Karen Carpenter Anorexia
Karen Carpenter was a well known singer back in the 70's and 80's and suffered with anorexia for years. She sang with her brother Richard. She began dieting in 1967. She was born in 1950. She was put on a water by her doctor in 1967. She began at a weight of 140 and got down to 115 pounds and people told her she looked good but she wasn’t satisfied. She continued using laxatives and dieting and in the fall of 1975 she was down to 80 pounds. She was taking a lot of thyroid pills every day as well as throwing up what very little she was eating. She was forced to lay down and rest between shows because she was so weak. In Las Vegas in 1975 she collapsed on stage and was rushed to the hospital. She was reported to be 35 pounds underweight. Karen realized she had a serious problem and went to doctors and therapists and she believed she was well again. Her body was still suffering from the lack of food and over doses of laxatives, lack of sleep, and anxiety from being on the road so much. On February 4, 1983 Karen’s mother found Karen unconscious on the floor of her closet in their home in Downey, California. She was rushed to the hospital but within the hour Karen was dead. She died of a cardiac arrest which was caused by the strain of the anorexia on her body. She died at the age of 32 and was 5' 4" tall and weighted only 108 pounds.
Since Karen’s death there has been much more exposure and reports about anorexia so others do not end up like Karen did but the statistics show that there are more people than ever are anorexic today or have eating disorders of some kind. Today over 8 million people suffer from eating disorders. That is over 7 million women and over 1 million men. Karen’s death has started more doctors, scientists, and therapists studying the problem and trying to find a cure for the disease. American culture and the media are one of the causes for eating disorders such as anorexia. It has been about 24 years since anorexia claimed the life of Karen Carpenter and today there are many more that may end up like her if something is not done about the feelings that “slim is in”. While we do need to watch what we eat and how much we eat, we need only to eat a proper diet and not try to lose so much that we end up looking like skeleton like some of the models we see on television and in magazines.
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