Sandy Fertman

About the author: Sandy Fertman contributes to Teen Magazine, from which this article is taken.

The author relates the story of an anonymous recovered bulimic whom she calls Kelly. Kelly's bout with bulimia started when she was a teen. Eating, bingeing, and disgorging were her ways of compensating for her lack of self-esteem. On one particular occasion, she suffered a massive loss of body liquid, and as a result Kelly had a heart attack. After hospitalization, Kelly started to seek professional help. However, it was not until her third heart attack that she decided finally to stop. Looking back to the traumatic years, Kelly now says battling bulimia is the bravest thing she has ever done.

You'd think Kelly* had it all. She's pretty, outgoing and smart. Who'd guess that all through high school...