Jeremy's Decline

Manorexia Out of Control

Many of you will remember meeting Jeremy, here on Queerty last month. City Pages in Minneapolis had covered the story of this 36 year old man who suffers from Anorexia. The reference was made to him having Manorexia, a term coined for males who suffer from this disease. Jeremy has been binging and purging, on and off, since he was 14.
The story is heartbreaking and the photos defy description. For a brief period of time after turning 21 and coming out, he experience some peace and happiness and became somewhat of an amateur body builder. This respite was brief and he soon found himself in the vicious cycle of binging a purging which lead to a rapid spiraling downfall. He became so thin that his body started growing hair to warm itself.

The story captured my heartstrings and curiosity. I reached out to Jeremy and asked him to be part of a new blog that I was starting up. As much as I have read on the subject of Anorexia, I have never understood it. I think it is a topic that is hard for many of us to get our head around, and as usual tend to make fun of what we don’t understand. My plan was for Jeremy to educate us and perhaps we, in turn could support him by giving him a much needed dose of confidence.

Last week, I got an email from Jeremy that he was in the hospital and wanted me to phone him. It took several attempts to reach him and when I finally got him on the phone he sounded like a very desperate man at the end of his ropes. He informed me that someone had turned him into the state health department after reading the article in City Pages and they came directly to his house and removed him, placed him in a hospital until some sort of hearing could be held. The result of the hearing was that the State could keep him for six months without his consent. He said this move has made him even more anxiety ridden and suicidal. Directly after talking about being suicidal, he was asked to get off the phone. Evidently they want to limit his conversations with people outside the system. When asked about his support team, he said that his Mom, being an alcoholic, wasn’t able to visit, and that he distrusted the rest of his friends. When I asked him about the mistrust of his friends, he had no rational explanation other than to say, he needed stuff from his apartment and was afraid to ask anyone to go to his place for fear of them stealing.

When asked what they were doing for him, he said that they gave him some mild anxiety pills like Ativan, but until he gained several more pounds, they could not give him the much needed medication that he needs. I told him to hang in there and that guy and gals at Queerty were cheering for him. I told him I would call in a few days to follow up.
The saddest part is that he feels like a looser for being there, which has added to his self depreciation. I wish he could see how brave he is to face this demon head on.