The Gravy Train

8/19/2011

Call it what you wish.
I call it Anorexia.

The two women I've known who "have it" live with an overwhelming sense of anxiety. One of them pretends too hard to care about food while making sure she doesn't put any in her mouth. Her ribs stick out of her back.

When the clavicle is showing to the degree that it is on Palin here, when you can find comments all over blogs saying she's emaciated, when Audrey's wise words rise up to remind us that this has been going on for some time, then I feel comfortable calling it like I see it.

And what I see is mental illness and poor health. This woman needs an intervention. And we don't need anyone with this reaction to stress anywhere near the White House. Common sense solutions aside, of course.

Someone, somewhere get her off the stage. Stat.

39 Comments

Original Lee

8/19/2011 08:48:36 am

If it is anorexia, then she needs help quickly. It might be another dieting-related illness or disorder, though. One of my roommates in college was anorexic. I didn't know it at the time she asked me if I wanted to be her roommate (unfortunately, the DA thought I did know). She messed with my head something awful.

Part of the reason I don't think it's anorexia is that her legs still look well-muscled. My roommate had the visible clavicle and the skinny, scrawny fingers and neck, and her hair was very frizzy and broke off easily. But she also had NO muscles to her legs at all. I think that's common in anorexia victims.

Just my two cents.

K.M.R

8/19/2011 09:07:18 am

The video was hard to watch without feeling the need to make myself throw up. And I don't have an eating disorder.

I agree Laura. I think it's highly possible that she does anorexia or buluimia or is in the early stages of the disease.
Not that it means much by way of proof, but I read somewhere that after all that hoopla about eating butter on a stick, she never did eat it.

Annibel

8/19/2011 09:27:05 am

Ever think it's cocaine? It would make perfect sense. Her ramblings, her energy and her figure. I read that rumor in Mercedes Playgboy, but it crossed my mind after when I was watching Steve Schmidt in an interview describe her antics and habits on the campaign. It just fits.

sunnyskies

8/19/2011 09:29:37 am

I believe she is narcissistic enough to starve herself if she thinks being thin will make her more glamorous. However, her personal attire and especially her hair looks just thrown together. She looked worn out on her back to back appearances on Fox yesterday.

daisydem

8/19/2011 09:39:00 am

Call it like you see it. Someone needs to, unfortunately, no one who could get her help or get her off the stage seems to want to. I don't think it is anorexia, but I work in the mental health field and I think she has a mental illness (and has for a long, long time) and I think in the last 3 years there has been an abuse of drugs (whether prescription or recreational ones). There may have been while she was governor, hence the noticeable absences (where the people in Juneau specifically were "Where's Sarah?" buttons and bumper stickers.

Laura Novak link

8/19/2011 09:40:45 am

KMR, you're right. They make a big stink about eating stuff, and then never do. And O. Lee, I hear what you're saying, but the person I know runs marathons and has very thick legs. No one can figure out how she hasn't had a heart attack by now from an electrolyte imbalance.

I believe that even on the campaign, we didn't see Palin get this thin. She is a stick figure wearing inappropriate clothing.

And as for drugs? Who knows? Maybe all these behaviors mimic one another or feed into them. Not sure.

LakeLucilleLoon

8/19/2011 09:45:23 am

Well, I guess we can all hope that she starves herself before the primaries?

LakeLucilleLoon

8/19/2011 09:48:49 am

To Original Lee:

This photo does not represent "well-muscled legs".

http://www.gossiprocks.com/forum/u-s-politics-issues/119676-sarah-palins-cellulite.html

Angiemomma

8/19/2011 09:52:53 am

OK, the Tundra Turd is the LAST person I would ever defend. However, as a runner myself, I recognize the results of too much running as an effort to respond to, and lesson the effects of, stress. I think she spent the spring and summer literally running herself into the ground in response to the emotional turmoil of accepting the reality of her plummeting poll numbers and subsequent shunning by the Republican establishment.

