GIMME THE SKINNY

[HairOfTheDog]

^ That's Rachael Farrokh and her husband Ron Edmundson close to 10 years ago. Cute couple. She's 5'7" and weighed about 125 pounds.


The now 37-year-old actress has reportedly been battling anorexia nervosa since she lost a job almost a decade ago, while she was struggling to recover from a painful childhood memory.

Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder that is characterized by an abnormally low body weight and an intense fear of gaining weight. Sufferers typically have a distorted perception of their bodies.

Rachel now weighs less than 50 pounds and says she's ready to get better. She is asking for the public to donate to her GoFundMe account so she can seek treatment at the one facility in the country willing to take her. Because her weight and metabolism is so low, she can't just be pumped with calories without possibly dying and she's a liability for hospitals.


^That's Rachel Farrokh and her husband Ron Edmundson today.

How can someone not be forced into treatment by their loved ones long before it reaches this point?

I mean, the woman was wasting away before their eyes. Once she declined to like 85 pounds, I think I would have tossed the bag of bones into the car against her will, put her on a 5150 psych hold, and gone from there.

[sally]

Jesus. Before I scrolled down I was thinking it was going to be the opposite that she gained 400 lbs.

It seems criminal to allow someone to get like that, but I'm not sure she could have been legally forced to eat or tube fed against her will.

[HairOfTheDog]

I'm not sure she could have been legally forced to eat or tube fed against her will.

I don't think she could have been forced to eat or been tube fed against her will either.

But, since anoxeria is classified as a psychological disorder, I would hope that she could have been deemed a threat to herself and committed for psych treatment; psych treatment which might have prompted her to eat.

Maybe her husband and family tried everything like that to no avail?

IDK, if she was my sister or daughter, I might have tied her up in a room and force fed her (and maybe ended up going to jail for it).

She can't even walk without assistance now.

[sally]

Helping her at this point is going to be like trying to bring someone back from the dead. They better do something quick.

[HairOfTheDog]

Yeah, she says in her short video plea for help that her chances are slim, even if she gets the treatment.

[Duchess]

She looks like the people clutching the fence in a concentration camp.

[Carsman]

Yeah yeah, she may have been tough to deal with, but that husband of hers is also to blame! She's sick, and so is he, for letting her get to this sorry state of affairs!!!

[username]

I can't believe HOSPITALS are supposedly refusing to treat her. Her food (even in a tube) is her medicine. They have all the ability to monitor her heart rate, vitals etc to ensure she doesn't develop some refeeding syndrome. It's not rocket science; you start her off small and gradually increase. That's bullshit. They'd rather see her almost certainly die absent treatment as opposed to attempting to treat her? Something smells.

ETA: that picture is horrifying.

[Duchess]

I've never heard of a hospital refusing to treat anyone.

I know people like to have someone to blame but how do you force an adult to do something they don't want to do? Could you (general you) be forced to do something you absolutely did not want to do?

[username]

I think the laws vary in different states but at minimum, I think "as a potential harm to herself" , she could get involuntarily committed to a psych ward as someone mentioned above. I've heard that the "hold" period is limited but I know someone who says, as an adult, she ended up being involuntarily held for well over a month.

[ZEROSPHERES]

Looks like you can be anorexic and still have a nice rack. MWS

[HairOfTheDog]

It's possible to force adults to do things they don't want to do; the means by which to do so are just often illegal.

I could see hospitals refusing to treat her because she's too far gone and food would shock her system or something. Maybe she needs to be at a facility with advanced expertise and that's where she's been referred (and what she's collecting money for). I'm just guessing.

Anyway, this story is getting a lot of attention now. Maybe a hospital or medical expert will go public with an offer to help her immediately?

[Blindgreed1]

I'm scarred.

[JsMom]

I'm scarred.

ruuuunnnnn muthafucka!

[SIXFOOTERsez]

That situation is fucked up. Her hubby has more balls than I do, I would have kicked her to the curb long ago. Dealing with an addicted or mentally ill significant other is fucking hard and can be horrifying. Took me 2 years to pull the trigger on the last one to make the cut and it was fucking hard.
That chick is going to die, I am shocked she is even alive now, 50 lbs? Jesus

[ZEROSPHERES]

That situation is fucked up. Her hubby has more balls than I do, I would have kicked her to the curb long ago.

Six, I feel badly for the husband. He gave her every opportunity to eat. Each time he tried to take her out, this is the only place she wanted to go.

[Maggot]

I would be afraid to touch her least she explode into dust.

[HairOfTheDog]

Money Raised -- Treatment Underway

The GoFundMe page has exceeded $120,000 in donations.

Initially, Farrokh, who lives in San Clemente, California, hoped to raise enough money for treatment at the ACUTE Center for Eating Disorders at the Denver Health Medical Center. But, her doctor doesn't think she's strong enough for the travel, so some of the money will be used to set up a treatment center at her home until she can be moved.

“My doctor wants me to stay here (in California) and is bringing the hospital basically to my bedside,” Farrokh said Friday. “I’ll have a doctor, a registered nurse, therapist and other specialist treat me from home. We are trying to build up to that point to travel to a specialized treatment center like Denver Health.”

Dr. Tim Walsh, an eating disorder specialist at New York State Psychiatric institute at Columbia University, said that generally refeeding is effective, but for someone so ill, it would need to be done at an experienced facility. Walsh, who has not treated Farrokh, said few medical facilities have the expertise to treat a case such as hers.

Medical treatment for starvation and psychological support are the two issues that need to be immediately addressed during treatment for severe anorexia nervosa, he said. “In treatment, first the calorie intake must be increased. It must be done very gradually and carefully so a patient doesn’t experience the complications that can occur during refeeding. One of the main complications of refeeding is cardiac-related, including heart failure, which can be fatal,” Walsh said.

Farrokh said she will slowly increase her calorie intake — as small as 25 calories per day. “What people don’t understand is I can’t just eat a cheeseburger because it could kill me,” she said.


Rachael's story and pics inspired one girl with Bulimia to pull her head from the toilet and seek help.

Farrokh said she knows her time is limited and without the money and help she’s received, she will lose the battle.

Ref: http://ktla.com/2015/05/23/at-40-pounds-...ial-media/

[Duchess]

That pic is hard to look at. It gave me the willies.

[Carsman]

The starving people in Ethiopia and Bangladesh have more meat on their bones then this poor lost sole!

Most likely she will die, it's surprising her body has not already just "shut down"!