Recovery Image: Stop!

Click to enlarge
Stop putting yourself down, comparing yourself to others, holding on to past mistakes, counting failures instead of blessings, hating your body, punishing yourself, expecting perfection, waiting, mourning 'what ifs' and 'could haves,' allowing what was to decide what could be. Let go. Move Forward. Stay Positive. Believe.
MrsM


See sidebar for more recovery images and quotes

picsourcehttp://www.flickr.com/photos/inoxkrow/150080109/

Recovery: What Are You Afraid Of?

Does the thought of recovery fill you with fear?
If so, you are not alone. It's really quite common to feel this way.

Why, when we know something is good for us, do we feel afraid of it? 

The reasons vary. Individual experiences come into play. Reasons can range from simple to complicated, making it difficult to narrow it down to one, simple answer. When an eating disorder is also part of the equation, the whys can become even more complicated. Change and control, though, are major factors for almost everyone.

Change is scary. You're taking a risk. You're leaving behind familiar territory for the unknown. There's comfort in the familiar, even when the familiar is a horrible place to be, because you know it well. The ins, the outs, the lows, the highs ... there's not much that can surprise you, not much to catch you off guard and throw you off kilter.

Fear of losing what little control you have can be scary, too. How can you control the unknown? You may have mastered controlling and navigating your current situation so well that the thought of relinquishing that control may feel too scary to even contemplate. But...

You must surrender your fears.

It's not easy to let go, even when what we're holding on to is what we most need to let go of. But, letting go is necessary to achieve change and change is necessary to achieve recovery. We have to be willing to venture out of our comfort zone and let go of what currently is, in order to begin creating what can be.
  
"The only way out is through."
  
So how do you let go despite the fear? 

With practice and patience. Acknowledge your fear. Recognize it for what it truly is, and then move forward regardless. Each time you deny your fear the chance to be in charge you gain confidence and courage, making the next time a little bit easier. Soon, what you once thought impossible, becomes reality.

You must do the thing you think you cannot do.   
Eleanor Roosevelt

Here are some suggestions and links to help with the process:

• Keep your thoughts and words positive. Use positive, encouraging self-talk.
• Visualize the change you desire in a positive light.
• Believe in your ability to overcome your fears, to change, and to recover.
• Have faith. 
• Make a 2 column list. On one side list what you're afraid of, the other side list why that fear is invalid (or how to let it go).
• Seek reinforcements (counseling, mentoring, organizations, people in recovery, supportive family and friends, recovery sites and forums)
• Stay honest with yourself and others. 
• Be kind and patient with yourself. Change takes time. Recovery takes time.
• Get involved in something creative (writing, sketching, dance, doodling, painting, crafts,...). It gives you something positive to put your energy into and is a great outlet for stress and anxiety. 
• Remember the recovery sayings; "Fake it 'til you make it," and "Act as if". Doing this gives you a taste of what it feels like to achieve the change you're seeking. It sets your mind on track. (It doesn't mean to lie to yourself, or others, in an attempt to deceive)
• Journal.
• Use affirmations throughout the day and at bedtime.
• Choose a mantra to say to yourself whenever you're feeling less than brave (example: I am not my fear. I am capable of moving past these feelings. I can accomplish anything I set my mind to. I believe in myself). Repeat, repeat, repeat.
• Surround yourself with positive influences. 
• Create a recovery sound track of music that makes you feel good. 
• Create a recovery feel good image file. Fill it with things that make you feel good, strong, serene. (Do not use anything that relates to the body, weight, or appearance in any way). 
• Take care of yourself every day.
• Create a Relapse Prevention Plan. 
•  Give yourself credit when you make even the smallest progress. Each positive step is a victory. Celebrate it!
• When you feel overwhelmed, turn it over to your higher power. 

 Recovery Is Possible! You are capable, worthy, and deserving of it!


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Eating Disorders Poll: Rewards On The Road To Recovery

Fears and doubts can be overwhelming when recovery is being contemplated or newly begun. Despite the obstacles and emotions that may arise, RECOVERY IS WORTH IT and POSSIBLE. Many have taken that first step, seen it through, and reaped the rewards at the other end. What rewards have you found on the road to your recovery?

