Saying farewell to the disordered eater
January 23, 2009 by angelique
Filed under Women's Health
At what point does the non-disordered eater whose life is affected by a disordered eater finally have to say “Enough is Enough”?
I have been fortunate enough that no ever gave me the ultimatum “It’s the eating disorder or me… your choice.” However, I know this happens within many friendships, relationships, marriages and even families.
When does the person who cannot understand the desire behind withholding nourishment, ingesting massive quantities of food (only to purge it or starve it out later) or taking laxatives night and day simply shut down? When does he or she say farewell?
Have you ever lost a friend, family member or significant other to your eating disorder? Was it worth it?
I’ve lost nearly everything from my job, education, friends, and in a sense my family. Its something people don’t really understand unless they’re “one of us”. I wouldn’t blame anyone but myself for my life falling apart. If I were to take myself out of the equatoin and put someone else I’d loove to believe I’d fight for them but after a while it would just seem pointless. As for my job and education that was due to my health becoming soo poor I was on bed rest or hospitalized for months so neither were a possiblity. It sad when for so long I lived with my anorexia and succeeded just to fall down so hard and fail. As for my friends and family, I was never close to my family other than my little brother who was my best friend but as I’ve become sicker I’ve pulled away from the one person who meant everything to me. Then my friends, they got in the way of ED. He doesn’t like friends… they’d try to occupy the time when I should be at the gym. So I followed EDs directions and cut off all ties with those who were once my “friends”. But in all reality I think people just liked being my friend because I was sick and it gave them attention, not because they truly liked who I was. Life has become incredibly boring – but i’ve learned a lot about people through my eating disorder so I take that as one of the few positives that has come from this overbearing illness.