Eating Disorders & Bone Fractures

Even years after a person is diagnosed with anorexia nervosa, they have twice the risk of bone fractures as their peers without the eating disorder, new study findings from Denmark show.

The findings suggest that damage caused to bones by eating disorders may be permanent, according to a report in the International Journal of Eating Disorders.

However, it is possible that patients in the study were still struggling with the eating disorder, which may have kept bones from regaining strength, the report indicates.

Previous studies have found that people with eating disorders such as anorexia or bulimia can suffer from weakened bones because of poor nutrition. Experts say that this can increase the risk of osteoporosis and fracture.

In the current investigation, Peter Vestergaard of the Aarhus University Hospital in Denmark and colleagues looked at 2,149 people diagnosed with anorexia nervosa, 1,294 people with bulimia nervosa and 942 people with another type of eating disorder. All of the patients - more than 90% female - were compared to a group of over 4,000 healthy people.

Compared to those without an eating disorder, patients were about twice as likely to break a bone after their diagnosis and the risk remained elevated for up to 10 years after diagnosis. The fracture risk was also elevated in those with other eating disorders, but not as dramatically as in patients with anorexia.

The researchers believe anorexia may cause permanent damage to the skeleton, which is later compounded by the loss of bone that can occur with aging. On the other hand, the researchers point out that even after diagnosis and treatment, the eating disorder may not have been completely reversed, resulting in continued nutritional deficits and further decreases in bone mass.

"In conclusion," the authors write, "an increased risk of fractures is present many years after diagnosis of anorexia nervosa, and the group of other eating disorders. These findings call for more awareness of potential skeletal complications linked to eating disorders in general."

The brain scans are sufficient proof, especially with the associated opinions of virtually all doctors who don't seem to be publicity seekers / self promoters.

So, Terri's 'brainscan' was reviewed by most doctors in the United States, and around the world?

Exactly how many doctors reviewed your brainscan? What type of brainscan is it, exactly?

When did you first start this need to get attention by ignoring reality and making up your own version of truth? Have you considered this is the onset of senility?

I respect you as a long time Freeper, but I have researched Terri's case very thoroughly, and I am very tired of you playing yank the chain with everyone.

Terri is not brain dead, she may not have what you consider a worthwhile life, but that doesn't mean her husband has the right to decide she should die just because he wants out, without paying the price. He could have divorced her anytime, please tell us why he doesn't. His religion won't let him? What a laugh. He cares for Terri? What a laugh.

Your main point is that the judge and witnesses and one or two doctors say it's OK to kill her. The judge is corrupt, and that is provable. The hospice itself is under investigation. The doctor has deserted the ship, my friend. He apparently doesn't care enough about YOU to stay and defend his medical evaluation. He has run for the hills, because he knows what will happen if her medical records are re-evaluated by someone not getting kickbacks from George Felos and the Hospice.

Yep. Chickens way out. Funny how everyone that sticks with the concept that Terri deserves to die, Michael is an angel, all refuse to answer questions put to them. They insist they were misquoted when confronted, and will not provide any proof of what they say. They constantly refuse proof provided to them, and insist that what they believe is the truth just ... because.

The legal methods that the designers of our country set up were put to use to put a temporary stop to this action, until a further investigation of the truth could be done.

We the people wanted them to do so. Better to let her live a little longer and be wrong, than to kill her and be wrong.

You appear to take the opposite view and that is why I disagree with you. You insist you know whether Terri is 'braindead' and I say you don't know any more than I do.

If you aren't sure, kill them, is not what I believe is a Godly response, and if you want to take the tack that I am corrupting the legal system of the US by preventing Michael from terminating his wife while exhibiting to the public that he doesn't give a damn about his wife's best interests, then go ahead.

The best thing about allowing people to have a 'voice' on the internet is that everyone can see you for what you are by your words. I am sorry you see this as a legal thing only, and see no problem with Michael's actions over the years.

BTW, did you wife, in the example of you being Terri, state "WHEN IS THE BASTARD GOING TO DIE"?

Yes, I know for sure going on occasional liquid diet does not an eating disorder make. Just because a young woman yo-yo diets does not mean that she is going to have a heart attack. If that were true, young women would be dropping over from yo-yo dieting all of ther place.

Again, your argument is not logial, nor does it seem to be based upon any common sense. Have you spent much time around women in their 20 and 30?