Please take a moment to participate in the poll in the sidebar and share your experience with others.
  Feel free to add answers to the comment section that are not provided in the poll. 
Thank you.
MrsM


This poll has ended. Click for Poll Results


picture source:http://www.flickr.com/photos/john/4776861/sizes/z/in/photostream/

Eating Disorders Bloggers: What Some Are Discussing This Month

Natasha's Story: "I Was Raised Thinking I Had No Worth, No Place In This World."
Medusa

Hi Medusa,
My name is Natasha and I am 18 years old. When I think about my life, I'm never really sure when exactly I started hating myself. I had suicidal thoughts when I was around 9 years old. I was raised thinking I had no worth, no place in this world. My stepmother starved me, beat me, and ridiculed me daily.
Read in full: Natasha's Story



Being Rational
ED Bites

Although I've never experienced a full-blown psychotic episode, I found myself nodding my head in agreement with this neuroscientist's description of her own psychosis.

"Erin, you are a scientist," they'd begin. "You are intelligent, rational. Tell me, then, how can you believe that there are rats inside your brain? They're just plain too big. Besides, how could they get in?"

They were right. About my being smart, I mean; I was, after all, a graduate student in the neuroscience program at the University of British Columbia. But how could they relate that rationality to the logic of the Deep Meaning? For it was due to the Deep Meaning that the rats had infiltrated my system and were inhabiting my brain. They gnawed relentlessly on my neurons, causing massive degeneration. This was particularly upsetting to me, as I depended on a sharp mind for my work in neuroscience.

The rats spent significant periods of time consuming brain matter in the occipital lobe of my brain. I knew, from my studies, that this was the primary visual cortex. And yet, I experienced no visual deficits. Obviously, I realized, I had a very unique brain: I was able to regenerate large sections of my central nervous system—and to do so extremely quickly. I relaxed a bit, but not entirely. Surely no good could come of having rats feed on my brain cells. So I sought means of ridding my body of them. I bled them out through self-cutting and banging my head until the skin broke, bloody. Continually, I kept my brain active, electrocuting the rats that happened to be feasting on the activated neurons.   
Read in full: Being Rational



Don't You Realize That Fat Is Unhealthy?
Shapely Prose

Here’s the thing: I blog about fat acceptance.
Fat acceptance, as you can probably guess from the words “fat” and “acceptance” being right together like that, does not go over so well in some circles. Even in some progressive circles — which are usually known for not hating entire groups of people because of their appearances, not thinking what other people do with their bodies is anybody’s beeswax, and not uncritically accepting whatever moral panic the media tries to whip up, but wev. Fat is different! Don’t you know there’s an obesity epidemic? Don’t you know that fat kills? Haven’t you ever heard of Type 2 diabetes? Don’t you realize how much money this is going to cost society down the line? Won’t someone please think of the children?

So, before I start getting comments like that, I want to lay out ten principles that underlie pretty much everything I write about fat and health.

1. Weight itself is not a health problem, except in the most extreme cases (i.e., being underweight or so fat you’re immobilized). In fact, fat people live longer than thin people and are more likely to survive cardiac events, and some studies have shown that fat can protect against “infections, cancer, lung disease, heart disease, osteoporosis, anemia, high blood pressure, rheumatoid arthritis and type 2 diabetes.” Yeah, you read that right: even the goddamned diabetes. Now, I’m not saying we should all go out and get fat for our health (which we wouldn’t be able to do anyway, because no one knows how to make a naturally thin person fat any more than they know how to make a naturally fat person thin; see point 4), but I’m definitely saying obesity research is turning up surprising information all the time — much of which goes ignored by the media — and people who give a damn about critical thinking would be foolish to accept the party line on fat. Just because you’ve heard over and over and over that fat! kills! doesn’t mean it’s true. It just means that people in this culture really love saying it.
Read in full: Don't You Realize...



