Karen Carpenter, the Poster Child of Anorexia
Friday, August 10th, 2007
So many of us have heard one of the most famous names in eating disorders: Karen Carpenter. Very few are familiar with her story except that she was a musician, who died of anorexia. Some even know that it was in 1983 and that anorexia was fairly unheard of, and certainly not talked about. Let me fill you in.
In 1967, at 17 years of age, Karen was put on a water diet that helped her to lose 20 pounds from 140. Based on her height of 5′4″, it was healthy for her to weigh 120 pounds, but she continued the loss. At 115 pounds, when people would comment that she looked good, she would reply that it was only the beginning and she had plans to lose more.
Within eight years, Karen had lost more than half of her original body weight and was about 80 pounds. She managed a continuing loss by taking large amounts of thyroid pills and purging what little food she would eat. Weakness plagued her to the point of needing to lie down between shows (something a lot of musicians would claim), and it was in this same year when her collapse while singing “Top of the World” in Las Vegas inspired her to seek help for her disordered eating habits.
She visited doctors and therapists and recovered enough to be believed healthy by her fans, friends, family and self. Unfortunately, the years of excessive dieting, laxative use, anxiety, sleep deprivation had taken their toll.
At 8:51am on February 4th, an emergency call was made. Karen’s mother had found her naked, unconscious, in a walk-in closet within their Downey, California home. Several life saving attempts were made but at the hospital she was pronounced dead of cardiac arrest - a heart attack caused by years of extreme anorexic habits happened suddenly, eight years after the collapse that inspired her recovery.
She was 32 and weighed a light, but tolerable 108 pounds.
The point to this: yes, you can recover. Physically, you may no longer be emaciated. You may eat regular, well-balanced meals, with little regard for fat or carbohydrate grams. You may even think, honestly, that you need to put on a few more pounds. But the cycle of purging, restricting and over-exercising can come back to haunt you years later. Please see a physician who is versed in the health effects of eating disorders and recovery for assessment.
