A diagnosis that takes five years to arrive
Eating disorders (ED) in men continue to be a reality hidden in plain sight in Mexico. The Ministry of Health has just issued a warning that hurts: the diagnosis can be delayed up to five years.
The reason? An explosive mix of social stigmas and medical care that seems to wear gender blinders.
When the system does not see what is in front of it
The academic José Eduardo Otáñez Ludick explains it bluntly:
“many men do not seek medical help or do so when the problem is already severe”
But here’s the detail that infuriates: even when they finally cross the door of the office, they encounter professionals who minimize their symptoms. As if TCAs were an exclusive club where men do not have membership.
The story of Carlos Eduardo Graterol is the manual for this failure. Years of normalizing prolonged fasts, binge eating, and an obsession with his physique. He went through several specialists before, at 28, someone connected the dots. Five years lost in a medical labyrinth.
We talk about anorexia, bulimia, binge eating disorder. But also those lesser-known ghosts such as orthorexia or vigorexia. The consequences are not a game: digestive problems, heart problems, depression, anxiety and that silent risk that no one wants to name.
Official figures show a lower prevalence in men. Experts laugh bitterly at those numbers. They call it “under-registration,” but it sounds more like institutionalized neglect.
As long as the system continues to view EDs with rose-colored glasses, men will continue to suffer in silence. And the clock will keep ticking.