Eating Disorder Recovery: From Inpatient Treatment To Life
Margarita Tartakovsky

I’m thrilled to publish today’s guest post by Elizabeth Short. Just recently Elizabeth shared her story of recovery and resiliency here at Weightless (part 1 and part 2). Currently, she’s a Masters student in Counseling at The University of New Orleans, and writes the blog Fiding Hope.. Elizabeth is also in the process of  writing a memoir about her recovery. I love that Elizabeth is reaching out to others with her positive and hopeful message, and I love her guest post. It’s raw, insightful, brave and beautifully written. Plus, it offers really valuable advice. And I can’t say enough great things about it. I’m so grateful to her for sharing this with us.

Inpatient treatment for eating disorders:  Locked bathrooms.  Staff watching your every move, including time in the bathroom.  Meals and snacks are closely monitored.  No shoelaces, tweezers, coffee, gum or mouthwash.  6 a.m. weigh-ins.  Room searches.  Individual and/or group therapy all day long.

Sounds a little like prison to some, but for me, it was safety.  It meant I couldn’t restrict my intake or purge after eating.   I couldn’t use laxatives or diet pills.  I couldn’t weigh myself 50 times a day. I couldn’t stay isolated in my house for days at a time.
Read in full: From Inpatient Treatment To Life



Watch It
Happy Bodies

The other night, when refusing a second helping at a dinner party, a guy said: “None for me, I’m watching my figure.”

We all laughed.

What a silly thought, a guy, who’s young and looks fit, dieting? Ridiculous. And yet this is just expected for so many people. So often people who are read as fat (and therefore automatically unhealthy) are subjected to judgements and unwanted advice: if you only ate a little less, worked out a little more, watched your figure, you could look young and fit too!

This comment struck me particularly because I’m reading two book right now (by white men) where major female characters are made into joke figures because of their weight. While the eating habits and fitness of other characters are not chronicled, paragraphs are dedicated to Lizzyboo stopping for ice cream before dinner and every time Vera moves across a scene her jiggles or heavy breathing are remarked upon. The joke is not just fat = funny (which it isn’t) but also how stupid these women are! If she didn’t have those extra snacks she wouldn’t be such a fattie! Silly Vera, always going on binges after diets and gaining the weight back. They make it character flaw that they are fat. A flaw that they don’t know how to properly watch their figures.

A study came out recently that reported that when Forty dietetics and health promotion students enrolled in a university obesity course followed a a calorie restricted diet (1,200 calories for women and 1,500 calories for men) for just one week their was a significant change in their fat-phobias. It makes sense that once these future dietitians and health professionals realized how high the expectations were of their fat patients they would become more sympathetic. It so easy to look at someone else and think you know what is best for them, but in actuality, individuals are in the best position to make choices about their lives and bodies. Even doctors trained to take care of our health can be subject to fat-phobia, and take it out on their patients.
Read in full: Watch It 


 Reboot
Defining Wellness 

I’m proud to say I’m an optimist. Even when I’m feeling stressed, anxious or upset, and even when I’ve felt so low that I couldn’t summon the strength to get out of bed, there’s always been that voice inside of me that says, “It WILL get better. There IS hope.”
And I don’t just feel that hope for myself. I feel that hope for anyone who needs it. I believe that we all have the power to be thankful for what we have even in the midst of sadness, to take the necessary steps to make life better.
But even with this optimistic attitude, there are times when I get in a funk. I wake up and feel anxious and think, “Huh, where’d that come from?” Or I get in some kind of existential rut and I obsess about my place in the world. Or eating disorder symptoms re-emerge and I think, “You again? I thought I folded you up, packed you in a box, and buried you in a bottomless pit.”
It’s at times like these that I use that optimistic energy within me to reboot.
In a recent post, I discussed my desire to plan less . . . do more . . . NOW.
When I get in a funk, that’s half of the solution. Stop thinking about everything that’s going wrong and start living.
Read in full: Reboot



sources linked above

National Eating Disorders Awareness Week 2010

Tomorrow starts National Eating Disorders Awareness Week. The theme this year is, "It's Time To Talk About It," so that's what we'll be doing here.

