Prescriptions, please!

One of my major issues with pro-ana/mia sites is that they are so accessible and prominent. They are readily available for anyone who has, or wants to have, an eating disorder. I am beginning to notice, however, that these websites are not the only enablers that are readily available to the general public. As briefly touched upon in my last blog post, diet pills and laxatives are heavily overused.

People make a big deal that prescription drugs are becoming the immediate go-to solution in the US, but at least there is some psychiatric counseling required before hand! Has anyone given any thought to the overflow of diet pills spilling out of drug stores? I can’t even buy a vitamin without being slapped in the face by an overwhelming section of diet pills reminding me that eating healthy and working out are STILL not enough to keep me looking good. Furthermore, the advertising for these things is atrocious. I’ve given up reading the last few pages of a magazine, as they are almost always devoted entirely to diet pill advertising.

I, personally, don’t have a problem with all of the photo shopped models and whatnot, by this point I’m pretty much aware that they are simply a mixture of genetically blessed individuals and nerdy photo-shop geniuses. But this bombardment of pills on the other hand…even for a person like me, who does not suffer an eating disorder, they are nearly irresistible. For example, if I feel like I look pretty good from just diet and exercise alone, I’ll probably look pretty damn hot with the extra help of a miracle diet pill. Hey, if they can work for "Grandma Cara" over here, think of what they can do for me, right?

This, of course, is not the case. I admit that I, far too often, fall victim to these dangerous pills. All I end up with is a destroyed sleep schedule and the shakes. Oh, and a quickly dwindling bank account.

This is where the problem is, though. Diet pills are not supposed to be for just anyone to buy! They are meant to help those who are greatly overweight. They should be prescribed by a doctor, not available to just any one wanting to buy them over the counter! Like I mentioned in the last post, there are countless individuals who do not appear to have an eating disorder, and these pills are easily accessible to them, thus enabling their sickness—and people are making a profit on this. Diet pills should absolutely not be so easy to get a hold of.

While the advertising often boasts the glory of being thin and beautiful, they seldom even touch upon the risks. It is a shame that even when trying to find accurate information on diet pills, such as this website advertises, a myriad of links to testimonials still litter the page. Follow the link and take note of the links included in the “health risks of weight loss supplements” box. I just don’t understand.

You never know...

When I look back on the things I have been subjected to, from Barbies to advertisements and now from diet pills to hardcore drugs even, I am shocked I don’t have an eating disorder myself. This Dove clip highlights the intense overload of advertising we are subjected to. Even watching the short clip makes me feel anxious, like I need to go OD on diet pills and exercise until I collapse.

Considering my friends and I started measuring our thighs by the 5^th grade and skipping meals to lose weight by the 7^th, it is not surprising that one of us has an eating disorder, only surprising that more of us do not. This leads me to my next point—anorexia and bulimia often fall under the radar. For example, my best friend has been clinically diagnosed with anorexia, meaning she has doctors and psychologists confirming the fact that she has an eating disorder.

There are, however, hundreds of thousands of individuals who are not clinically diagnosed. There are hundreds of thousands of individuals who look emaciated and whose minds are distorted, leading them to live unhealthy and sad lives, but they are not being helped by a doctor nor are they ‘noticed’ by a professional for their closet disease. There are even more who do not look like they have an eating disorder. There are individuals who look like they are healthy, perhaps even overweight, who purge after meals or consume inadequate calories. With this in mind, think about how many people are logging onto these websites for support. Yes, the first thing that comes to mind are the extremists, those who are skeletal figures that encourage each other to keep their skin clinging tightly to their bone, but there are also others. There are people who are temporarily dieting, there are young girls and maybe boys who are finding these and participating. This is the INTERNET and you do not know who is taking part!