When life gets the best of them, most people turn to drugs and alcohol. But for 2004 Leo Junior-Senior High School grad Shelby Norris, feeling out of control, instead led herself to an eating disorder during her freshman year at college.

Norris, 24, describing the factors that triggered anorexia nervosa, said, “It was the perfect storm for me”. It is a combination of different psychological and biological conditions in which the person has a relentless desire to control food intake and body weight. An urge for losing weight through restricting food occurs, no matter how thin one gets. Over exercising often goes hand-in-hand with food restriction.

According to the Alliance for Eating Disorders Awareness, about 90 percent of people who develop an eating disorder are women between ages 12 and 25, with nearly one in five college-age women having either anorexia or bulimia. Bulimia is another type of disorder in which the individual overeats, and then self-induces vomiting in a binge-purge cycle.

“I always wanted to be perfect. I graduated third in my class (at Leo),” Norris said. “I’m a type-A person, always setting and achieving goals”.

“People in my church thought I was this perfect example of what other kids could look up to”.

Norris is healthy again now and she hopes that by telling her story, she can tell others not to suffer the same kind of misunderstanding that put her in such a dangerous situation.