Terri Schiavo

Today I want to talk about another aspect of this situation which hasn’t been discussed very much. I want to talk about Terri before this happened to her. Terri apparently suffered this massive heart attack from an electrolyte imbalance caused by bulimia. I am particularly interested in this aspect of her life, because I had a bout with a different eating disorder, anorexia. During the worst period of my anorexia, I attended a large support group which included anorexics, bulimics, compulsive overeaters, and their family members and significant others. There were bulimics in the group who were very seriously ill with this disease. All of these eating disorders, incidentally, are mental illnesses and are not due primarily to dieting or gluttony. From what I observed in this group, Terri had to have been very seriously bulimic and had a very bad case of this to cause such a serious electrolyte imbalance that she would have a massive heart attack. Granted, I suffered from anorexia. I was extremely ill, mentally and physically, but don’t think I was anywhere near suffering a heart attack from an electrolyte imbalance.

What puzzles me is that I hear very little about Terri’s struggle with bulimia. I realize that bulimics try very hard to hide their illness. Maybe Terri was able to hide it from her parents. I find it hard to believe she could hide it from Michael. Maybe she did succeed, but from what I learned from the significant others in the eating disorders support group, they went through hell with a bulimic loved one. It’s just very hard to believe it when Michael talks about their perfect, wonderful marriage. I can’t believe this guy did not go through hell with a seriously bulimic wife. Or did he and he’s just somewhat in denial now?

What makes me much sadder than the current situation is the fact that maybe Terri could have been helped before any of this happened. Terri obviously needed a lot of psychological help. It upsets me to think of her deprived of the help she needed when it most counted. I feel very emotional when I think of what she went through and what family members might also have gone through with her. I would be the last one to judge Michael or her family if they just didn’t know what to do. My mother is severely depressed and has severe anxiety. I’m not professionally qualified to help her, and I haven’t always known what to do, where to turn, what kind of help to seek. Most people had no idea what to do when I was anorexic. I feel sad that Terri was severely bulimic, that she and her family suffered over this, that we as a society failed her by not getting her the help she needed, or that, maybe worst of all, she was so sick with this illness that she couldn’t be helped.