Eating Disorders and life with one - Discussions, Opinions, Advice.

This is just a general question because it's something I've been mulling over for a while. Have any of you noticed any other 'addictions'? I've always thought EDs were kind of like an addiction. I only ask because since recovering from anorexia, I had a stint with alcoholism and sex addiction. I was just wondering because I feel like it's strange -- 3 addictions, 1 person. Anyone else felt they have addictive tendencies towards stuff? x

That’s something I often muse Jazzy! I personally have off-and-on problems with alcohol (I’m currently sat in my bedroom and I can count 5 empty litre bottles of vodka on my desk, one on the go, and I know there are at least 3 other empties in my drawer. These haven’t been collating for long!), as well as addictions to certain prescription meds and cocaine. While I don’t attribute these problems alongside the anorexia wholly to the addictive personality I clearly have, I certainly think it has played a huge contributory role.

Whiney rant: My brother’s girlfriend is lovely but BY GUM is she irritating. I recently found out she also had anorexia at some point (I don’t know the full details because my mum told me from pub-gossip she’d heard), and I guess there are still some issues there. I’m just going to note these down because I need to get them off my bosoms, apologies if I come across as a bitchy brat;

- Although slim, she seems to eat a hell of a lot and is constantly saying she’s hungry.
- Complains we don’t have any nice food at our house (which is tosh, we have loads of delicious things), will go on a hunt for food to eat and open things/cook things and then leave most of it. Wasteful!
- Rifles through our kitchen without asking, and eats ‘my’ food without asking. This is possibly the most irritating, for example a few days ago during pudding-time I went to get a specific yoghurt I’d been saving (yes I am sad) to find she’d thieved it. Maintaining calm and poise, I thought I’d settle for a couple of penguin bars since there was a full pack in the cupboard last time I checked...NOPE, these were also gone. Still being the epitome of casual, I got a bowl out for some cereal since no one would dare take that away from me. JESUS CHRIST SHE’D EATEN THAT TOO! Dark times.
- Is always asking me what size I am, how much I weigh, how tall am I, how big is my waist, what bra size..then bizarrely claims to be the same when she is definitely nowhere near (for one thing she has huge knockers which I clearly do not).
- Constantly asks what I’m going to eat, or when I’m going to eat it, or what I ate earlier like a diet-obsessed police dog. Hush will you!
- Additionally, seems to magically appear whenever I'm eating or getting food to have a snoop.
- Claims she ‘doesn’t eat Mcdonalds/chocolate/that brand of pasta’, but then proceeds to eat it anyway.

Sorry, that had to come out. It’s either that or give her a good bitch-slapping (jokes, I’m not violent).

maybe its not a case of one person, many addictions, but more a 'swap one addiction for something else' type thing. I personally find i either cut, or i starve, i don't do both at the same time.

I agree about addictions. I think many of us have addictive personalities, or seem to. It's like a perfectionist thing, we don't go HALF into things. It's the whole hog. Go hard or go home. We dieted..and we were good at it. Too good at it. Our commitment was our eventual downfall. However, there are POSITIVE addictions. If I'm swapping my anorexia, I wanna swap it for something good.

I wanna be addicted to...smiling

Of course. I mean, I think I generally have an addictive thing going on. Ironically, I was overweight before I was anorexic and I was addicted to eating out, then not eating, then alcohol and sex. I was just wondering if perhaps anorexia can be connected to addictive personalities/inclinations, as sort of a personal research thing to help with my eating disorder group at uni. I don't know about anyone else here, but I kind of want to have an explanation for what happened to me.

As for your bro's girlfriend, she sounds awful. Does she know your problems? She is being really inconsiderate. Perhaps you could talk to your brother and then ask if he could perhaps talk to her about how her behaviour is making you feel and that it's only making you feel worse. x

Rubix, I hate the patronising "Oh, go you, well done, yay, go girl" nonsense that we as sufferers are constantly fed.

But your understanding and realisation of your issues and bulletpointing the underlying issues is truly commendable and you should be proud. Remember, there are multiple BIG steps to conquering an ED (well, this is how it happened in my case):

FIRST STEP: REALISATION - What you are doing is abnormal.
SECOND STEP: ACCEPTANCE - You have a problem.
THIRD STEP: UNDERSTANDING - You are starting to understand the underlying issues as to why you have these behaviours.
FOURTH STEP: FIGHTING - Even if you are struggling desperately to fight your behaviours and failing, you are TRYING.
FIFTH STEP: UTILISING - You start to realise the rigid, compulsive behaviours can be used to your advantage; Anorexics in particular are guilty of knowing WAY too much. Use that knowledge.
SIXTH STEP: AWARENESS - As you fight, you notice the pitfalls that lead to relapse... and purposefully avoid them.


Even if you've only ticked one of these six boxes, you should really be giving yourself a big pat on the back. Be proud. You are taking the CORRECT steps.