The parents said Terri used to go on liquid diets. They never said she forced something down her throat ,and forced herself to throw up every meal. There are signs of bulemia, like skin problems, stomach problems, heavy lower jaw, changes in the facial structure, lots of oral problems. Has anyone said Terri ever had any of these, other than the occasional stocmach aliment and irregular menstral period, Which can be brought on by stress. Docters will tell you that not every woamn is on a 28 day cycle, some are on a 35 day cycle. But these wowmen still may go to a docter with the presenting problem of "missed periods"

She was seeing an OB for infertility issues, but we don't know for how long or under what circumstances. Many thousands of women see infertitltiy specialists , who really have no infertitlty problems.

None of this tells me she had an eating disorder. If she had progressed to such a dangerous state with an eating disorder, there would be medical records with data that indicate she suffered from Bulemia, or other eating disorders. The docters at the ER who saw Terri the night she collapsed would ahve made some notes about her condition. They would have had some clues. Nothing was said about an eating diorder , except by Michael, whom I think is a liar to the tenth degree. Nothing he says is crediable or logical.

If you want to believe , fine go ahead. But stop going around calling everyone who does not believe him all sort of names. You keep saying we are zealots and dumb and emotional. I say look in the mirror buddy. Belive him if you want, I don't care. But realize your personal attackes of other people have gotten you right here. The place where we have to point out step by step , what you have been missing.

I/we have see the malpractice trial records. Terri had very severe and prolonged Bulimia Nervosa Disease and it caused her collapse, including her neck and rib injuries when her body slammed on the floor head first. It is well documented by many medical experts in the trial record. This is FACT!

I don't know why the Schindlers are saying Terri was perfectly healthy at the time of the accident. They were at the malpractice trial and Michael lived with the Schindler’s after Terri's collapse because Terri's medical bills had him totally broke. It has been well reported, years back, that both Michael and Terri’s mother had problems/concerns about Terri’s eating disorder. Now everybody says different in the heat of the battle!

Why do the Schindler's think the Jury nailed Terri's OB-GYN for $6 million. (Terri's GP settled out of court) She had Bulimia Nervosa Disease so bad a "blind hog" should have picked it up. The Judge reduced the settlement to $2 million because medical experts indicated because of Terri's severe Bulimia Nervosa Disease progression and damage, Terri only had a life expectancy of 45 years! That is serious disease.

The Schindler’s “star medical expert” that they use in press conferences and on TV is Dr. Hammesfahr.
The only doctor for the Schindler’s that is stating the “rigid neck and strangulation theory” is Dr. Hammersfahr. Dr. William Hammesfahr’s comments regarding what happened to Terri that night and that he can help her get better are frankly highly suspect and lack total credibility. This fact has also been well reflected in the court records.

Secondly, it has well been checked out by knowledgeable source that Dr. Hammesfahr’s noble nomination is phony. This has also been discussed by experts on this subject on TV the last month.

Dr. Hammesfahr’s is currently on probation by the Florida Medical Board, for false advertising and bilking his patient’s making false claims as to his “medical miracles” he can perform for them. The Medical Board nail this quack in February 2003.

Everybody know the Schindler’s are using him for a “mouth piece and a deception ringer” and that is why nobody will help the Schindlers! This is why Attorney General Charlie Crist, and State Attorney Bernie McCabe, (one of our people has already talked with a member of his office on this subject) will not touch this case or help the Schindlers, and why the Court’s always rule against the Schindler’s.

One of our PAC physicians has already "heard" the famed pathologist Dr. Michael Baden, “blew a casket” when he learned that the Schindler’s did not properly disclosed to Greta Van Susteren and him Terri’s horrible Bulimia Nervosa disease progression, causing Baden to make all these stupid statements on TV about Terri’s case.

Low potassium, brittle bone syndrome, heart attacks/cardiac arrest and brain damage, along with multiple system/organ damage ARE classic severe Bulimia disease symptomatology in late stage. It’s basic pathology 101 and Baden is a super pro. He never would have said all his comments had he known the facts.

Yes our PAC physician’s have reviewed the x-ray and report on Terri done a year+ after her collapse. Many of her bone problems are due to her severe Bulimia Nervosa Disease.
HOWEVER - Yes, it does appear that Michael beat Terri and Dr. Baden, and the initial reviewing radiologist, have valid comments here i.e. the radiologist saying “it looked like someone worked her (Terri) over pretty good”.

Also Michael is a big guy with an explosive temper. Terri was 5’3” and “becoming all bones” i.e. a massive loss of muscle tissue common with her disease. With Terri’s Brittle Bone Syndrome, that was resultant from her Bulimia Nervosa Disease, Michael would not have to hit Terri very hard to do some serious skeletal damage, per one of our PAC doctors.