Among the things Weighing The Facts will be featuring this week are:

• Personal stories from readers
• Eating Disorders and Body Image Bloggers
• Links to resources for information, help, and recovery
• Recovery Quotes

There's still time if you'd like to share your story or poem here for National Eating Disorders Awareness Week.

Hungry For Love: A Valentine To Yourself

Ah, Valentine's Day. The celebration of love. The demonstrations of affection. The heady, sweet confirmation that we are loved, special, unique, and deserving ... a confirmation we sometimes take too seriously, and place too much emphasis on. The truth of the matter is that no matter what the outside world does, or doesn't hand us today, we are already all of these things.

So for this Valentine's Day, make yourself the first recipient of your love and affection. Celebrate yourself, love yourself, and renew your relationship with yourself. Take a few moments to give yourself a valentine.

Affirmations:

• Loving myself heals me; body, mind, and soul.
• I deserve love and respect as I am.
• I love my body, care for it, and appreciate it.
• I choose happiness, no matter what my circumstances.
• I believe in myself and so do others.
• I am beautiful in mind, spirit, and body.
• I am unique, special, and deserving.
• I accept my body as it is.
• I honor, respect, and appreciate myself.
• I listen to and trust my inner wisdom.
• I treat myself with kindness.
• I create my thoughts and my reality.
• My beautiful body is home to my beautiful spirit.
• I lovingly create my own reality.
• I love and accept myself.
• Everyday gets better and better.
• My possibilities are endless.
• I am worthy.
• I release the past and live in the present.

Write:

Put it into words. Make a list of all the things you appreciate about yourself. No matter how small or unimportant it may seem to you at the time, write it down. Do you find this difficult to do? Pretend that someone you really care about has asked you to write down their positive attributes. Now, pretend that you are that someone. Take a step back and see yourself without any of the negative internal dialogue influencing your vision ... and write.

Write a letter to the negativity, that part of yourself that whispers or screams. Acknowledge it's existence. If you know why it exists, tell it so. If you don't, let it know that, too. Make it aware that no matter the reason for it "being," it is a separate entity from yourself and you don't need it around anymore ... then mentally pack it's bags for it and kick it out the door.

Write positive affirmations on pieces of paper and tape them to places you will see them often, throughout your day; the mirror, the dashboard, your pillow, the backdoor, over the kitchen sink. Read them aloud, with conviction. Stay in the moment and let the truth of those words sink in. Feel them.

Reaffirm what recovery means to you. Write down what you have gained (or will gain) from your recovery. Tuck the list in your wallet to take out and read when you need reminding.

Choose a small, positive change you'd like to achieve and make it your goal for the month. Write it down in a pocket calendar. Set aside time each day to give to that change. Even the smallest of changes can make a big difference in your life.

Write a letter to your body and let it know that you're grateful for all it has done for you.

Keep a gratitude journal. Each night, before bed, write down something (big or small,) from your day that you're grateful for.

Write down the things that you keep to yourself, the scary things, the nagging secrets of truth or imagination that we are all familiar with. Those things that haunt you, tug at you, and surface to suck the life and joy out of life. Bring them out from their hidden places. Write them each on their own piece of paper. Whether they be real or imagined, read each one and acknowledge that they are what they are but they do not define you. Then tear them into tiny pieces, flush them down the toilet... whatever will have the most significant impact for you.


Speak up. Speak out. Say it aloud. Say it with kindness:

Speak kindly of yourself when talking to others. Be positive. Be confident. Speak kindly to yourself, too. If you wouldn't say it to someone you love and respect then don't say it to/about yourself. If you have a hard time doing this, fake it. Yes, fake it! How do things become a part of our everyday lives, become second nature? Practice. Repetitiveness. As the recovery quote goes... fake it until you make it.


