Anorexic 7 year old - triggered by strep throat?
February 3rd, 2006
Kennedy Pieken is seven years old and has been anorexic since age four.
When asked why she wasn’t eating…”I don’t know. Because my brain was telling me not to eat.”
Kennedy’s mom, Jodi said, “The way she was going, I was afraid she was gonna die. I mean her hair was falling out. She looked awful.”
There has been increasing awareness of pediatric eating disorders among very young children, along with the possibility of genetically inherited biological predisposition toward having an eating disorder. Kennedy’s mother, Jodi, is herself a recovering anorexic.
Dr. Mae Sokol, director of a pediatric eating disorder treatment program in Omaha, Nebraska says, “You could be born with that biological predisposition, but it doesn’t mean that you’re going to develop this disorder”. She has been conducting research on infection-triggered anorexia nervosa.
In Kennedy’s case, her anorexic behavior started after a case of strep throat. Streptococcal infection is linked with autoimmune response, and may induce anorexia in patients who are already predisposed towards anorexia.
The CBS4 (Boston) web site has a video clip of their report on Kennedy and her treatment.
Links:
- Young Children Dealing with Anorexia, CBS4 Boston, February 3, 2006
- Dr. Mae Sokol, Childrens Hospital of Omaha
- Eating Disorders in Children, Mae Sokol, Creighton University
- Can Anorexia Nervosa Be Triggered by an Infection? Heidi W. Moore, NeuroPsychiatry Review, Vol. 5, No. 9, December 2004
Tags: anorexia, anorexic, eating, disorder, disorders, prevention, parenting, treatment, pediatric
February 14th, 2006 at 1:58 pm
I am 25 years old and have been suffering from Anorexia since i was 16 years old. I first started developing “healthy” eating habits when i started 5th or 6th grade and they just became more extreme as time went on. Also, I suffered from repeated cases of strept throar when i was very young, which i believe played a role in my obsessive compulsive disorder and then my eating disorder. I am a firm believer that the eating disorder is a secondary illness and was another manifestation of my obsessive compulsive disorder. I would love to be involved in any studies with Dr Mae Sokol. Please contact me at nhcd1980@yahoo.com with any questions.