Anorexia Support

I don't suffer from anorexia but i think it is truly brave of you to get help, it must take a lot of strength and courage to be able to notice. I hope you have friends and family who are supporting you through this and if not there is always someone with your mental health team which will be there to help you recover such as a counsellor or your mental health nurse.
I know your recovery will be hard however it will be worth it and you will feel so much better about yourself as your seem like a strong person.
Much luck for the future

Hello

I am also recovering from anorexia at the moment, and I can understandable what you're saying about how sometimes people in the same situation can understand better.

There's an Eating Disorders thread here too which is a good place to get support, although it has been quiet recently.

If I can be of help though, I am happy to talk. I am fighting as hard as I can for recovery now. This illness has taken enough from me now, there is so much more to life than this.

Hi,

I appreciate your help and support, it's amazing how quickly I have had replies on here. I would love to talk to you if you don't mind and I hope that maybe I can help you too. I've looked through the thread, it's really interesting to see other people's stories and good that people are helping each other. I haven't posted anything yet but just reading makes you feel like there are other people in the same situation, and I think I might post at some point.

I completely agree that this has taken too much already and that life should be so much better than this. I hope you are ok, how are you doing at the moment?

I am 'recovering' from Anorexia (or that's what the doctor's have said anyway) after a few years of struggling with it. I would like to find someone else in a similar situation to me so that we can support each other in recovery, be there when you need someone to talk to and just generally help each other.

I don't know if there is anyone out there who would be willing to do this, but thanks anyway

I don't mind at all, feel free. I think sometimes it helps just to write everything down and get it out of your head.

I'm actually doing quite well at the moment! I was discharged from hospital in September and relapsed pretty quickly until about February of this year, but I have managed to regain the weight that I lost on my own and I'm feeling really positive about fighting the anorexia at the moment, which is a lovely feeling. I've got a brilliant treatment team which is really helpful.

How about you, how are you doing at the moment?

Exactly the same situation! Happy to help x

Thank you too, there are amazing people on here! How are you at the moment?

Im okay my situation was that i got ill in year 12 and was in recovery in year13. Going to uni was probably the best cure for my eating disorder - it made me relax and allowed me to escape a bit. The only hard part is that now i feel like im sliding a bit back into the depression that came with the anorexia. Whats your situation? Xx

That's what I was thinking, just a way to express things and get them out. Thank you

That sounds really good, I'm glad you're doing well! That is amazing that you have done it on your own and that you are feeling so positive about it, I think that's such an important part of recovery. How are you motivating yourself to keep going, like if you have a more difficult couple of days?

I'm ok at the moment, I've sort of been stuck for quite a long time but I feel like I am finally starting to move forward and figuring out how to do that. I have never been hospitalised, although it has been a threat hanging over me. What was it like, if you don't mind me asking? (don't feel like you have to talk about it if you don't want to or it could bring back bad memories) Did you find it made a difference?

It started for me in Year 11, I'm now finishing Year 12 and still trying to deal with it. Things have improved in my head and with what I eat, but I've not gained the weight yet. I am looking forward to uni, I feel like it will be a chance to start again with people that don't know me and hopefully that will let me recover better.

How was recovery for you? Did you want to recover? It's amazing that you managed to do it but I'm sorry about the depression. Do you know what triggered it again? How did you get through it before or did it never quite go?

Just ignore these questions if they are too personal, I'm just grateful for you talking to me

I've been doing a lot of writing to help me on difficult days. I write down the things I want to achieve, what I want to do in life, reasons to recover, things like that. Partly it's just getting into a routine too, I find that helpful.

Please, please do work with your treatment team so that hospital doesn't have to become an option for you. It definitely made a massive difference for me being in hospital, and it did really help, but it's so much better recovering in the community - you obviously lose all your freedom in hospital, all that control, and I hated being in supervision (where we had to sit down for an hour after every meal and 30 mins after snacks) so much and watched so much. I was lucky - I was in a Priory hospital (NHS funded) and it was a brilliant hospital with a specialist EDU and really helpful treatment. We had CBT, emotion regulation groups, nutrition groups, cooking group, art therapy, self-esteem groups, DBT, there was anger management groups, all sorts of things. So from that point of view it was really helpful. And it did help to just have no choice about eating, for them to just take control and help to relearn what's normal again.

Honestly i don't mind about the questions it helps to talk about it actually!

I think in all honestly no one wants to recover at first. When i got diagnosed my first reaction was relief, followed by absolutely hating it. I disliked everyone who was involved in my meal plans, my friends who would tell my parents when i wasn't eating and my parents because they were the ones who could control the eating.

After a while - quite a long time - i gradually started to get better.. I think that as you put on weight and the anti depressants both helped me to overcome it.

I don't know what triggers the depression again.. Probably just stress and stuff. It's fairly easy cope with but one day i would like to come off the tablets.

How about you? Recovery is the hardest part by far so i understand what you are going through. What uni are you thinking of going to? It's interesting how both our disorders started in sixth form - i think sixth form is too much pressure!

were you on the ABC diet? i was a few years back.... lost so much weight but recovered well, but idk i feel its creeping back in... even though my weight is healthy

Hi, I'm in a very similar situation... except I'm supposedly 'recovered' from my Anorexia now... but the truth is, I'm far from it, and I'm struggling quite a bit. I don't have therapy any more or anything, I wanted them to think I was recovered at the time because I just wanted everyone to quit poking their nose into my business and I felt like they didn't really understand me. What can you do, eh?

Writing seems a good way to deal with thoughts and things and sort of distract yourself. People have suggested having aims for the future of things you want to achieve and that is what you are working for. What kind of things do you have? The problem is that my eating disorder has never really stopped me doing anything, I have always managed to argue my way through things and this has left me feeling as though it can't be that serious if I can get away with all of these things. I feel like I have no idea if I am actually thin or not.

What you did in the hospital sounds really good, especially all of the different groups and things. I think that kind of thing would be really useful. Were there a lot of people there at the same time as you? I do agree it would be best for me to do it at home, but I was just interested to see what it was like. I know this is awful and I have never admitted it to anyone before but I think part of me feels like unless I have been hospitalised, I will never have been properly ill. I know that is definitely not something I want and I'm sorry if you find it upsetting or thoughtless. The sane part of my mind knows it would be a bad thing, but I think I just want something to measure the illness against because I don't see or believe what people tell me. I feel like this is one of the things stopping me fully committing to recovery