Ripley in CT

8/19/2011 10:23:10 am

Are there NO black people in Iowa? Jeebus... it's like a KKK commercial.

Of course, I watched it without sound, because I prefer my food inside my belly.

IMHO, I think she's abusing prescription drugs. She would deny this, of course. Watch for her to make a big stink about the release of medical records for "other" candidates before she potentially stops the charade and finally gives up when that won't work to keep hers secret. And a fake letter like she produced the night before the election will not satisfy America.

Lidia17

8/19/2011 10:26:00 am

@Laura, I think I told you about some of the strange eating behaviors of the mentally ill individuals that I knew. They essentially seem not to entirely "trust" food, and sometimes treated it as an alien substance, not because they wanted to lose weight in particular (they are both males, and have always been very skinny, the son with ribs showing…). I wouldn't regard them as classic anorexics, because their food issues have nothing to do with body image or imposed privation.

When I saw this photo of Palin, I knew her relationship with food was odd:
http://blogs.reuters.com/oddly-enough/files/2008/09/ice-cream-palin-300.jpg

Who eats like that? She doesn't even hold the cone normally…

I came across a picture of her eating pizza in a similarly unfamiliar way, meeting it tentatively with the arch of her tongue, but sadly I did not save that shot or its link.

While Palin may be concerned about appearing slim, her eating disorder may not be based solely on that regard.

Grace

8/19/2011 10:31:23 am

I'm convinced that she has mental health issues, with eating issues just one of the larger set of symptoms: poor personal hygiene, erratic behavior and speech, inappropriate choices in clothing, shoe sizes and hair; obvious gaps in preparedness; what appears to be a glaring inability to understand (or care?) how others perceive her bizarre behaviors; and the truly wild swings between glazed eyes/drooping lids/mumbling and barely controlled anger/jaw-clenching/racing speech - which to me says self medicated drug cycles of meth and/or coke on the way up and anti-anxiety, Oxy or downers to take the rage edge off. Both would screw up your nutrition, sleep and ability to put yourself together for even sporadic public appearances.

I also believe some of her appearance is the result of menopause or at the very least, peri-menopause, which may exacerbate the behavioral and decision-making issues she's apparently had lifelong.

What I'm saying is she's mentally ill, she's undergoing some serious hormonal changes, and the drugs are accelerating a spiral.

Grace

8/19/2011 10:43:19 am

Shorter version:

lifelong mental health issues (for example bipolar disorder) + co-morbid NPD (narcissistic personality disorder) + a dysfunctional family system of enablers/victims + prolonged self-medication (drugs) - coping skills or resources + sustained stress + menopause changes = the pathetic (if vicious and toxic) mess we now see

Viola-Alex

8/19/2011 11:35:28 am

I don't see the Anorexia in this fluff piece, although I've seen signs of it in still photos.

What I'm struck by in the commercial is how oddly disengaged from reality it is, how many nationalities there are in Iowa, whether those news people allowed their images to be used in a political commercial, and by the use of the word "passion." What a strange word to focus on. 3 of the 5 definitions in my dictionary mention sexual desire. OOOPs. of course I forgot, the Passion of Christ.

But the whole thing is just strange.

Kinda reminds me alot of my next door neighbors who run a crack or meth house. When I mentioned to my grown son that the inhabitants often work on their old beat up car at 4 am, he said, "Mom, they're crackheads. Drug addicts don't do anything normal. They've lost the ability to know what normal is."

I'm betting crackhead.

FEDUP!!!

8/19/2011 11:38:20 am

I agree with the others: Mental health issues, which get more pronounced from her abusing Red Bull and other diet drinks; add that on top of the alleged lipo-dissolve just before her last one-month long 'pregnancy'..., some uppers and downers (self medicated, or medicated by someone who does not see her whole health picture... You have yourself the mean Quitter Queen of Wasilla!

emrysa

8/19/2011 11:38:38 am

call it like you see it laura. and thanks for doing so.

