European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - July 16, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                A Plum non Hospital help for bulimics anorexics by Theresa Humphrey associated press Orlien schaffers was popping up to 300 laxatives a Day. Bringing on a dozen scrambled eggs and sticking a Spatula Down her Throat to make herself vomit in a trash can. Schafter 24, who works Tor a major pharmaceutical company has spent the last few years of her life abusing laxatives and her body since she was 16 she has suffered from bulimia compulsive induced vomiting and later a combination of bulimia and anorexia Nerosa that starvation syndrome that strikes so Many Young women who irrationally fear obesity. Although these neurotic aberrations occur separately Wilh great frequency it is less common to find this kind of double header. Schaffers began dieting in the eighth Grade but she was concerned about her weight from the fourth or tilth Grade. A recent University of California study indicates that 80 percent of eighth graders diet Schalfer told her Story in graphic detail because she Hopes it will help others. I want other women out there to know that there is Good sound help available schaffers said. She was admitted to Philadelphia s Renfrew Center the nation s Only residential non Hospital treatment Center for bulimics and anorexics. She spent 39 Days there late last year to learn How to eat properly and find the deep seated causes Tor her behaviour. She s Back Home now and working. She says that although she is not cured she has come a Long Way. Schaffer remember the bulimia started in tier Junior year of High school when she Robab y ate a Sweet and then left guilty. She made herself vomit. From bulimia she progressed to anorexia until her whole life was consumed by both illnesses and the need not to be  but me real horrors began alter she equated from College in May 1984 and continued until she sought help in november 1985. Or. Leonard Levitz Renfrew s clinical director says anorexic bulimics sometimes swing Back and Forth Between different manifestations of their behaviour. When schaffers came to Renfrew she was an underweight 105 pounds at 5 feet-6 and would do anything to maintain that weight. After graduation irom covenant College in Chattanooga Tenn. She moved Home with her parents in nearby Chalfonte and found her limited dieting and binding and purging were nol so easy to hide. So i resorted to laxatives that was the Way i kept the weight off. Instead of the Normal one or two. I would take four or live. I would have diarrhoea Lor a Day or so and that would make me Leel thin again. If i ale something that t Tell i would gain weight from. I would take the laxatives within a year and a half i had abused laxatives so much thai i was taking up to 300 at a  she had it Down to a science. Through trial and error she knew harsh laxatives containing a certain ingredient yellow phenol Halein would give her the results she wanted along Wilh a Little nausea and cramps. In relation to the High doses she said i never knew Lor sure i was going to be All right whether i was going to live through it or  once she took 600 laxative pills and became so ill she was hospitalized fora night. It was recorded As a suicide attempt. But to her it was t a suicide attempt. She insists she just did t want to gain weight. I thought i was going to die she says. It was like someone was taking a knife and just stabbing me. That did t even Stop me. The need to be thin was so great i was willing to risk my life again to be thin. That s How distorted my View was. My parents would always know when i look them. They would know because they would hear the bathroom run at night or they would took at me and they could Lell because my eyes would get sunken in almost because i was  wednesday july 16, 1986 the stars and stripes at first she bought her laxatives but As her cod grew she stole them. She knew she was breaking her parents hearts so she moved Inlo her own apartment in August 19bs it was really Dillie ult or them to watch me Aloway kill myself which is whal it is she says Lisa slow Lype of  isolating Erseil from her fiends she became much More sophisticated in her binding. She did t buy expensive food and she planned each session. She would throw Down a dozen eggs and then throw up. And go through the whole thing again a half hour later. Before going Lor help at the Renfrew Center she had tried a self help group. Christian counselling and counselling from a physician. She said they did t work because she really did t want to change. Once at Renfrew determined finally to alter her lifestyle she found it was More difficult than expected she went there weighing 110 pounds and lost seven pounds during her stay. The Renfrew s treatment integrates medical nutritional psychological physical and behavioural elements including individual and group psychotherapy family therapy lectures and discussions. Schaller said her concern about her weigh really stemmed irom Low self esteem and the need to please everyone. She Lell that in she did l please people they did l love her. It s like i was trying to be a perfectionist All the time she says. I still struggle Wilh  on the physical Side she s concentrating on Good eating habits. On Trie spiritual and emotional Side her self esteem is a Tol belter than it s Ever been in my life. It has come 1 of within  she says she has put her life in the hands of god. That is what i have to hold on to because if i put my self esteem into people and they let me Down it s going to go crazy. Iii put it into How thin i am and i gain weight i m going to go crazy.1 Page 17o