Eating Disorders Hospitalization

Written by HealthyPlace.com Staff Writer

online conference transcript

Bob M is the moderator.

BEGINNING

Bob M: Our topic tonight is Eating Disorders Hospitalization. We have two sets of guests, with two different perspectives on it. Our first guests are Rick and Donna Huddleston. They are from South Carolina. They have a 13 year old daughter named Sarah, who besides having other medical problems, suffers from a severe eating disorder. During a really difficult period for them, they put up a website and told Sarah's story. There were periodic updates on what was happening. I'm going to start by having Rick and Donna tell us a bit about Sarah's health situation and then we'll get into how difficult it was to get her the proper treatment. Good Evening Rick and Donna. Welcome to the Concerned Counseling Website. I know it's been very difficult for you, as well as Sarah, over these last few months. Can you share with us a bit about Sarah's condition and her eating disorder?

Donna Huddleston: Sarah developed an eating disorder at age 12. It started when she went through a huge surge of hormones. She did not want all the changes that were happening i.e.: curves. She started by watching her diet first. Then she found out she had to have emergency surgery for scoliosis (the result of rapid growth + brittle bone disease). She was told she could not exercise for a year. After surgery she started watching her fat intake, which progressed on to no fat, to angry outbursts about food. Ultimately, that resulted in her hospitalization for the rage. They put her on Zyprexa, a new drug at the time. It is now known it should not be given to those with an eating disorder. She flipped into full blown bulimia. She was taking in 6000+ calories a day. The doctors got her off the Zyprexa, and stable for a bit, but then Sarah proceeded back into the bulimia. Finally, she ended up in the hospital again with 2.0 potassium. It was decided by all that residential treatment was needed. We have no programs avail here in South Carolina. She is now in California at the Montecatini Treatment Center.

Bob M: I want to add here, that Sarah was very ill and desperately in need of treatment for her eating disorder. You had a great deal of trouble getting her hospitalized. Please tell us about that. I think it's very important for many people here to realize how badly you wanted to get Sarah help.

Rick Huddleston: Sarah's problems with eating are very complex, as most are, and here in Columbia, the only type of treatment is what we consider "old typical". They are only there to stabilize, and release. Even the local "experts" at Charter Rivers Hospital, were unprepared, and incapable of helping. They misdiagnosed her, would not listen to us (marking us as problem parents). This was, in part, due to Sarah's behavior. She would never act out anywhere but home, and mostly direct her anger at Donna. After 3-4 hospitalizations, we knew we were in trouble, and had to look elsewhere. Typical treatment here was a "forced" meal (sometimes catered by a food preparation service), full of grease, and not very balanced, followed by a forced sitting at the nurses station for 1 to 2 hours. This would be the extent, with the exception of medications, and counseling. But these groups were mostly comprised of kids with serious drug, alcohol, or ones having been raped or abused. Obviously, this was not a good place for a young girl with no self image and feeling totally out of control of her life.

Bob M: And, so to clarify, she was not at an eating disorders specialty treatment center at this point. Please continue Rick.

Rick Huddleston: True Bob. But in South Carolina there are NO specialty centers that really understand and can treat ED. We did find the local expert in Charleston. He looked at Sarah, charted her weight, and said "she is ok".

Bob M: I understand. And, as many in previous audiences for our e.d. conferences mention, there are many places across America, in small and midsize towns, that don't have eating disorders treatment centers, or even specialists, for eating disorders. So what did you do Donna?

Donna Huddleston: Most of the residential facilities we found would not admit teens, or only had an out-patient program wherever the facility was located. That would involve us moving, which we could not do. We contacted Remuda Ranch. Our insurance would pay in full, but they wanted $71,000 up-front, in cash, "then the insurance can reimburse you", I was told. We then located a place called Montecatini in Carlsbad CA. It is usually minimum of 8 months+ for residential, in-patient, treatment.

Bob M: I don't want to gloss over this...you got to Remuda and they asked you for $71,000 cash. Were you expecting that? And what did you do?

Donna Huddleston: No! I was NOT expecting that! We had to go through a fine toothed comb investigation of our finances. They knew we could not afford it out-of-pocket. Even with letters to Remuda from the insurance companies, they asked for the money up-front. I asked if everyone paid this way and I was told "Yes". I later found out they are a for-profit facility. I told them I could not do this and then moved on. We had to get Sarah into the right place quickly. At 5'4" she was down to 88 pounds.

Bob M: If you are just joining us, our guests are Rick and Donna Huddleston. We are talking about the ordeal they had to go through to get their now 13.5 year old daughter, Sarah, proper in-patient treatment for her eating disorder. I'm Bob McMillan, the moderator. Just thought I'd introduce myself because there are some new people in the audience tonight. I want to welcome everyone to our site. I hope you'll get some useful information from tonight's conference.

Rick Huddleston: We did NOT expect to be told to pay up front! Remuda told us to mortgage the house, borrow from relatives, take a loan, drain retirement, etc. All that, even with letters from our insurance stating they would pay.

Donna Huddleston: They also asked for the names, addresses and phone number of relatives so they could check with them about helping with payment.

Rick Huddleston: In all, we spent around 3 months tracking down every lead for long-term residential eating disorders treatment we could find.