I have said for a long while that she needs an intervention because she's absolutely crazy. I cannot believe that the people in her family have let her go on like this for so long. it speaks volumes about her family. I guess the $$ they get from her far outweighs any love for a family member who clearly needs medical help. her family is as messed up as she is.

emrysa

8/19/2011 11:42:32 am

grace, I think you have nailed it.

crystalwolfakacaligrl

8/19/2011 12:02:01 pm

Remember when she lashed out a "Ashley Judd" and the "Teeny-tiny" starlets?
Well, not Ashley but "Teeny-tiny" like LiLo and Paris use Adderall(amphetamine salts/legal speed) for ugh... "ADD"...
LiLo even graduated up to Meth!
I'm sure Palin has a "Dr. Feelgood"? Don't you think? After someone had to cover for her faked pregnancy...just sayin'!

Laura Novak link

8/19/2011 12:41:25 pm

That kind of criticism of the starlets could easily have been projection. We all know she's an expert at that.

Yes Grace, I agree with emrysa...it does seem to be a combination of so many things minus critical things that should be in place.

Dr. Feelgoods have existed in society for ages. Why wouldn't she have one if she needed to.

And co-morbidity is the key most likely. These situations don't exist alone. Nor is this something unusual for her. I just thought it was so pronounced in Iowa. And without combing through photos, this video brought it home.

The family is obviously willing to look the other way to keep the gravy train rolling. If not, they would have stopped this ill woman from further scrutiny and embarrassment a long time ago.

anonfornow

8/19/2011 01:07:28 pm

We have multiple, on the record reports of those who knew her during her time as governor saying she never ate but consumed only skinny lattes and Red Bull. We have the GOP staffers saying she drank only diet Dr. Pepper and never ate. People have seen her knocking back Bailey's on a morning flight. There are rumors of addictions to prescription meds. The post by Audrey that you linked to showed a bulimic with swollen knuckles.

She lost serious weight during the 08 election but still looked good. Then she kept losing, to the point she was obviously unhealthy. After she quit, she put some weight back on. Now she's lost more than ever. But I don't see her as someone who is over-exercising; in fact, I don't think she has run or exercised for at least five years. She does not look the least toned. She is thin because she doesn't eat and abuses something. Her family and those close to her know this. If they really loved her, they'd get her help.

PalinHypocrisyOverload

8/19/2011 01:22:05 pm

I watched the video without any sound, because her voice makes me cringe, however I agree that she looks terrible. I was watching her body and had flashbacks of my grandfather who weighed less than 90 lbs and couldn't walk 5 feet without having to stop and catch his breath, shortly before he died of lung cancer which spread throughout his entire body. She looks incredibly frail, definitely significantly underweight and honestly like a cancer patient. I've never had any friends who suffered from eating disorders, so I have no personal reference point, but there is definitely something wrong with SP. My friends and I were athletes and while most of us were small, I was tiny, 95 lbs and 5'6, when I started college, but had muscles and while I had no body fat, I never looked frail, just skinny.

While we've all known for a long time that she is almost definitely mentally unstable, I think this is just more proof of that. I wouldn't be surprised at all to discover she was abusing drugs, I don't think there's any doubt she's on some sort of prescription for mental health issues. Her taking cocaine or pretty much any other drug would actually explain a lot, in my opinion. However I think the frailty of her body just proves more than ever, how unstable she is and really what pressure is she under right now, that isn't her own doing. She could stay out of the media spotlight and be set financially for the rest of her life, whereas the President is dealing with a tremendous amount of life or death issues that will affect the entire world and he looks much better physically, than someone who doesn't have a full time job.

How could anyone trust her to take care of America, when she clearly can't even take care of herself, let alone her family, which is her only responsibility right now?

Ivyfree

8/19/2011 01:24:29 pm

She's spent years in the Meth Capital of Alaska, they spent all kinds of money on stuff despite the fact that their income wouldn't appear to support their lifestyle- I'm guessing, somehow, meth. I think she started it to control her weight and then she used it to control her mood swings and then she just used it. IMO, obviously.