UNDERSTAND I/WE ARE SUPER BEHIND FIGHTING THIS BATTLE TO SAVE TERRI’S LIFE, HAVE CRIMINAL CHARGES BROUGHT AGAINST MICHAEL SCHIAVO AND GEORGE FELOS, AND RETURN TERRI TO HER “BLOOD” PARENTS TO LIVE OUT THE REST OF HER NATURAL LIFE.

HOWEVER ALL THIS SCHINDLER’S BS AND QUACK DOCTORS PLAY RIGHT INTO MICHAEL-FELOS-ACLU & CO HANDS AND TERRI IS DEAD IF THEY DON’T STOP IT IMMEDIATELY.

If the Schindler’s would get honest, and ASAP, plenty of good doctors and witnesses will come to their aid.

Gee, Florida only has one of the best crime labs in the Country that could become involved to him them. You have an FBI District Field office right in Tampa Bay for gosh sakes.

As you may note, there are a lot of frustrated people out their over this situation right now, and I/we are one of them.

Harv, LPI

(I am a Miami based, private investigator, with 28 years experience, that is part of a Terri’s Right-to-Life P.A.C. of PI’s, attorneys, physicians, and Florida lobbyists, that includes some real “heavy weights” and “money players”. I/We have the documentation on the real facts and I can pass a polygraph test on these facts anytime someone wants to take me/us on OK!……PLEASE people, we need help BAD with getting the FACTS, not all this baloney many people want to spew, so we can help in the efforts to save Terri’s Life, return Terri to her parents to live out the rest of her natural life, and drag Michael Schiavo and George Felos down HARD! This is our mission, nothing else. Thank you for your time and help. God Bless..Harv)

Dr. William M. Hammesfahr, M.D
* Busted by Florida Medical Board *
February 2003

Excerpt of pertinent sections – Complete transcript on File.

Department of Health
Florida Board of Medicine Meeting
Disciplinary Heaing

February 7-8, 2003

William M. Hammesfahr, M.D. – Clearwater, Florida

The Respondent was not present for the hearing.

(PAC Comment - Great, the good doctor didn’t even show up for his trial, sent some chump!-DG)

The Administrative Complaints alleged violation of Florida Statute:

(1) Failure to practice medicine with that level of care, skill, and treatment
which is recognized by a reasonably prudent similar physician as being acceptable under
similar conditions and circumstances

(2) False, deceptive, or misleading advertising. and

(3) Exercising influence on the patient or client in such a manner as to exploit the patient
or client for financial gain of the licensee or of a third party, which shall include, but not
be limited to, the promoting or selling of services, goods, appliances, or drugs.

Penalty Imposed:

Six months probation,
Quarterly reports,
Indirect Supervision,
Monthly review,
50% chart review,
100 hours of community service, ethics course.

The Department filed a Motion, and it was approved to Assess Fine and Costs of $54,084.40.

Prepared by Melinda Gray & Crystal Griffin
Florida Department of Health

Okay, how about I "spew" this. ( see that is where I knew what you were saying was baloney.. if you believe you are right then you do not need to insult a large group of people.) There is no proof that Terri had bulemia.

Gravity caused her to hit the floor, illness do not cause people to fall down.

I don't believe anything Michael says.

Because Terri is a tragic figure , no one wants to fight against that in court. The malpractice case was not fought, it was handed over.

Liquid diets ( like slimfast) are not an eating disorder, or we would hear of young women all over the place dropping over from heart attacks.

Your agrument is not logical.

If she has such brittle bones, why has this "brittle bone syndrome" just gone away? Why isn't she having bones broken all of the time, has she been so rehabilitated while in this state that it has reversed itself?

So the courts rule against the Schindlers because they personaly don't like their docters, without considering any of the testimony of nurses who aides Terri , or other docters who say Terri could recover somewhat? Well that is comforting.

Have you ever seen anyone with "severe and prolonged" Bulemia? They look like a skeleton with all sorts of medical problems and oral problems.

Why are you urging me to believe you, and repramanding me at the same time for having a different opnion than you, if we are fighting the same fight? I will believe what I believe, you do the same. I am suspicious of your so called proof of Bulemia, that is what I have been talking about all along.

Malpractice suit brings $2-million to woman left in vegetative state
Series: Metro REPORT:[CITY Edition]

http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/sptimes/index.html?ts=1067558394

LAURA GRIFFIN. St. Petersburg Times. St. Petersburg, Fla.: Nov 12, 1992. pg. 3.B

Tuesday night, a jury awarded Mrs. Schiavo and her husband, Michael [Schiavo], more than $2-million in a lawsuit they brought against the gynecologist who never asked about her medical or nutritional history while treating her.
During the trial, attorneys for the Schiavos showed a film of a day in Mrs. Schiavo's life at Sabal Palms Nursing Home in Largo. Although she's in a vegetative state, said St. Petersburg lawyer Glenn Woodworth, "you can tell she has some sense of her predicament."

