Drunkorexia Explained: What is Drunkorexia? Who is at Risk for Drunkorexia?

Jenny and her two room mates wake up with massive hangovers late Sunday morning. Her room mates head for the kitchen, they laugh at the mess of soggy french fries and burnt pizza leftover from 3:00AM, then scour for ramen noodles, bagels and other idiosyncratic hangover food. Jenny stays in bed.

Later, feeling better, Jenny's roommates decide to go out for a late lunch. They invite Jenny, but she won't go. She doesn't have enough money to go out and she'll just eat at home, she says.

When the girls get home from lunch, Jenny isn't there. Even though she "didn't have enough money for lunch", she went out to the liquor store for a pint of vodka.

Jenny will come home to drink the vodka with diet Sprite while typing an e-mail to her Psychology professor explaining that she won't make it to Monday's class. Her grandma is sick; her car broke down; she got stuck in a snowstorm--whichever excuse she hasn't used for this class yet.

Once the e-mail is sent and the vodka is gone, Jenny will head to the only bar within walking distance that stays open late on Sunday nights. Her room mates have class in the morning, so they decline her invitation to party, just like they decline it every Sunday... and Monday... and Tuesday.

Jenny has drunkorexia.

Drunkorexia is exactly what it sounds like. It's the simultaneous display of alcoholic and anorexic behavior patterns. The condition is, however, nowhere near as funny as it may sound at first.

"Drunkorexia?"

It sounds like something from a Saturday Night Live skit or a new Seth Rogan script. But the domain for discussions about the drunkorexic phenomenon isn't a Hollywood writers room. The health centers, doctor's offices, and campus administrative facilities of modern day America are where the very serious discussions of drunkorexia are taking place.

Drunkorexia began as a funny word used by entertainment bloggers to describe the self-destructive behavior patterns of Hollywood celebrities like Lindsay Lohan and Nicole Richie. They're always partying and they're really skinny... they're drunkorexic, get it? Let me be the first to say, "LOL."