They just spent a LOT of money on a lakefront house and snow machines and vacation properties etc- where did the money come from?

8/19/2011 02:03:05 pm

Interesting to watch with the sound off - flight of ideas.
It has been apparent for some time that Sarah Palin is mentally ill. Makeup smearing incoherent babbling stories from the 2008 campaign said it all, and things have certainly gone downhill from there.
Kind of makes the idea of Sarah Palin shoving a pillow up her shirt to fake a pregnancy feasible, doesn't it?

FrostyAK

8/19/2011 02:06:56 pm

For a long time I have thought she was abusing drugs. Both illegal drugs and prescription drugs are widely and easily available in the "meth capitol of Alaska". Street drugs could easily be obtained via the family.

There is an independent pharmacist in town, whose father was a pill pushing doctor. You used to be able to get just about anything you wanted from him (and could from his{now deceased}father as well). For the right price. Don't know if he's been made to toe the line or not.

Take drug abuse and mental illness, add a large dollup of stress a dash of "mental pause" - right there you have a recipe for the current disaster she presents.

That mess might have been sitting in the White House, thanks to an horny and overly ambitious old man.

I just can't muster up any sympathy for her. Seems neither can her 'family'.

Grace

8/19/2011 02:37:12 pm

Forgot to mention in my earlier posts: I'm not a professional; however I have benefitted from counseling and believe I recognize the familiar: my mother was remarkably similar to Sarah, and also (no surprise) the man I married (and divorced; now incarcerated for indecency with a child, but that's another, albeit related, story) so please understand my opinion in that context. Sigh. I mourn for her children.

kelgal

8/19/2011 03:53:40 pm

Trying to stop a family member who is addicted and/or mentally ill from acting out is often times impossible!

As much as I can't stand SP or her grifting family members, I'm not quite ready to attribute her behavior to NONE of her family or friends being willing to confront her. I am sure there are many in her orbit who benefit from enabling her because they want to keep the peace or because of their own greed or fear. But it doesn't mean that no one is currently or has tried to convince her that she is crazazzy!!!! If those friends/family exist - good luck!

There is a reason mental health professionals talk about patients having to hit "rock bottom" before they are open to help.

Hopefully, for everyones' sake she will hit that point soon. And because she brings out the most vicious and vile part of me….I hope that her particular "bottom" is super duper pointy and painful and spectacularly public.

silver

8/19/2011 04:05:06 pm

I agree with Grace that it's a combo of issues that lead Palin to look and behave as she does. Menopause makes it worse and her actions will become more bizarre. She probably doesn't sleep much and when she does it's most likely a drugged sleep, not a natural one.

It's very difficult to get help for a family member when they're like this. They can be secretive and very cunning, they can fool friends and doctors so they may not see a serious problem. Enablers within the circle will hesitate working with anyone who wishes to intervene and it can become extremely nasty. Then when things spiral out of control they make excuses because the mental person always plays the victim role and blames others for her breakdowns.

They have amazing endurance while destroying others around them, they can become so vindictive that lives can be in danger, businesses can be destroyed, relationships can be broken, but unless a crime is committed there's not much that can be done about it. If money is involved there are always those who will stay loyal in hopes of an inheritance, no matter how badly they're treated.

I seriously tried to help my relative for decades when she went through these cycles and finally had to walk away for the sake of my own health after several other family members who tried to assist went to an early grave because of her actions. She's still going strong.

VeryPolitik

8/19/2011 09:07:45 pm

Found a subliminal message in the latest SarahPac Iowa video. LOL!

http://t.co/uGvURCh

aew

8/19/2011 10:20:59 pm

It occurs to me that the reason her family never stopped her is because they literally may not see anything abnormal in it. If she's been this way for a long, long time, in addition to slowly regressing, those who see her on a day to day basis might not see the slide.

Wasilla isn't exactly the hotbed of sophistication, even for Alaska. Remember her being over the moon when Ivana Trump was coming up there.

Having said that, I'm still going with the meth & Red Bull diet.

