Bulimia Nervosa: Kendra Chillton's Story

Video Transcript

My name is Kendra Chillton. I was diagnosed with bulimia nervosa in 1996. When I had my second daughter, I had some extra baby weight I was trying to get rid off. I started to binge and purge, and I exercised excessively and some laxative abuse. My mom would hear me going into the bathroom after meals. She caught me with the toilet seat up a couple of times, and it pretty much ended when I had a heart attack at 23 and they took me to the hospital. And I told the doctors, "Why are you keeping me here? I'm not crazy." And they said, "What makes you think you're any different from these people? You have a mental illness." I have been hospitalized a few times through the psychiatric ward. That was a few places I'd start. They referred me out to a few specialized centers. I tried to commit suicide many times for just--it's so debilitating. It just weighs you down. But there are treatment centers out there that specialize, and doctors that are very trained in this field. Rather than eating three meals a day, six to eight meals a day is much better. It doesn't make me feel so full. I'm less likely to purge. I don't feel so fat and delusional about my body. I have lost my family, my children, my husband, everything that was important to me once, because I didn't reach out and I did not try to help myself. The support I get now has helped me enough to where I really think I can beat this thing. I have the church in my life now. I have friends. There are support groups out there. There are women that go through this with me. And that's important to know there's people out there that go through this and they know what you go through and they live it with you. If you have someone you trust, if you think it's going too far, if you think you might be getting a problem, reach out, look through your phone book, find a group you can go to. If you have someone in your church, counsellor, your doctor, just get help. There is just so much damage you can do without even knowing. I have lost my teeth, my hair, everything important to me. And until I surrendered and realized I could not fight this battle alone, I never would have came up. I never would have gotten out of this. It almost killed me. I had a heart attack. You can't do this by yourself. This is a disease that you just can't win on your own. You cannot fight this, but you can win it. You just need to seek help. You need to get out there. You need to reach out. And you can do this but just don't try to do it by yourself. Get help.