The Bordeaux University Hospital is organizing an evening in Mollat this Monday from 6 p.m. on the theme: “Eating disorders (ED): a new epidemic?
»
Doctor Jean-François Viaud, head of the eating disorder unit at the Bordeaux University Hospital, answered questions from
20 Minutes .
He explains that his center had to face increased demands, around six months after the first confinement, in the spring of 2020.
Eating Disorders (ED): A New Epidemic?
This is the question addressed this Monday from 6 p.m. at the Mollat bookstore, during an evening open to the public.
Doctor Jean François Viaud, head of the eating disorder unit at the Bordeaux University Hospital, who will host this meeting, agreed to answer questions from
20 Minutes
.
Have you felt the consequences of confinement on the activity of your unit, the Abadie center?
The sequel to spring 2020 made itself felt very clearly, six months later.
The disease (TCA) is relatively apparent after three months, the parents begin to worry and we see the sick arrive after six months, the time for the situation to be medicalized.
We had very increased requests for consultations at that time.
The young people we saw then told us that they had started dieting during confinement.
They expressed their concern about gaining weight due to the confinement, the inactivity that it represented.
There are many diets that started at that time, and that ended in the installation in anorexia nervosa.
Has there also been an increased need for hospitalizations?
Yes, but the problem is that we have few specialized beds and unfortunately we cannot provide the most adequate care to all the patients who deserve it.
At the Abadie centre, we have eight beds for teenagers, especially teenage girls, aged 14 to 20.
It is the only service in Gironde that is specific.
In total, we can count on eleven to twelve beds in the department.
Fifteen additional beds were to open, but this has not yet taken place due to a staff recruitment problem.
Can we say that anorexia is the most serious eating disorder?
Anything can be serious.
Anorexia is serious because of the weight loss and the risks it entails.
But bulimia, even though the weight may remain normal, can lead to a very serious complication, especially if it is accompanied by a lot of vomiting.
This can cause ionic disorders in the blood and in particular a drop in potassium.
This can lead to cardiac arrest.
We must also think of the psychological complications: whether it is bulimia with vomiting or hyperphagia without vomiting, it is also a loss of control felt very painfully by the person.
This can lead to suicide attempts, which are quite common in this type of pathology.
The detection of these disorders seems complicated, in particular because the victims can be in denial of their disease?
Yes, and relatives themselves can be drawn into this denial.
We have no difficulty in making the medical diagnosis, even if there are typical forms and other rarer ones.
On the other hand, what is difficult for the patient is to get to care, it takes an average of six months.
These are diseases that take a long time to heal and may require one or more hospitalizations and a long follow-up.
Anorexia nervosa, when treated in a specialized environment, represents three to four years of follow-up.
But do we know how to cure anorexia nervosa?
Yes, we know it, but it is in the very essence of this disease to be resistant to the care that is given.
What most underlies this disease are the extremely strong fears and anxieties that it arouses to gain weight.
Obviously, any weight gain is extremely difficult to bear and at the same time it is only by regaining weight that it is possible to soothe your anxieties.
A multidisciplinary team is needed alongside patients for the somatic question, but also psychiatrists, psychologists, dieticians, etc.
We recover from this disease but it can take a very long time.
On the other hand, the longer it lasts, the more we feel that it is difficult to get out of it.
If, after ten years, we are not cured, we have a 5% risk of dying.
Fortunately, these are not the most common situations.
What is the interest of this kind of evening, from the point of view of communication to the general public?
These are poorly known disorders, even if we talk about them more and more, in the media and also thanks to associations such as the French Federation of Anorexia and Bulimia (FFAB).
The general public misunderstands what it is, which can create rejection or misunderstanding.
We often hear: “She has to eat!
Yes, but that's not enough.
Eating is precisely what is impossible because of very strong fears, it is not a whim.
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Practical information
The event takes place at the Station Ausone, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. (8 rue de la Vielle Tour, Bordeaux) and will be broadcast online, live on the Facebook account and on the YouTube channel of the Mollat bookstore.
The conference will be accessible to deaf and hard of hearing people since LSF (French sign language) interpreters will be on site.
Bordeaux
Aquitaine
Anorexia
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