating anger and depression completely out of proportion, she said.
"I ended up with a nervous breakdown and both my children, ages one and three, were taken away from me."
Later on, she married and had two more children, gaining more weight during the pregnancies.
"Now I weighed about 300 pounds only to discover I could no longer get ephedrine, so I just exercised like crazy and stopped eating, except when I became too weak," she said.
"I lost weight, but not that much, and one day I passed out and found myself on an intravenous in the hospital."
When she recovered, she was placed on a food regime that required her to eat small meals throughout the day.
"At 1,300 calories a day with exercise, I lost 100 pounds. Many meals and exercise worked well for me," said Nancy, who could sustain her weight loss on 1,500 and then 1,700 calories a day.
But the end of the story has not yet been told.
Nancy went to work in a restaurant to help boost the family income, and is attending college to boost her earning power.
With two toddlers to care for, she has no time to exercise or prepare small meals, and her weight has increased by 60 pounds.
"I'd like to start a fitness program that will fit the lifestyles of people like me," said Nancy, who's now 10 years free of drugs and five years free of ephedrine.
"The best advice I can give to others struggling like myself is that starving yourself doesn't work because it cannot be sustained. Ephedrine can kill you because it affects the heart, and anyone using the binge and purge method will end up like me with a lot of porcelain teeth fillings because purging ruins the enamel."
Northern residents who find Nancy's story familiar can get help through the Prince George Eating Disorders Clinic at 1308 Alward St. Established in 1993, the clinic provides co-ordinated service for people with eating disorders in the Northern Health region.
For more information go to www.northernhealth.ca or call 250-565-7479.
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