Could They Be Preg/Drunk-orexic?

Eating disorders that affect more than just yourself...

Recently, the Tyra Show explored the latest scary trends in eating disorders -- pregorexia and drunkorexia. A pregnant woman who denies herself nourishment for the fear of gaining weight is not only restricting herself -- she's restricting her baby. As for drunkorexia, the consequences of this serious lack of control can be deadly.

Read on for signs that someone you know might be pregorexic or drunorexic.

Pregnancy is a happy and glorious time for most women.

You've heard about the "glow" that pregnancy gives a woman. Sadly, some ladies only see the swollen ankles and the expanding waist. In a normal situation, a woman with who starves herself to avoid gaining weight or attempt to lose weight, would be called anorexic. If a woman does this while she is pregnant, she is suffering from "pregorexia". Clues that your friend may be pregorexic:

1. Constantly counting calories

2. Skipping meals

3. Exercising more then doctor recommended

4. An obsession with weight gain

5. An under developed belly

Pregorexia is dangerous. Weight gain is normal during pregnancy; keep in mind she's eating for two now. If your friend experiences signs of pregorexia, tell someone immediately. Tell a doctor, tell a parent, tell anyone who can help. It may mean the difference between a healthy full-term baby and an underdeveloped, malnourished preemie.

Do you and your friends like to drink? Do you and your friends hate gaining weight?

For some women, these things are so important that women are willing to go to extreme measures to accomplish both. A new trend among young women is "drunkorexia". Increasing numbers of women are sacrificing food in order to be able to consume alcohol. Its simple math right? You're supposed to have a certain number of calories per day; alcoholic drinks are full of calories. So how can you drink more--eat less. Wrong! Its unhealthy and dangerous. Here are some signs that your friend may be drunkorexic:

1. Fasting all day in order to binge drink at night. This concept is to insure that the only calories being consumed are from alcoholic beverages.

2. Becoming intoxicated much quicker due to an empty stomach

3. Vomiting, falling over and passing out.

4. Counting calories

5. Weight obsession

If you know someone who fits in this category, get help. You could be saving your friend's life.

NEXT: New Eating Disorders Explored: Drunkorexia and Pregorexia

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this is just stupid if you pregnant and your just going to starve yourself why are they pregnant in the first place? why are they keeping the baby i understand people want to be thin but instead of exercising people like this just want to be lazy and rather be stick thin which does not look good at all on a person like i said if a person is going to do this to an unborn child they should not get pregnant or keep the baby at all altogether why would a person risk the baby having complications and god forbid even die geez what is wrong with some of these women today

Posted by olivia 11/16/09 1:07 PM

I am outraged that eating disorders are being given 'new names' when they have the same health risks. I think it is taking the seriousness out of the actual issue by giving them names like pregorexia, manorexia, drunkorexia, etc. to me, it is no different then nicknaming an eating disorder ana or mia or rexie. I struggled with anorexia for 8 years and even being taken serious in the medical community was hard enough because I didn't meet their criteria even though I was at serious risk of dying from either the eating disorder itself or suicide. Not only are these new names for eating disorders ridiculous but if people were to seek treatment for 'drunkorexia', I see another issue of not being taken seriously either. They are all dangerous and coming up with various names is just creating more issues with treatment and taking away from what the issues actually are. Even now, getting treatment for anorexia despite a person's weight is hard. People are dying because they aren't a certain weight to be admitted to hospital and it is things like this that create problems and blurring the lines of when something is serious enough or not. Quit with the 'cute' and 'fun' names for serious illnesses. Call them what they are. They are subtypes of anorexia..not pregorexia, not manorexia, and not drunkorexia. You do NOT define an eating disorder by a persons race, if they are pregnant or not, etc.

Posted by Ashley 11/06/09 3:39 PM

I THINK THIS IS SOMETHING THAT COULD HURT A BABY IT JUST MAKES ME MAD! BUT WHO AM I TO SAY WHAT THEY SHOULD DO!

Posted by Anonymous 10/28/09 6:22 PM

I watch the Tyra Show and I find that alot of the times that Miss Tyra is very opionionated,judgemental and disrespectful toward the guess Tyra is a retired supermodle and has a talk show and that's great, but if your going to be so judemental and opinionated you should have lived it or had some kind of experance and not just put your opinion out just because you have a talk show. I guess having your own talk show you are allowed to be opionionated and judgemental as well as disrespectful. No one person should ever be made to feel bad for the rising there children the way the see fit, nappy hair or permed hair the parent should be able to take care of there children the without feeling like they are doing something wrong just because of another persons opinion. Each and everyone of us have an opinion and it should only be give when asked,or if you've lived it. Not say this to offend anyone. My opinion is that Tyra shouldn't be so mean and come down off her high horse. Your no better that the rest of the world.

Posted by Ms.Allen 10/26/09 1:19 PM

hi tyra well i want by saying i am 20 yrs old and have a 6 month old baby and i got so mad at the fact that there are people out there that would do this to their baby.. why would they get pregnant in the first place they know whats going to happen when they plan on having a baby. my thing is that it shouldnt even matter how that person is going to look it should matter about the babys health well i jus wanted to share my thought and let me tell you it was hard not to cuss lol thank you tyra

Posted by angie anduray 10/25/09 8:46 PM

Hi Tyra, am doing my senior project on pregorexia and i need a mentor that knows about this subject and i was wondering if you could give me a name of a doctor or anyone that could help me. I would really appreciate it if you could help me.

