By Lauren Felechner
Published: September 21, 2009

By Lauren Felechner

Daily Titan Staff Writer

This past summer in Denver, Col., the Eating Disorder Center of Denver found an increase in the number of college-aged women who suffer from “drunkorexia.”

The term was coined as a way to describe the co-existing diagnosis of women with bulimia who also binge drink. Although the term may not be a medical one, Susan Leavy, acting director of the Women’s Center at CSUF, has heard of this common behavior, just never used with that name

“Eating disorders have a really addictive component to them, and alcohol is addictive too. So really, they are marrying two addictive behaviors,” Leavy said.

The director of EDC-D, Tamara Pryor, explained that 75 percent of the center’s female patients over this past summer, who suffer from bulimia, also did a lot of binge drinking at a high frequency.

“The way we are looking at it is people at our center have an eating disorder and a co-existing behavior of binge drinking,” Pryor said. “They seem to substitute binge eating for binge drinking.”

Since these patients are dealing with two addictions and most of them are fit to be considered alcoholics, based on the amount and frequency of alcohol they are able to consume, a special program had to be formed in order to treat their issues simultaneously. The patients, however, don’t consider themselves alcoholics and were not responding to a 12-step program and AA meetings, so the clinicians came up with a program that identifies with the binge drinking as is. Groups were made for these women, where they were able to identify where their drinking originated from, and the consequences of the binge drinking, Pryor said. These groups allow for peer support with no blame-game and without the patients feeling shameful.

Most of the patients are self-referred and check themselves into the center. It’s considered a partial-hospitalization program, which entails 10 hours a day with attendance in all types of groups such as body image groups, cooking and nutrition groups as well. The patients also have structured meals and most of them live in apartments near the center since they tend to come from all over the U.S. This type of treatment allows for analysis on the patients’ part. Depending on their situation and the level of their bulimia or anorexia, the girls could attend the program for six to eight weeks, or even up to as long as six months, Pryor explained.

Jana Countryman, 27, a nursing student at both Fullerton College and Cypress College, is a former bulimic who didn’t partake in the binge drinking, but is able to see the connection between the two.

Having been to treatment four times for relapsing, Countryman still struggles with the obsessive-compulsive behavior that comes with bulimia, but she has not relapsed since 2007.

“I still have to fight it every damn day,” Countryman said, “But when I think, ‘Oh shit, I’m going down a path I shouldn’t be,’ is when I will call my dietician.”

The onset of her nine-year battle with bulimia started when she turned 18 and graduated high school. Her dad having been a functioning alcoholic, having a verbally abusive mother, and being molested by one of her high school teachers became too much for Countryman to handle. The pressure of going away to college and wanting a clean slate for herself meant being perfect, entailing having the perfect look, said Countryman.

A diet she set for herself had spun out of control and is what was the catalyst for her obsessive behavior of counting calories and limiting her food intake drastically.

“When everything in life is f***ed up, one thing you have control over is what goes in and out of your mouth,” Countryman said.

Both Countryman and Pryor describe bulimics as shamed and open to treatment. Their life becomes centered around purging because it is something they don’t want other people to know about, so they have to plan when, where and what time they could do it. Resistance usually comes from the anorexic patients, said Pryor.

The foundation for Countryman’s road to recovery came after a 60-day in-patient stay at a treatment center in Arizona.

“Every relapse I had was a little easier as far as coming out of it,” said Countryman. “But I realize now that when I become really really stressed is when I get triggered to restrict my food. But now I get rid of those stressors rather than getting rid of my food.”

Countryman’s struggle with bulimia didn’t end in a negative light. The disease and the support from her doctors motivated and inspired her to want to help others and work in the medical field, which she is now pursuing by attending nursing school.