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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
MONDAY, APRIL 7, 2014
PAGE 7
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HEALTH FROM PAGE 1
When Cowger had her first manic episode, she didn't sleep for days on end. She'd spend all night reorganizing her book-shelf, first alphabetically, then by color, then by which she liked best, then by category.
She has since been diagnosed with bipolar II disorder.
"I feel wound up and frantic [during a manic episode], like I have to get everything done," she said.
During this episode, she started showing symptoms of a different eating disorder: bulimia.
At first, she would eat something and think, "That's good. I can have one more bite." Soon, she would be eating anything and everything she could as fast as she could.
She would realize what she had done, freak out and force herself to throw up.
Cowger said she would binge and purge 10 to 15 times a day, sometimes eating 3,000 to 4,000 calories in 20 minutes.
Bulimia was an addiction. Going from uncomfortably full to completely empty made her feel good.
She gained 20 to 30 pounds, putting her back into a normal weight range. She looked healthier.
"I felt a lot worse physically," she said.
Bulimia brought on digestive problems. She sometimes threw up blood. She had stomach and esophagus ulcers. The strain of vomiting would pop blood vessels in her face or eyes. Her teeth are still sensitive from all the stomach acid.
"I felt like I deserved to feel that bad," Cowger said.
When people started catching on, she had to be creative. If people were suspicious of her going to the bathroom, shed turn on music loudly in her room and empty a vomit bucket at night when everyone else was asleep. She'd skip school to hop between different fast food restaurants and purge at a Walmart public bathroom.
After her junior year of high school, Cowger dropped out.
"I just couldn't get myself to go," she said.
Cowger firmly believed she would be dead before the age of 25.
"I didn't think I was trying to kill myself, but I didn't care if I did," she said. "I didn't really care about anything."
around me more than myself." Cowger said. "I didn't want to upset them."
At 18, she was having a really bad night. She called a suicide hotline, which recommended she talk with her parents, who agreed to take her to a therapist.
Cowger fidgeted through her first therapy session. She looked at her hands, her lap — anywhere but directly at her therapist — because she was so ashamed.
"I did it for the people
Her therapist was calm and listened non-judgmentally. It was validating.
The people around her were excited Cowger was getting help, so she stuck with it. She went through intensive therapy and different medication combinations.
She received her GED diploma in December 2011 and applied to the University of Kansas.
For Cowger, getting better happened really fast.
"She got more vibrant," Hagan said. "She woke up again. She started being interested in more things and more able to do things."
Hagan, a junior from Topeka, has known Cowger since they were in fifth grade, but has seen her less when they went to different schools. As Cowger went through more therapy and got better and better, Hagan saw more of her. Cowger was emotionally available and Hagan slowly realized they could rely on each other.
They've been dating for a year and a half.
Hagan keeps Cowger accountable. When Cowger is tempted by self-destructive thoughts, she thinks, "If you do this, you're going to have to tell Rachel. Do you want to have this conversation?"
"Even after you get better and start doing well, it's still a struggle," Cowger said. "I still have struggles that people without mental illness don't have."
Cowger can't do all-nighters — it would take weeks to recover from a possibly triggered manic episode or to stay on her medicine. She always has to look at her classes' late policies because she can't guarantee that she won't lapse into a depressive stage.
When people are recovering from a physical illness such as the flu, people would ask them how they're feeling. People should feel comfortable asking how people recovering from a mental illness are feeling too, Cowger said.
She wants to reduce the stigma around mental illness.
"I think the best way to do that is to talk about it."
Edited by Tara Bryant
E-CIG FROM PAGE 2
rettes.
"There's no fire, there's no flame," he said. "It's just water that turns into vapor. If you smoke an electric cigarette you aren't harming the environment and you aren't harming anyone around you."
Alex Jaumann, a junior from Westminster, Colo., also uses e-cigarettes as an alternative when he can't smoke hookah.
When asked about the "no smoking" policy, which now includes e-cigarettes, Lee said he doesn't think the University strictly enforces the policy, but that if he were fined for using an e-cigarette he would fight it. While the University no longer allows the use of e-cigarettes in or around campus buildings, places such as The Burger Stand, 23rd Street Brewery and Salty Iguana allow e-cigarettes to be used.
Jaumann lived in the scholarship halls last year and said he would use e-cigarettes in his room and sometimes in the shared kitchen when cooking for himself.
"I find the policy a little excessive at this point since e-cigarettes don't leave a smell that lasts more than a second or two," he said.
"I don't completely disagree with the policy since it still allows for vaporizing in people's rooms on campus," Jaumann said.
To read the full policy on smoking please visit http://www.policy.ku.edu/provost/smoking-policy.
However, Jaumann does sympathize with people who feel uncomfortable around smoke and smoke-like vapor.
Edited by Amber Kasselman
GUNS FROM PAGE 2
four year exemption for universities to not allow firearms inside of its buildings, and the Kansas Board of Regents finished examining universities across the state of Kansas in January, making steps toward deciding what buildings on university campuses would require security measures.
Pettey said that the cost for these security measures will most likely also be a concern for universities.
"When you're talking about KU that has, like any other
The City of Lawrence's City Code currently does not have restrictions placed upon open carry, but it does have restrictions placed upon its concealed carry law, requiring that individuals be licensed under the Kansas Personal and Family Protection Act to carry a concealed weapon.
university, multiple buildings with — that have multiple entrances, it carries with it an exorbitant price tag that will cost them," Pettey said.
doesn't anticipate the change in the law to affect the City of Lawrence, but does think that it would be nice if the law was uniform across the entire state.
things. They are licensed, they are allowed to do it. There are other people that you need to be worried about."
One local gun retailer,
Shawn Kaylor, the owner of
S&S Tactical, says that he
"Open carry was already legal before this, and everywhere that open carry is legal, crime is not — people that carry guns don't go out and just shoot people," Kaylor said. "That's a very hard misconception that people have. Especially with concealed carry, they have proven that they have a background that they haven't done illegal
A call was placed to Lawrence Police Department's public affairs officer Sgt. Trent Mckinley on Friday to discuss how it will affect Lawrence, but McKinley was out of the office until Monday.
— Edited by Chelsea Mies
www.meadowbrookapartments.net Bob Billings Pkwy & Crestline Drive 785-842-4200