Anorexia Striking Increasing Number of Boys

Feb. 24, 2006 — -- Charlie Mileski, 19, had always been a good eater, even a few healthy pounds overweight. But when he was 14, his mother had open heart surgery. During her recovery, the doctor told the whole family it would have to eat healthier and exercise more. Charlie's anxiety triggered behaviors that soon developed into an eating disorder -- anorexia.

"They really stressed exercise," Charlie said. "And pretty much since that day forward, I started to run seven miles a day. And then I started counting calories and fiber and cholesterol, things like that."

Like other victims of anorexia, Charlie took his food and weight obsession to the extreme. Although approximately 10 percent of anorexics are male, they suffer from many of the same symptoms as females.

"I wouldn't eat things that didn't have a label," Charlie said. "So if you gave me an apple, I wouldn't eat that because it didn't have the exact nutritional value."

"He told me there was 24 calories in licking a postage stamp," his father, Joe Mileski, recalled.

The number of male eating disorder cases is on the rise, said Dr. Theodore Weltzin, director of eating disorder programs at Wisconsin's Rogers Memorial Hospital. The hospital has the only residential facility in the country for males. Charlie was treated there.

"In addition to concern about heart disease and health and obesity," Weltzin said, "males are getting really distorted messages about their bodies and going to extremes to try to deal with that."

The road to recovery for Charlie, who's attending college now, has been long and painful.

"It's just that when you look at TV shows and everyone that's successful has a six-pack," Charlie said.

Within a three-month period, Charlie, who's 5-foot-10, went from a healthy 150 pounds to a life-threatening 104 pounds. His mother, Pam, remembered his decline.

"I knew something was wrong with him," she said. "I was scared to death."

It was a terrible time for Charlie, too.