Lidia17

8/19/2011 10:40:05 pm

@Laura, the one to "step in" would obviously be Todd (because Creepy Chuck looks to be an outright nutter). Perhaps not a great intellect, he certainly seems the most functional in terms of getting things done. But what he has "done" is to protect Sarah and to smooth things over for her, playing intermediary (remember his calling her campaign office each morning with the weather report on Sarah?). As he said to McCain's staff, "ya just gotta let her go through [her tantrum]".

I don't think people like this are controllable, nor can they be convinced to seek help on their own. I actually think Todd has tried and failed to reason with her, and may even have taken her to get help (legal meds?). But by now he is on autopilot, just going with the flow when necessary, and staying out of her way when that's the more convenient strategy. This is what I have seen in the personality-disordered household I have witnessed: at a certain point the 'sane' ones quit confronting the problem behavior and just go into damage-control mode. Because these people can't be cured, and the problem behavior is not going to go away… You either work around it, or you go "no contact".

The only way to have shielded Sarah from scrutiny and embarrassment would have been to institutionalize her, and that would be (rightly) impossible to do unless she represented a real physical danger to herself or others.

daisydem

8/20/2011 12:44:07 am

Being a child of the 1950's and a big fan of his : we saw this happen with Elvis. He had a doctor on staff, his personal physician who aided and abetted his use of prescription meds to the point of death. And Elvis's appearance changed, in his case he gained excessive weight, partly due to his genetic makeup and partly because I think he was an overeater of foods not good for him, but his hair changed too and looked greasy and unkempt. So it happens, right under the eyes of a family, or a band, or an audience. Someone needs to stop Sarah.

I have a young neighbor who was on Meth. Someone the parents managed to get her help to get off of it during her pregnancy and she has a beautiful, healthy child. She divorced and moved in with them, so I see her frequently. For a couple of years now her hair was beautiful again: looked healthy. She wa slim but not skinny. And she moved like she had energy. I saw her this past week and her hair looks stringy and not shiny. She is so skinny. Her waist looked so very small as to almost be non-existent. I am hoping I am wrong, but I think she may be back on drugs. I really hope I am wrong.

I, along with everyone on these blogs I am sure, have wondered why Sarah wears so many wigs. She had such beautiful hair or at least it seemed she did. We have always know she wore bumpits to make the hair fuller or longer especially when she would pull it up, but it all looked natural; now you never know what weird wig is going to be perched on her head. That has to be to hide something - a lack of hygiene, or thinning hair from overuse of drugs.

Laura Novak link

8/20/2011 12:46:28 am

Kelgal you cracked me up with your super duper pointy and painful splat all over wish for Palin's exit from the political stage. I LOLed over that one.

Silver, Lidia, I think you and others are right: you go along to get along with people like this. Their wrath is so much worse than your advice or attempt at help, everyone learns to live with it or duck from the consequences. And now of course the money is so good!

Frosty, I love that: "mental pause" Must be what I'm heading for with this brain fog!

You know, I ran two marathons ten years ago and ate about 3,000 calories a day to keep up with the training. Now I swim - and I eat. I enjoy food. Everyone enjoys food. When you're not eating, it's not because you can't find something you like to eat. It's b/c something chemical (manufactured) is either tamping down your appetite or you're too anxious and/or depressed. Chemicals (brain) of a natural variety.

Just what we need, a skeletal candidate with size zero hips and bones sticking out of her neck. Ugh. Yeah, I'd like to put my faith in that.

Jeanabella

8/20/2011 02:10:02 am

Just read the comments from Audrey's post with the link you gave. The time of the post is June of 2009.
Most of the comments are regarding Sarahs' emaciated look, how thin she is, how her hands look skeletal and they do! Each commenter is making a guess as to why she is so stressed, not eating, loosing weight, dressing inappropriately, and more. My suspicion is, after reading IM blog & others about Shawn Christy being arrested, that Sarah was dealing with something involving Christy and it wasn't good. Whether it was the story the Christys have put forward, or a variation of it, they claim it forced her to resign in July of '09. They mention Willow & other details. I went to IM to read some of these items in the April 2011 post Gryphen wrote & comments. If there is any validity to the Christy story, it would make sense for photos of Sarah to show a very stressed person.

