Q/A with Carmine Drohan: Senior’s recovery from anorexia

Carmine Drohan battled anorexia for much of early high school. She has mostly recovered, but still is very much invested in the issue, having shared her story during the Friday of assembly of Speak Up for Change Week.

Q: Describe your struggles with your eating disorder. When did they start and how did they impact your life?

My eating disorder started in the fall semester of eighth grade. It’s crazy for me to think about now, but I was literally scared of food and what any intake would do to my body. It was an obsession and an addiction; the more malnourished I got, the more I would do to avoid eating, and the crazier [the] actions I [took would get]. My parents, friends and teachers were so worried about me, and meal times were horrific events at my house because I would panic or get angry at whomever was trying to get me to eat. I still don't really know [what caused my eating disorder], but I think it was just the environment I was in combined with my personality and some other factors. I was kind of just unlucky. I wasn't trying to get an eating disorder; that's not how it happens.
 

Q: What symptoms arose from your eating disorder?

Symptoms were obviously weight loss, and I would get really cold and my skin was really dry and stuff like that. I had low energy and was in a bad mood a lot. I would get dizzy to the point of falling down when I stood up sometimes. My heart rate, blood pressure and bone density got very low. And I had body image problems and depression and anxiety as well. Therapy and meds for the most part took care of those things, and physically I am mostly completely better, but it took a long time.

 

Q: What steps did you take to recover from your eating disorder? What helped?

My parents and doctors were at first the only ones that wanted me to recover; I didn’t. I tried out at least seven forms of treatment and centers to find one that would work, and I fought against every one. Eventually, freshman year, I was sent to a place in Utah where I stayed for around eight months, and [gradually] I decided to put everything I had into recovery, fighting against my own thoughts all the time. Mostly, I had to gain a lot of weight to become healthy again and do huge amounts of group, family and individual therapy.

 

Q: What did the recovery process involve?

We had set meal times and meal plans and we had to eat everything. We went to restaurants sometimes as a group to get used to that again too. We had "process groups" every day, which is just group therapy, as well as various therapy exercises by different therapists and experts. We also did a lot of group activities like art, going to the gym with set exercise plans, and horseback riding.

 

Q: What is one memorable moment from either your recovery or the time before it?

[After six months at Utah], a kind of horrible thing happened as I was reaching my "goal weight" by having a huge meal plan and all that. It was looking like I was [recovering] so I went on a home pass for a few weeks, but when I came back my treatment team had decided that my goal weight was not high enough [for me to be] fully healthy, and they broke it to me that I had to go back on weight gain again. This doesn't sound like a big deal, but I had worked hard in therapy to be OK with the weight I was at, and to have to stay and gain more was absolutely devastating and scary.

 

Q: What happened after your recovery?

Now that I’m in recovery, I travel to Washington, D.C., a few times a year to lobby with the Eating Disorders Coalition to get eating disorder-related legislation passed in Congress. I speak with representatives’ and senators’ staffers about my history with an eating disorder and the importance of passing whatever bill we are working on. It’s always a bittersweet trip because there are several mothers who lobby that have lost children to eating disorders or people whose friends are suffering. Listening to others’ stories always reminds me of my own journey and how lucky I am to have reached recovery.

 

Q: What are some of the bills you have advocated for in Washington?

[There was] one about looking into the effects of Photoshopping advertisements on people's views of themselves, one about not having BMI testing being reported at certain schools as part of PE [and also] one about general eating disorder treatment being covered by insurance.

 

Q: Do you plan to pursue a career related to your experience?

I'm not planning on going into nutrition, although I know a ton about it at this point. I do want one of my majors to be politics, and I plan on continuing my work in D.C.