Anorexia Caused This Woman’s Heart To Stop For Up To Five Seconds While She Was Awake

By Liana Jacob

 

MEET THIS former-anorexic whose heart would sometimes STOP for up to FIVE SECONDS while she was kept awake all night because of her “scrawny bony body” that her mother compared to something from the WALKING DEAD.

 

University student, Simona Duffekova (20), from Trnava, Slovakia, was 17-years-old when she participated in a local race. During the race she fell off an obstacle and broke her leg.

 

Due to her injury, she couldn’t work out anymore and she feared she would ‘get fat’ and so decreased her calorie intake to under 900-calories a day which reduced her size to 6st 13Ib and smaller than a UK size six.

 

The compliments and comments she received about her weight loss spurred her into developing anorexia with the desire to feel loved.

 

However, within the next year she began to experience severe cardiac problems; her heart would sometimes stop for five seconds while she was asleep. Her mum, who told her she looked like the ‘walking dead’, showed her a picture of her back that terrified her.

 

They went to a doctor who diagnosed her with anorexia and recommended she visit a psychiatrist, but Simona insisted she recovered on her own.

 

She has since recovered fully, and her weight is now at a healthy 8st 11Ib and she is UK size eight.

 

“When I was seventeen-years-old, I went to the winter Spartan Race, fell off the obstacle badly and broke my leg. With a broken leg I couldn’t work out and I was afraid that I’d become fat,” Simona said.

 

“So, I started to eat ‘healthier’ and I decreased my calorie intake; after injury I continued with decreasing plus I worked out a lot.

 

“When my leg was finally healed after three months, I stepped on the scale and my bodyweight was lower than before the injury.

 

“At first, I was happy; I finally lost weight and I liked it, people gave me compliments and I was convinced that I finally ate and lived healthy.

 

“I was happy with it and decided to continue with my diet. I forbid myself to eat more than nine-hundred calories per day and worked out seven times a week.

 

“I lived in this mode for almost a year and then my mum noticed that I was starting to look like something from the walking dead. I didn’t realise how skinny I was.

 

“My mum took a picture of my back and I was terrified. We went to the doctor and she diagnosed me with Anorexia nervosa.

 

“The doctor recommended that I visit a psychiatrist, but I decided to help myself on my own and refused to go there. Here was when my recovery started.”

 

Simona was convinced to revamp her diet, including changing her perception of her body image and learned to love herself but says that it was a difficult journey.

 

She now consumes 2,120-calories a day while following a macro diet and goes to the gym five-times-a-week and practises yoga every day.

 

“It was hell at first. I was constantly tired and cold, had bruises and couldn’t sleep well because of my scrawny, bony body,” Simona said.

 

“I was losing my hair, I couldn’t concentrate and even though I’ve always been a good student; studying at high school became a big problem for me.

 

“The worst part was, while I was falling asleep, my heart sometimes stopped for a short time, like five seconds – it felt really bad.

 

“I’ve learnt how to love and accept myself, I’ve learnt a lot about nutrition and I’ve found out who my true friends are.

 

“I’ve finally found a balance in my life and I´ve learnt how to see something positive in any situation. Actually – thanks to overcoming anorexia I became a new, balanced, positive and much more confident person.

 

“I’m glad that I’m healthy and do the things I like – I don´t see myself ‘not good enough’ as I did before and now, I realise that we are all unique and somehow beautiful.

 

“I think that eating disorders mostly arise from a lack of self-love. Someone who is in the same situation should realise that there are some things about our body that we can’t change; shape and size of bones, for example, and we have to accept it.

 

“Shapes and sizes don’t determine our worth. We are all unique and beautiful in our own way and there’s no definition of ‘perfect’. We must realise that there’s more to life than calories and scales.

 

“There are people who love you and who would miss you if you were gone forever. Eating disorders have never made anyone feel good or happy. So, stay strong, never give up and remember – recovery is worth it.”