University of Nebraska Kearney - Blue and Gold Yearbook (Kearney, NE)

Page 25 text:

more. Finally Jan admitted herself to the University Medical Center. Jan knew she could get the professional help she needed at the center. Jan’s parents were not supportive of her decision because as she said, ‘‘They just thought all I needed was a swift kick in the butt; not psychiatric help.” “The in-patient treatment was the best thing I’ve done in my life,” said Jan, Even though I went cold turkey.” At the beginning of her stay in the hospital, bathrooms were unlocked. If she needed to use them, however, there was one stipulation — you could not flush until a nurse checked to make sure there was no vomit. The one hour for exercise was not enough for Jan who was used to three hours in the morning and on-and-off ex- ercise during the evening for about two hours. She exercised whenever she could, without permission. Jan said, “I learned to eat three meals per day plus a snack, which was usually an apple, and 1 lost 25 pounds right off the bat.” Therapy consisted of her own doc- tor, who worked with her on a one-on- one basis and in group therapy. In group therapy, there were bulimics, anorectics, and bulimarexics (a combination of the other disorders). Patients shared their stories with each other and offered sup- port while doctors were present. A nutritionist also worked with her. She was taught which foods to eat to lead a healthy life. Jan began to realize that she could overcome her problem and that was what she had wanted all along. Family therapy was another option, but Jan decided against that since her family did not support her choice of treatment, “Those four months at the Medical Center were longer than most stays,” said Jan. She left Omaha in January 1985 to come back to school. “I had promised ray doctors at the Medical Center that I would keep my weight at 120 pounds. That is the ideal weight for someone my size,” Jan said. Therapy continued at KSC, she needed to meet with someone twice a month. She met with a professor of psy- chology until she felt he was no longer helping her. She began to confide and talk to her boyfriend. Jan’s feelings about bulimia have changed her life because she realized she was hurting herself. She now knows what she needs to eat and what to do to stay healthy. “I still have trouble with my weight. 1 always think I’m too fat. My doctors told me that those feelings would never go away,” said Jan, Friends did not seem to support Jan like she needed. She now feels like the anorectic friend and she together was “the worst thing for both of us.” Jan says that she’s never relapsed back into the former binge, purge behav- ior after going to treatment. During her six-to-seven years of bulimic behavior, she remembers some times being worse than others. Jan still worries about her weight and sometimes she panics if she eats too much. She feels like she can overcome her jittery feelings if she doesn’t stuff herself. “Another thing I stay away from is the junk foods like ice cream and pizza. Those were my binge foods and if I eat a little of those foods, I feel guilty. I really try to stay away from them,” said Jan. Jan’s weight has stabilized at 120 pounds and she tries to maintain that by eating healthy foods and doing some ex- ercise. Jan looks back on her “few bad years” as a learning experience that liter- ally saved her life. She puts into practice many of the ideals taught to her at the medical center. She tells herself one pos- itive thing every day. Today, Jan is married and her hus- band is her strongest source of support. He helps Jan through her “bad days” and with her panic attacks. With no binge and purging behavior in three years, Jan said she needed to re- read her journals of her bulimic years to refresh her memory of that time. She said, “As I was looking over my journals that I wrote in every day, I realized just how crazy I really was.” Jan is now a graduate student at KSC, with many memories behind her. Proving to herself that she can do any- thing she puts her mind to, Jan has set her goals for the future. Good Luck Jan!!! Helping those who are willing to help themselves Connie Rol of Counseling and Advising says to help a person with an eating disorder, you need to ask two questions. First, who are you living your life for? Second, what are you feeling right now? “Everyone needs to realize that if you have a problem, any kind, help is only a phone call away. Call someone and talk about it, a counselor, friend or doctor,” said Rol. To help someone with an eating disorder problem, Rol said, “Confront him or her using T feel... ’ or ‘because ... Someone can never deny you of how you feel. No one can help a bulimic or anorectic until he or she admits that he has a problem. Once it’s admitted, be there for him, make yourself available; let your friend or relative lean on you, Rol advised. “If your roommate is bulimic and gets an urge to binge at 2 a.m. make sure the person knows that she can wake you up and either talk about it or go for a walk,” said Rol. If the bulimic is in control of the problem, she could go for treatment on an out-patient basis. If the problem controls her, treatment should be in-house to assure a full recovery. Rol suggests that one never drag a friend or roommate in for help if she hasn’t admitted she has a problem. If she has admitted to it get her medical attention immediately. “Would you rather have a mad friend or a dead friend?” Rol concluded. nrswn Dufeft Dugst-Burkey §23u

Page 24 text:

 bulimic has no extreme weight gain or loss, but the weight stays constant, they will sometimes eat 40,000 calories in one day That amount is what a normal per- son would eat in three weeks. The bulim- ic is trying to lose weight. Anorexia is more serious because it is life threaten- ing. Starvation is the most common way an anoretic will die, Tye said. ullimia is nothing to be J—J ashamed of. Go for help because recovery is possible, but realize that therapy is an ongoing process. ” — Tye Bulimia can be treated with in- house treatment or on an out-patient ba- sis. The in-house treatment is when the bulimic stays in the hospital and has a nurse with them constantly. All waste- baskets and other items that a bulimic attempts to use to throw up in are re- moved from the room. Bars are put on the windows so they can not vomit out the window. The patient sees a nutrition- ist, psychologist and a psychotherapist. BULIMIA WARNING SIGNS; Compulsion with exercise Eating huge amounts of food Withdrawal A team effort is used to help bulimies re- cover. The sooner a bulimic goes for help the easier and faster they are to treat. Tye added, “Bulimia is nothing to be ashamed of. Go for help because re- cover is possible, but realize that therapy is an on-going process.” The success rate is getting better, she added. Many places have support groups which are important in the recov- ery of a bulimic. The family goes through therapy, too, which helps give support to the bulimic. KSC has had a support group in the past that has been success- ful. It usually starts in the fall as a need is seen for it, Tye said. The hope for a bulimic is for her to realize that the success rate is good for recovery. With the proper help and sup- portive family and friends, it can be over- come. JAN OVERCOMES BULIMIA ... Jan (Jan is an anonymous name for the girl this story is about) overcame bulimia, an eating disorder, by realizing that the abuse to her body could kill her. As a senior in high school, Jan be- came obsessed with weight control. Hav- ing others notice her weight loss was her way of getting attention that she didn’t receive at home. Jan’s first semester at KSC was the first time she had been away from home. For her, KSC was a relief; she felt inde- pendent. Her desire for “the perfect body” was fun. She lost weight easily. As a dancer, Jan felt she needed to watch her weight. Jan and a friend decided to have contests to see who could lose five pounds faster, then 10 pounds and so on. She knew she could do it. Then her weight plummeted at 100 pounds. No one suspected Jan to be a bulim- ic because she was so secretive. Another of Jan’s friends was anorec- tic. They confided in each other, sharing new and different ways to binge, purge and starve themselves, Jan’s obsession with weight control and exercise began to take control of her life, as did laxatives. She couldn’t go out after she had just taken 30 laxatives. She isolated herself from her other friends. Depression took over and Jan realized she was abusing her body. She knew if she kept up this ucrazy” way of losing weight, she could kill herself. At this point, death wasn’t in the picture. She went to the Student Health Department of KSC to get help; they re- ferred her to Counseling and Advising, also of KSC. They tried to help her, but sometimes Jan refused help. She was tir- ed of always being sick and weak. One day Jan became overly de- pressed and decided that things were never going to get better and she wanted to die. She cleaned up her apartment, got out a razor blade, and deliberated for 10 hours on whether or not to try suicide. Finally, she slit her wrists. She watched herself bleed, first rapidly, then she started to feel weak. At this time the bleeding stopped. Jan panicked, “Will I die?1’ She called a teacher from the college whom she had confided in. She asked the teacher to take her to the hospital. Jan was in the Good Sa- maritan Hospital for one week. Her par- ents did not know. After her stay in the hospital, she went back to her apartment and tried to resume a regular lifestyle. Her binging and purging began again. As her counselors saw Jan getting worse, they took the problem to higher authorities who then called her parents. The counselors notified them of Jan's condition then suggested they take her home. As Jan was walking home from classes during the week, she saw her par- ents’ vehicle on the KSC grounds. She knew something was wrong because her parents lived 500 miles away. Jan received a telephone call that same day after she had returned home from school, asking her to come back to campus. When she returned, school officials and her parents were waiting. The school officials suggested taking her to the Uni- versity Medical Center in Omaha. Upon returning home her parents thought the notion of taking her to the Medical Center was crazy, so they hired a psychiatrist. Jan saw the doctor quite often, but never really opened up to him. She couldn’t come back to KSC without a doctor’s permission slip. Jan manipulated and lied to the doctor and to herself. All Jan wanted was to return to KSC. The doctor put her on anti-depressant medication. She took them once every day. She began to hate them for two rea- sons: first, they made her gain 45 pounds. Secondly, they were expensive—$100 per month. The doctor told Jan she would have to take these pills the rest of her life. Jan got what she wanted, which was to come back to KSC. The cycle began again — binge, purge, binge, purge. She wanted to lose 45 pounds but Jan knew she didn’t want to abuse her body any- 20

Page 26 text:

Holdreee Citizen S P o R S BICYCLE TREK FOR PRIDE A 47-year-old Holdrege bowl- ing alley owner began exten- sive training for a bicycle trek across America in Janu- ary, 1987 at KSC’s Human Performance lab under the supervision of Dr. Joseph Donnelly. After five months of physical and mental conditioning, Vern Hasty began the 7,717 mile-long trip. According to Hasty, he set his goals to promote patrio- “Ijust want them to yell for the flag .. ” -Hasty tism and to salute America’s true heroes, the veterans. “I wanted to be heard,” Hasty said. “The older I got, the more I saw how peo- ple didn’t respect the national anthem or the flag as much as they did before.” Hasty referred to the Nebraska football games in Memorial Stadium. “People yell and cheer as the football team comes on the field, but not when the flag comes out. I just want them to yell for the flag as much as for the team.” A smaller version of the American flag fluttered behind Hasty as he started his trip on Memorial Day accompanied by his wife driving their white van. The flag followed him through 48 states during the three-month ride. In each state, Hasty presented a miniature flag to various in- dividuals. Of those who re- ceived a flag, many were veterans who had served in the military or families of de- ceased war he- roes. He also gave one to Billy Carter in Georgia and sent on to Sen. Barry Goldwater in Ari- zona. Also a Kansas mechanic and a Mis- sissippi black family received flags as Hasty passed, spreading his message of patriotism throughout America. Hasty rode either his 12-speed or 18- speed bicycle on the trip, “Sometimes, I had to steal parts from one to get me to the next town,” he said. During the trip, Hasty fixed five rear rims and changed Holdrege Citizen The KSC performance Jab helped Hasty prepare for the trek across America. nine tires suffering from blow-outs or flats. He endured other frustrations as 22