Woodworth and Miami lawyer Gary Fox maintained that [Stephen] Igel saw Mrs. Schiavo four times over a year and never asked about her nutrition and never noticed the loose skin and stretch marks resulting from her substantial weight loss.

------
Although she's only 28, Theresa Schiavo lies day in and day out in a nursing home, left virtually helpless from a heart attack brought on by an eating disorder.

Tuesday night, a jury awarded Mrs. Schiavo and her husband, Michael, more than $2-million in a lawsuit they brought against the gynecologist who never asked about her medical or nutritional history while treating her.

During the trial, attorneys for the Schiavos showed a film of a day in Mrs. Schiavo's life at Sabal Palms Nursing Home in Largo. Although she's in a vegetative state, said St. Petersburg lawyer Glenn Woodworth, "you can tell she has some sense of her predicament."

"It's a tragic case," Woodworth said. "She was on the threshold of her life. They were ready to start a family . . . (On the film) she knows her husband and looks into his eyes."

As a child, Mrs. Schiavo was heavy. As a teenager, she weighed about 200 pounds. But she weighed only 120 pounds at age 25. She kept her weight off through a dangerous eating disorder, bulimia, which involves vomiting after eating.

The couple had been married about six years when Mrs. Schiavo began thinking she was pregnant because she kept missing her menstrual periods.

Her family doctor referred her to Dr. Stephen Igel, an obstetrician-gynecologist in Clearwater. But she wasn't pregnant, Woodworth said. She was missing her periods because of poor nutrition.

Woodworth and Miami lawyer Gary Fox maintained that Igel saw Mrs. Schiavo four times over a year and never asked about her nutrition and never noticed the loose skin and stretch marks resulting from her substantial weight loss.
"There were no questions about weight loss, eating habits or anything," Fox said. "She had significant stretch marks on her thighs. This was something a prudent gynecologist would not miss."

Igel treated only the symptoms, he said, not the cause.
On Feb. 24, 1990, after a year of treatment, Michael Schiavo heard a thud in the bathroom. When he went to see what happened, he found his wife crumpled on the floor. She had suffered a heart attack, Fox said.

"I think there are a lot of gynecologists out there who are treating women with Teri's symptoms in an ordinary way," Fox said. "But it's not an ordinary problem."

Igel's attorney, Kenneth Deacon, could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

Fox said Igel's attorney contended that Mrs. Schiavo should have disclosed her problem and that even if he had suspected and asked, she probably would have kept it from him because bulimics are often secretive.

The jury agreed partly with the defense. They originally awarded the Schiavos more than $6-million but found that she was 70 percent at fault. So they subtracted her liability from the award, bringing it down to $2-million, her attorneys said.

The verdict could have been higher, Woodworth said, if the jury hadn't found that because of the bulimia, Mrs. Schiavo had a life expectancy of only 17 more years.

Woodworth said he and Fox questioned the jury's decision to decrease the award and will discuss with Circuit Judge Phillip Federico whether it is legal.

The couple also sued Mrs. Schiavo's family doctor, Joel Prawer, but Prawer settled earlier this year for an undisclosed amount, Woodworth said.

Michael Schiavo has stayed with his wife and takes care of her, Fox said. He is in nursing school so that he can care for her on his own, Fox said.

"This is the kind of guy whose wedding vows are just that - vows," Fox said. "Ironically, Tuesday (the day of the verdict) was their eighth wedding anniversary."

To Fox, the case represents a larger problem: a dangerous societal pressure placed on women to be thin.

"I think it's important that women who have these eating disorders know the downside. I don't think they know how dangerous it is," he said. - LAURA GRIFFIN

Copyright Times Publishing Co. Nov 12, 1992

Before debate over whether she should die,
Terri Schiavo had a life

ALLEN G. BREED
Associated Press
Posted on Fri, Oct. 24, 2003

PINELLAS PARK, Fla. - DIANE MEYER can recall only one time her best friend Terri Schiavo really got angry with her. It was 1981, and it haunts her still.

Excerpts from article on Weight Issue and Related Personality Profile and Living Environment:

Her mother, Mary, says Terri would spend hours in her room, arranging her more than 100 stuffed animals into a private zoo.

Always heavy, Terri hated sports, except horseback riding, which fed her love for animals.

Terri never said anything about her weight, but her mother always sensed it bothered her.

