SUFFERING BEHIND THE SMILES –

Dec. 18, 2021 – Tommy’s eating disorder had already robbed him of his semi-professional football career. He’d played for West Brom and the Scottish national team, but serious nerve damage left him with him with no feeling in his right leg. Tragically, this wasn’t his lowest point. Tommy had a heart attack, putting him in a coma for three long months. “They thought I would never wake up,” he tells me. In very serious cases, eating disorders like Tommy’s anorexia can lead to organ failure, including that of the heart. What’s shocking is that, after years of trying to get treatment, Tommy had to get to this near-death experience for him to be finally diagnosed with an eating disorder. This was years ago now. Tommy has since fully recovered. It’s a fact that women aged 12- 20 are the most at-risk category for developing an eating disorder. But these conditions also affect men, something that is rarely spoken about. And often, this lack of dialogue has a knock-on effect, resulting in men being unable to access proper treatment for their conditions. Beat is a UK-based charity supporting and campaigning for those living with eating disorders. They estimate that of the 1.25m people in the UK who have conditions like bulimia and anorexia, roughly a quarter are male.  The Tab spoke to three men who have experienced eating disorders to find out more about their journeys, their attempts to get help, and to ask: What still needs to change in the way we speak about and treat male eating disorders? Sam, 35, thinks it’s a popular misconception that eating disorders are all about body image. The roots of his own bulimia lie in his school days.  Sam was pretty much bullied from day one…

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