63 stone teenager cut from home and taken to hospital

[Lace Neil Singer]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...-6-months.html

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/ar...eneration.html

For Americans, 63 stones = 882 pounds. That poor, poor girl. Obviously, she suffers from compulsive eating disorder, and she needs to get help for that or else she's never going to recover. She's far too overweight to get surgery; she'd die under the anaesthetic so she's going to have to lose weight the hard way first.

[Nekojin]

This didn't happen overnight, or even over the past year since she's been an "adult." A 19-year-old doesn't get that heavy entirely on their own. The parents share the greatest share of the responsibility, as it was their duty, as parents, to NOT stuff the kid's face with food every time she wants it, and even to actively restrict what she can and does eat.

Heck, one of the the articles even covers this - she was officially the fattest teenager in Britain, then lost over 200 pounds at "fat camp" - then went back to her 18 stone (252-pound) mother who started shoveling food in her mouth again.

[radiocerk]

I'm thinking the mom needs therapy as well. For behavior like that, she must equate food with love, a common enough problem, but to an extreme level. The important thing they need to teach the teenager is how to tell when she's hungry, a skill most people don't have.

[Seifer]

I'm wondering if the girl might have Prader-Willi Syndrome. It's a rare hereditary condition that causes a person to have an uncontrollable urge to eat. Most people who have the condition are extremely obese and can't stop themselves from eating if they see food.

I had a boy with Prader-Willi Syndrome at my high school. He had to have someone walk him around the school grounds because he needed 24 hour monitoring. If this boy saw a bag of chips in the garbage, he'd snatch it up and see if there were any crumbs left. (So obviously keeping him away from the cafeteria area was a must.) Unfortunately, the boy died over Christmas break due to overeating.

[Hyena Dandy]

I'm wondering if the girl might have Prader-Willi Syndrome. It's a rare hereditary condition that causes a person to have an uncontrollable urge to eat. Most people who have the condition are extremely obese and can't stop themselves from eating if they see food.

Possibly. Or possibly, like she said, simply an addiction. Either way, she does need help. I'm glad she's getting it, too.

I also have a feeling if it happened in the US, there'd be a hell of a lot of 'Fat American' comments going around about that story. <_< I've already seen a bunch of comments to the effect of "Clearly she had trouble, she went to the US to LOSE weight!"

Anyway, I'm pretty damn happy she's getting help. Whether it's Prader-Willi, or just someone who eats a lot and doesn't get helped... It's nice to see the help she's getting. It's also nice that the tone of that article wasn't mocking. I was worried it would put a lot of effort into "Oh, look at all the craaaazy stuff they had to do! She was so fat they needed to make a BRIDGE to get her out of the house! There were thirty guys! SHE HAD A CRANE!"

Instead it was mostly about her problem, how she got there, and what can be done. And I'm really happy to see an article about obesity that's, well... Respectful.

[Seifer]

Possibly. Or possibly, like she said, simply an addiction. Either way, she does need help. I'm glad she's getting it, too.

I also have a feeling if it happened in the US, there'd be a hell of a lot of 'Fat American' comments going around about that story. <_< I've already seen a bunch of comments to the effect of "Clearly she had trouble, she went to the US to LOSE weight!"

Is it...bad of me to think that the article might have been written with a different tone if the girl was from the U.S.? Like, "LOOK AT THIS FAT AMERICAN - THEY NEEDED A CRANE TO GET HER OUT OF HER HOUSE! LOL!" A lot of countries have these stereotypes about America and will latch onto any story that fits that stereotype. Then, they'll try to turn it into a laughing stock. However, if the story comes from their own country, they treat it with a bit more respect or reverence.

[Hyena Dandy]

Is it...bad of me to think that the article might have been written with a different tone if the girl was from the U.S.? Like, "LOOK AT THIS FAT AMERICAN - THEY NEEDED A CRANE TO GET HER OUT OF HER HOUSE! LOL!" A lot of countries have these stereotypes about America and will latch onto any story that fits that stereotype. Then, they'll try to turn it into a laughing stock. However, if the story comes from their own country, they treat it with a bit more respect or reverence.

Depends on the article and the publication, but certainly the commenters would, I think.

[Lace Neil Singer]

I think that she probably has compulsive eating disorder; it's like the opposite of anorexia, where you eat to make yourself feel better. Sometimes it manifests as binges followed by starving then binging again.

I agree that the mother is the one who's to blame, in a way. The article says that the girl was bedridden for six months; therefore, the mother was the one bringing her the piles of junk food. Maybe she even has a thing where she wants her daughter to stay dependant on her, so she feeds her so that she stays fat and dependant.

[tropicsgoddess]

I am shocked that a 19 year old weighs that much (882 lbs!)! I blame the mother for that because the mother enabled and instilled in her really horrible dietary habits. They both really need to get some help and not just with their weight but also the mental issue(s) causing it.

[BlaqueKatt]

I'm wondering if the girl might have Prader-Willi Syndrome.

I blame the mother for that because the mother enabled and instilled in her really horrible dietary habits.

Um the article states she started "comfort eating at age five, after her father died". So 99.9999% against Prader-Willi, and 99.9999% for the mother not taking proper care of her child(proper care includes the child's mental health).

[bara]

Seriously, if she was bed ridden then a lot of blame falls on whoever was feeding her.

At that weight, all you have to do is not eat as much and you will lose pounds.

[Lace Neil Singer]

Also, I'm betting that a lot of the so called "comfort eating" at age five was her mother projecting her own grief on to the daughter, and therefore starting her on the road to her unhealthy size.

This is pretty much a clear cut case of abuse; had the mother been systematically starving her daughter, social services would have intervened a long time ago. The girl is nineteen, yet unless she loses fifty stones she could die.

[Lace Neil Singer]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...tone-WEEK.html

Apparently, she lost three stone in just one week. The article also states that she was ordering food online and sneaking it in past her parents. I have to say I don't believe that they didn't notice; since she a) didn't work, b) had no clothes that would fit her and wore a sheet and c) was apparently ordering food several times a week, her parents would have to be blind not to notice. I think that they were making the orders and this is their way of trying to shift the blame.

[siead_lietrathua]

the interview with her old roomate makes me kinda sad, that she knew something like this would happen living in that house.
and ya, if the girl is unemployed, and at home, then that money has to come from somewhere.

kinda irks me reading the comments on that thread. one guy (benny) talks about how losing 3 pounds isnt a big deal. but it's 3 STONE. so, what, over 40LBS i think. (converter says 42 apperantly). that's a huge amount to lose in a week, and can wreck hell on her body if she wasn't medically supervised.

[Rapscallion]

First week of weight loss is always significant. I was about 19 stones three months ago. I lost nine pounds in the first week (over half a stone), so pro-rata it's not that far out. Most of it's moisture, so it can come back fast.

Rapscallion