Living With Food: The Science Supporting Eating Disorder Treatment

By, Dr. Mark Warren

As a parent or family member with a loved one who has or possibly has an eating disorder, one question that persistently comes up is: Does this moment constitute an emergency? Given the potential lethality of eating disorders, taking your loved one to seek medical attention may unfortunately be a decision you will have to make.

Some criteria to take into consideration when deciding if the situation is an emergency are:
*Extremely low body weight
*Drastic weight loss or gain that takes place over a very short period of time
*Daily purging, laxative abuse, or over-exercise
*Complaints of being dizzy, blacking out or fainting
*Constant fatigue
*Edema (swelling)
*Discussions of feeling hopeless or suicidal
*Fears around self-harm

Without medical stability it is impossible to do eating disorder treatment. The risks are simply too great. In general, if any of the above criteria are present, or if there are other issues similar to, or as frightening as the symptoms listed above, it is an emergency until proven otherwise. Nobody should ever be in an out patient therapy without some sense that they are physically out of risk for sudden illness or death. As treatment progresses some of these issues may become manageable as part of an effective and well coordinated treatment plan as they will be continually discussed and re-assessed. Without physicians and eating disorder professionals to consult with, it’s best to err on the side of caution and realize that symptoms mentioned above could be an emergency and require immediate attention.

If you have a doctor or therapist you are working with, have a plan with them for what to do if a potential emergency arises. If you do not, call 911, your primary care physician, treatment center, or a hospital as soon as you can. If they direct you to the emergency room - go. It may turn out that you go to the emergency room and things are okay, but the risks of an eating disorder are real and should not be underestimated.

For more information on the medical complications of an eating disorder check out the following links:

The Lethality of Anorexia Nervosa

Medical Complications of an eating disorder: Osteoporosis and Osteopenia

Medical Complications of an eating disorder: Cardiac complications  

Should you have any questions or comments regarding this post, please email blog@eatingdisorderscleveland.org.

Contributions by Sarah Emerman