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We've showed you how pop culture is causing a lot of girls to try to become too thin. As we mentioned, eleven million people currently suffer from an eating disorder and while it typically starts during puberty, it can begin much earlier. 13- year old Justine Gallagher developed the eating disorder when she was only five. Justine is with her mommy Yvonne Gallagher and her doctor IRA Sarcker ,who is an eating disorder specialist and co-author of the book "Dying To Be Thin".Good morning to all of you.
Good morning.
Dr.,let me start with you when you first met Justine , she was six, I believe.
she was six.
Was this the earliest you have ever seen in eating disorder appears in someone?
She was the youngest person that I have ever seen with an eating disorder and that I've ever treated and her mom initially when she had just spoken to me ,they had already been to like, three other doctors who said, "Don't worry about it. She is going to grow up".
It's a phase,let's talk about what was happening.You were actually five years old,Justine. Eating paper.(Eating paper.)You tear a page out of a book, paper towels,(Yeah.) Q- Tips to try and curb your appetite. This was a conscious thought process on your point at five years old.
Yes, it was. Dieting was very big on my mind even when I was five , six , seven years old because I was made fun of , because I thought I may be baby-fat and can't grow up peaceful.
But baby-fat, you had chubby cheeks. You had a little excess but you were not fat.
She never was.She was never a big child.She was big baby, but a healthy baby,and she had that mental picture in her mind.
Were you trying to conceal the fact you were eating these paper?
I wouldn't want pe(ople).I didn't want people to know about it because I didn't want people try to stop me from losing weight.
And when you saw this happening ,what was going through your mind as a mom.
Initially when she first started eating the paper,we just thought it was a nervous habit because she was always sensitive and on the nervous side.When her kindergarten teacher brought it to our attention that she was going to the bathroom, bringing it back and eating pa(per), bits, pieces off during the day.That's when we began to, along with her comments and her restricting food; that is when we started to realize that , that something was wrong.
You talked about her restricting food. So in other parts of the day, was she ever sitting down for a normal meal with the family , was she eating things like the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches as other kids were eating?
Oh,yes , definitely, she would eat with us in the beginning, and little by little she would restrict different things that she used to enjoy. She would move the food around, always have a stomachache when it was meal time. She was uncomfortable.
Yeah,you also used to use your room as a track.
Yes.
Yes. After I wouldn't eat during this was the beginning of my image so I would actually eat my meals. If I felt like I eat too much during that meal, I 'd run in my room with a timer around in circles in my room trying to lose weight I just put on.
That wasn't until before she was diagnosed or so.
I think at one point you actually, she was about six, she was not feeling well, you gave her a bath and you looked at her naked and you said "my God "she is..
Well, she had bronchitis for about two weeks and she had already started taking a bath on her own.She wanted to excise her independence so I hadn't been doing that. And then when she was sick, I wanted to help her, because she was a little weak, and she was, you could see a lot of bones,... a lot .
When you started treatment here,someting started to come up. First of all,kids were teasing you so there is one thing going on in your mind. Kids are saying you are chubby you got these chubby cheeks. So that is in your mind also you started to realize that you were talking a lot about dieting(definitely) and weight control in the house.
Definitely. And also people always said " oh,you look just like your mom you just look your mom." And there I was saying "I have to lose weight"
But she was, but she needs to lose weight.
So you figure if you look like her you must also need to lose weight.
I'm with it. Yes,exactly.
So she's six years old. What did you, how did you start Justine on the road to a recovery?
Well, uhm, one of the ways that I treat individuals which is certainly non-traditional , is I try to find out what their passion is. And Justine very early on, she told me she loved horses. And this is not a family that could afford to have her own horse. But I had an individual who had done some work in what was called Equine Therapy which is a mechanism of teaching a person ,ok,how to deal with something empathized the body image.So what I did with Justine was I made her a deal. I said, "Look it!" I said ,"If you get strong rather than used weight or waking, I'm going to assign you a horse.You're gonna learn how to take care of the horse and then you are gonna learn how to ride the horse and you get stronger."
When you were talking to Dr. Sacker at this time you were young, six seven years old. Did you realize you were sick? What was it like for you all sent to be taken around all these doctors?
Usually people who have the disease don't think they have it. like, feel denying and they still say that they don't have it, they don't have problem of dieting but in reality they do. So at that time I didn't think I had a problem.
I just want to mention you are thirteen. You are on very normal weight right now. (Yes.)You are doing well in terms of your eating disorder although you are never fully recovered. You are going to high school. You are going to be able to handle the added pressures of that peer group and the body image all over again?
It is definitely gonna be hard. But you just have to stay confident, know that every body is different. You cann't be like everybody else out there.
She still has the thoughts of every now and then ,oh, I weigh 126 now and I see it bothers her sometimes ,especially when she reaches the 100 mark that was, really affected her.
But most importantly,she is talking about it. She has got the help(Yes, but she wants to be healthy.) in the message to the parents: keep your eyes open because it doesn't only happen to kids in puberty , it can happen at a young age.
(Thanks)Absolutely.
Thanks, Matt.
Thank you all so much. Justine, good luck.
Thank you.
All right, happy birthday next month.
Thank you.
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