Viola-Alex

8/20/2011 02:29:49 am

As Sarah withers away, look at Piper. Poor little thing, she's the canary in the coal mine. She's bulking up. Her face has lost that sweet girly excitement. She looks alternately sad and churlish. Her hair is often scraped back in a hasty ponytail. When one family member is addicted (to attention, drugs) the whole family exhibits coping symptoms, behavioral and physical.

I'm no psychologist. But I can see what's just plain sad. Kudos to you, Laura, for seeing it like a woman. That's what we're good for and we might as well use it.

OverMountainMan

8/20/2011 02:39:34 am

Can't you people see it ?? The drastic weight shifts, The almost constant licking of the lips and other mouthy movements, The eyes that sometime have direction control problems, The yearning to be surrounded by only the smallest of groups and never for too long, The crazy shit that pours out of her mouth, her never ending facial shifts, Her eratic behavior, Sarah Palin is doing Meth, She controls it somewhat but alot of people do, Somebody needs to run a drug dog through her bus !!

karenw729

8/20/2011 03:05:47 am

I think she definitely has an eating disorder, but don't know how severe it is. She has certainly lost a lot of weight recently. I think it's due to a combination of inability to handle stress and a fixation with her appearance and wanting to look like a Hollywood celebrity. Bristol is going through the same thing. Her legs are not well muscled. Like many other things she exaggerates her running. She does not have the legs of a runner (I know because I am a 40-something year old mom who runs and the thighs and calves are unmistakable). Just another symptom of her inability to lead this country. Thank you for presenting this topic in a tasteful and professional manner.

nancydrew

8/20/2011 07:52:05 am

I spent years working in the ballet world and saw lots of weight control and body image issues up close. These of course were among women (mostly women) much younger than Sarah Palin, but I see familiar signs.

The true anorectics I remember were people who were working against their natural body type. Thus the fluctuations were noticeable, And I think that's what we're seeing here. Sarah was not prior to her gaining national notoriety what anyone would call noticeably thin. Yet so much of her fame and fortune has now been hooked to her image. And she dieted herself into that image (and that RNC wardrobe). A year ago she was at the Belmont in the inappropriate t-shirt with the "look at my boobs" everyone poses. Now she's in Iowa not hiding the missing boobs. That tells you something about her mental state and problems with body image.

Dancers can be out of a job or a role (unbelievable -- but no secret) for a modest weight gain. So they smoke too much, drink lots of diet soda and hide their struggle. Usually, because they're young and resilient, no permanent damage is done. And when they stop dancing -- careers are often fairly short, with ten to fifteen years being a pretty good run -- they go back to more healthy relationships with their food. Sarah's still got too much hinging on how she "thinks" she looks and I suspect her health is compromised. She needs an intervention. Also what I learned was that the people most vulnerable to anorexia, really have "control" issues. I think we can safely assume that's the case with her.

Original Lee

8/22/2011 12:50:13 am

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6KYW-ejpeX4/TkeptH6nJZI/AAAAAAAAAtY/rZ-r4l4a_CU/s1600/sp+short+skirt+reagan+house+2.jpg

This photo is what I was thinking of when I referred to "well-muscled" legs. I do not think Sarah is exercising or running very much. My roommate's legs looked like noodles - no discernable muscles at all, just skin over bones.

So that is what I was mentally comparing when I wrote last week. I hope this helps.

Lilly lily

9/2/2011 01:25:45 am

Hasn't Gryphen posted that S.P. doesn't have the tone in her legs of any runner he has ever seen?

I see her legs as flabby.

While I don't run, loads of women in my area, run, walk, ride a bike or exercise, and they all have calf and thigh muscles to show for it. (ALL of them.)

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