Posted by Stephanie 10/25/09 6:56 PM

Tyra, This absolutely makes me sick. I have always watched my weight, and always felt bad eating too much or high calorie foods. BUT when I got pregnant at 19 with my daughter that went out the window, I didn't care anymore. I ate so good, veges, fruit, protein I took 12 different vitamins a day, and definitely no limited portions. I ate a lot, but was still very small when I was pregnant, but I still had a 7 and a half pound baby! I gained 30 lbs,I weighed 109 before I got pregnant and I weigh 109 now. You can't even tell I had a baby (besided my chest) I rather WORK OUT 7 DAYS A WEEK to get my body back then to starve my child!!!!!!! The first 40 weeks in the Mother's womb is the most critical time for a baby I can't belive a parent would care more about themselves then what's important for the rest of their childs life. I want to tell those girls TO GET A CLUE, it's not fair that they are able to reproduce. It's also so sad that people have children every day with disorders and they did everything they could to have a healthy baby, and then you have the girls on your show that are doing fatal things to their fetus. I'm glad you did this show, maybe girls who consider doing this to their baby will think again. =) Lisann

Posted by Lisann 10/24/09 6:44 PM

I would first like to say I am 7 months pregnant. This baby of mine is a miracle and it has been a hard 7 months and I know it is only going to get harder for me. I took your pregnancy quizz and I must say WOW... If I were to get mostly "C" then I truly do not know how to take care of my unborn child. I know not to change a litter box, drink alchol, go in to a jacuzzi, eat sushi, but how is eating raw veggies bad for a pregnant woman or cranberry juice, or perfume? I am glad I got mostly "A" on that quizz because I am following what the doctor ordered.

Posted by Wanda Suncin 10/23/09 10:44 PM

hey Tyra, i think pregorexia is one of the saddest things i've ever heard of. i'm 20 yrs. old and i'm having my 2nd child. i honestly cried when i seen this. It's really hard to believe that their are really women out there like that who would starve themselves while pregnant just so they can keep their figures or their man.

Posted by Jaileen 10/23/09 4:09 PM

Hey, Tyra Our school is having a girl’s retreat day where we are focusing on self- esteem, how we feel about our bodies, and we think is needed to make us beautiful. We are hopping to really encourage the teenage girl in our school to be the best person they could possible be. An idea we had was to invite you our retreat so you can give us more insight and tips on learning to love ourselves. I know this might be near impossible but we are really hoping that we can make it happen. If you could please email me and let me know what you think I would truly appreciate it. Thank you! Tyelisha leelabell2012@yahoo.com

Posted by Tyelisha 10/23/09 12:12 PM

dear tyra, i hope you read this. pregant or not-eating disorders are every where-it's getting so bad, no one eats heatly anymore. in the old days people eat to survive-not people dont care anymore weather they have that access or not. it's for some poeple to eat-knowing there's straving kids everywhere. i can relate....i do the whole fasting thing all day-to drink with friends later on. sometimes i go days bearly eating-i feel if poeple somewhere eles has to strave-or eat very little-then why should i eat my 3 meals a day-there alive, and so am i. i would love to help straving kids across the world-but i bearly help myself. some people just have it better then others-it's the way it is. i wish i could make this a better planet-but am only 19. i still want to run the terry fox route across canada-but i dont know where to begain-it's my goal withen the next 5 years. tyra there are people who want to help opthers like me, it's money-we dont have enougth. ....i know what it's like to suffer. it hurts inside.. but am one of many........ and my other goal is to help young girls everywhere.. i love you tyra..keep working hard.. i would love to chat with you, i have so much to say to you.

Posted by vic 10/23/09 11:18 AM

yes this pregoxia is stuiped. i was pregnant with my 18 mth old daughter now yes i didnt know i wasnt pregnant till i was 5 mths but i still gained weight and ate healthy. lets face it i love to eat i gained 65 lbs with my daughter but i ate healthy with her. if you starve your unborn child you need help because your unborn child cant tell you what to do. so you need to take of yourself when your pregnant or not pregnant. you need to be the strong one for your unborn child. you are their live support. so if you dont want to eat you want to keep your figure dont get pregnant. this upsets me because there are people out there that cant have kids and they see you guys doing this. get help before something serouisly does happen.

Posted by allie shepherd 10/22/09 12:51 PM

I am disgusted and outraged by some of the comments on this board in regards to the pregnant woman with anorexia. Why is it that people are hell-bent on judging her instead of feeling compassion for her? Eating disorders are just as emotional and mental as they are physical. People with eating disorders are often suffering emotionally and it takes a toll on their body, mind, and spirit. In order to heal, people suffering from these diseases need support and kindness to help them overcome their struggle. They do not need to be belittled, judged, condemned, or otherwise mistreated. They've suffered enough due to their illnesses. Being treated in the way that this woman has been unfairly treated on this board does NOT help them move forward; this attitude is an impediment to recovery. Instead, we should be focusing on how to help these women--not condeming them or criticizing them simply for having a disease. In many ways, eating disorders are like addictions: it is extremely difficult to stop and to recover. People need unconditional love and support to overcome eating disorders. Quite frankly, the attitude that some women have taken towards the woman suffering from anorexia makes me ashamed to be female. As women we're all part of a sisterhood and should show compassion for our sisters who are struggling.

Posted by LibraLady 10/22/09 11:38 AM

hey tyra.my name is sara.and i have a almost 8 month old baby girl.and i say this show and the women that didnt eat when pregnant that dont eat.need help it just not right.what they are doing to the unbron baby.and this people that have drunkorexia make me think of an old friend that did this.and i dont know if she still dose i didnt want to be friends with some one like that.because of my baby.i love watch your show.oh and the 16 year old girl.that looks like a baby.that is something i never seen befor.i would like to know more about it.

Posted by sara 10/22/09 10:36 AM

I can't believe that women would deprive her unborn baby she has a responsibility as a pregnant woman and mother to take care of her children

Posted by S. 10/22/09 10:32 AM