"She cried a lot when she went to get clothes," Mrs. Schindler says.

Terri didn't go to school dances, not even her senior prom.

Instead, she and her friends would go to the movies. Meyer remembers they went to see "An Officer and a Gentleman" four times in one day.

She was a huge fan of the TV show "Starsky and Hutch." Sue Pickwell figures she and Terri wrote hundreds of letters to co-star Paul Michael Glaser, and "I remember the excitement when they finally wrote back, or their people wrote back."

Terri was naive and somewhat gullible. When she couldn't get her Christmas tree to stand up straight one year, her father, Bob, told her to take it back to the lot and have them put it in the "tree straightener."

"She called me about an hour later and said, 'What did you do to me? They all laughed at me.'

"Terri has always been very tenderhearted, especially when it came to animals. She came home crying one night, saying she thought she'd run over a rabbit or squirrel. Knowing she would be devastated if she saw the animal the next day, her brother Bobby went out and threw it in the bushes, then assured Terri he'd found nothing.

When her yellow Labrador collapsed, Terri performed mouth-to-nose resuscitation on him, her mother says."She was puffing away for all she was worth," she says. "He died in her arms."

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV
Her junior year, Mrs. Schindler took Terri to the doctor to ask about her weight, which had ballooned to over 200 pounds on a 5-3 frame.

The doctor told her Terri would lose the weight when she was ready.

After graduation from Archbishop Wood Catholic School, she was ready. On a structured diet program, she got her weight down to 140 to 150 pounds initially.

"Terri has always been beautiful from the inside out," Meyer says. "And then when she lost all the weight, she really became quite beautiful on the outside as well. What was inside she allowed to shine out at that point."
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Terri enrolled in Bucks County Community College with the goal of working with animals, and there she met Michael Schiavo.

Mrs. Schindler says Terri went head over heels.

"It was the first guy who ever, ever paid any attention to her," she says.
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Meyer says Terri talked about how gorgeous Schiavo was and how he was always telling her she was beautiful.
VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV
He was the "Officer and a Gentleman" to a chubby girl who had lived vicariously through Danielle Steele romances, Meyer believes.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
After a little more than a year of dating, the two were married in 1984. Terri wrote to her favorite entertainer, John Denver, to ask him to sing at her wedding, but he never replied.
VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV
By a year later, Terri had gained a little of her weight back. Meyer says Terri told her that Schiavo had seen her high school graduation picture and warned her "if she ever got fat like that again he'd divorce her."

"I said, 'He's probably kidding,'" she says. "But it was upsetting to her."
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Scott Schiavo, Michael's brother, says it was the Schindlers who rode Terri about her weight. He says her brother sometimes showed one of Terri's old driver's licenses for a laugh.

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In 1986, the couple moved to Florida. Schiavo managed restaurants, and Terri got a clerk's job at an insurance agency.

Mrs. Schindler says Terri began complaining that Schiavo never wanted to go anywhere. When she would go visit her parents or a friend from work, Mrs. Schindler says, Schiavo would check the mileage on her car."She could go to those places," she says. "Any other place, he gave her crap."

Jackie Rhodes, who worked and socialized with Terri, says Schiavo would frequently call his wife at work and leave her in tears. She says she and Terri had each discussed divorcing their husbands and moving in together.

"We actually discussed how much we could afford and where we would want to live," she says.

But Scott Schiavo, Michael's brother, says he wasn't aware of any trouble in the marriage. And when the couple went to his grandmother's funeral, Scott Schiavo says, Terri told him she would not want to be put on a respirator, as the grandmother had been.

"Terri turned around and looked right in my eyes, and I can still see her sitting there on my lefthand side," he recalls, repeating testimony he gave in court. "

'If I'm gone, just let me go.'"Bobby Schindler says his sister began talking about leaving Schiavo in 1989. "She said she wished she had the strength or the energy or the know-how to get a divorce," he says.
VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV
By this time, Terri's weight had dropped below 120 and Mrs. Schindler says she confronted her daughter about how thin she was getting.

Terri's reply: "I eat, Mom. I eat."
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Potassium disorders and heart failure have been linked to anorexia, but the family doesn't think Terri had a real eating disorder. (IN DENIAL-GT)

The day before she collapsed, Terri had complained to her mother that she was having menstrual problems, and that she wasn't satisfied with her doctor. Mrs. Schindler said they'd get together after the weekend and find her a new one.
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SEVERE AND LONG-TERM BULIMIA NERVOSA PROVEN IN 1992 JURY TRIAL. WAS THIS A CONSPIRACY TO!!

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