There has been a global outbreak of a virus. The ICTV has termed it “Eating Disorders”.
There are currently 702,000,000 confirmed cases of Eating Disorders worldwide; 1,000,000 in Australia.
Health professionals understand that “Eating Disorders” will kill at least 10,200 people this year – approximately 704 of these deaths being Australians.
Other effects of the virus include but are not limited to kidney failure, heart problems, and infertility.
People of all ages are at risk of infection – those aged 12 to 25 years appear to be more susceptible.
There is no single cause of Eating Disorders and at least 8 different strains have been identified: Bulimia Nervosa, Anorexia Nervosa, Binge Eating Disorder, Rumination Disorder, Orthorexia, PICA, ARFID, and Disordered Eating.
Signs and symptoms for each strain vary and may be difficult to detect.
Effective treatment is available and encouraged for those who contract “Eating Disorders”.
Of the 1,000,000 infected Australians, 750,000 have not yet sought treatment. For us to combat the virus, more people need to seek treatment.
I tested positive for the virus. I should have gone for a test a lot earlier than I did but I was in denial about my signs and symptoms – I did not want the virus; I did not want to be sick.
But what I failed to realise was that whether I got the virus or not was out of my hands. And what was in my hands was getting treatment if I did happen to be positive.
Unfortunately, I remained in denial until I was so obviously and severely infected. By this point, the virus had managed to take over everything good in my life. And so, I no longer gave a f*** about whether I had it or not – all I wanted was to get f***ing rid of it.
The only regret I have about getting tested and treated is that I did not do it earlier. Had I done so, the virus would not have screwed up my life as much, and I would have been able to get over it quicker.
I encourage you to read about the signs and symptoms of Eating Disorders here, and if you think that you might be infected, I even more so encourage you to go and get yourself tested and treated (read about how to do so here).
Bella
the skinny elephant 