Cause of Death: Anorexia and Laxative Addiction
British beauty’s tragic demise sheds light on dangerous eating disorder and addiction.
This article by Tracy Miller recently ran in the New York Daily News shows how gripping an eating disorder like anorexia can be and how fast it can end a life.
Gold medal child skier Georgia Willson-Pemberton, nearly 6 feet tall, wasted away to a skelatal 105 pounds from severe anorexia and died from ‘multiple organ dysfunction caused by laxative abuse.
The death of a 26-year-old former ski champion brings to light a devastating addiction of the dangerously thin.
Georgia Willson-Pemberton had it all: beauty, a prestigious education and the best of everything. But she was also battling anorexia and a laxative addiction.
Willson-Pemberton, once a gold medal child skier, took more than 80 laxative pills in a week, causing serious stomach and bowel damage. Her death on December 7 was ruled a "multiple organ dysfunction caused by laxative abuse," The Sun reports.
The 5'10" woman had wasted away to 105 pounds at the time of her death.
Willson-Pemberton, who lived in West London, had been struggling with anorexia for four years. She received treatment for her eating disorder at some of the top clinics in Britain and the U.S., including The Priory, but to no avail.
She once hid up to 200 pills in padded bras, counfounding her doctors and specialists.
Her parents found thousands of pills in her apartment after her death, they said.
“The world was her oyster, she could have done anything," her tearful father Robert Willson-Pemberton said in court during the inquest into her death.
"The disease consumed her. It was all she thought about."
Laxative pills can become addictive as the body builds up a tolerance, requiring more and more pills to achieve the same effect.
The loss of water from the body may cause electrolyte imbalance, muscle spasms and irregular heartbeat. Abusing the pills can also seriously damage the intestines.
Read full story here...
There are up to 24 million individuals suffering with eating disorders in the United States. Eating disorders have the highest mortality rate of any other mental illness. Fairwinds Treatment Center is a dual-diagnosis treatment facility, offering specialized care for patients with eating disorders and co-occuring mental illnesses that can attribute to these diseases. If you or a loved one are struggling with an eating disorder, such as anoexia, please contact Fairwinds Treatment Center today. our councelors are here to help find the best treatment options for your particular needs. Call 727-449-0300 or through our website here.