Quotes:

It is not selfish or narcissistic to love yourself. It is your first and foremost responsibility.
~Alan Cohen

The first thing is to convince yourself that life's more fun if you love yourself. Don't worry about trying to find other people to love you. Love yourself first.
~Dr. Lynn Cutts

Loving yourself allows you to see the beauty in others. It opens your senses to the brilliance of divine light, to the sweetness of your own life experience and to the power of your focused incarnation. Loving yourself allows your consciousness to assume the shape of love, which makes you at once loving and lovable. But most of us are very stingy with the love we offer ourselves. ~Rebbie Straubing

Respect yourself and others will respect you.
~Confucius

Love yourself—accept yourself—forgive yourself—and be good to yourself, because without you the rest of us are without a source of many wonderful things.
~Leo F. Buscaglia

Love yourself unconditionally, just as you love those closest to you despite their faults.
~Les Brown

Remember to be yourself, can't think of anyone better qualified.
~Pharnell Raines

When you are content to be simply yourself and don't compare or compete, everybody will respect you.
~Lao-Tzu

Always be yourself, express yourself, have faith in yourself, do not you go out and look for a successful personality an duplicate it.
~Bruce Lee

Trust yourself. Think for yourself. Act for yourself. Speak for yourself. Be yourself. Imitation is suicide.
~Marva Collins

An individual's self-concept is the core of his personality. It affects every aspect of human behavior: the ability to learn, the capacity to grow and change. A strong, positive self-image is the best possible preparation for success in life.
~Dr. Joyce Brothers

Nobody will think you're somebody if you don't think so yourself.
~African-American proverb

Self-love is not opposed to the love of others.
~Dr. Karl Menninger

Success is liking yourself, liking what you do, and liking how you do it.
~Maya Angelou

Happy Valentine's Day!

Check these out:
Starting To Love Yourself
Making Me Magazine. Written by Melissa of Finding Melissa.

Valentine's Day Doesn't Have To Suck Again
To Write Love On Her Arms

Self-Worth: The Unconditional Love Of Self
Using Affirmations
Believing in Yourself
Self-Love Quotes
Self-Worth Quotes
Our Bodies



picture source:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/drics/ / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Surviving Thanksgiving When You Have An Eating Disorder

Thanksgiving is a stressful and often scary time for those with an eating disorder. Here are some links to survival tips to help see you through the holiday season.

12 Ideas to help people with eating disorders negotiate the holidays.

Holiday Survival

15 ways to deal with the holiday season

10 tips to help you get through the holiday

How to survive Thanksgiving when you're in eating disorder recovery

Holiday Eating 101: How to negotiate the holidays when you have an ED

Dealing with the festive holiday when you have an eating disorder

Tips for overcoming holiday stress and anxiety: The Food

Negotiating holiday eating

Caring for yourself at Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving and eating disorders

Recovery Relapse Prevention

*Please feel free to share links in the comments section to any resources you have for surviving Thanksgiving


Photo source:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/suckamc/ / CC BY-NC 2.0

Poll: My Eating Disorder, One Word At A Time

What words help define your experience with your Eating Disorder? In the sidebar you will find an anonymous poll, My Eating Disorder, One Word At A time, where you can share your words with others who also suffer with an ED, and help those that don't to better understand.

If the list is missing words that are important to you and your experience please feel free to share them in the comment section.

If you are in recovery or seeking recovery, please check back. Upon the completion of this poll will be a similar poll about your recovery.

Participation is always greatly appreciated. Thank You.

Completed Poll Results:

My Eating Disorder, One Word At A Time (choose as many words as you feel fit your views, feelings, and experience, with your ED, excluding recovery).

Votes: 65

Desperation	43 (66%)
Hopelessness	47 (72%)
Fear	39 (60%)
Anger	42 (64%)
Shame	52 (80%)
Embarrassment	42 (64%)
Worthlessness	44 (67%)
Perfection	25 (38%)
Hunger	33 (50%)
Loneliness	47 (72%)
Rage	19 (29%)
Dishonesty	40 (61%)
Superiority	24 (36%)
Belonging	15 (23%)
Community	10 (15%)
Beauty	22 (33%)
Bones	31 (47%)
Achievement	38 (58%)
Thinspiration	21 (32%)
Control	42 (64%)
Love	15 (23%)
Doom	15 (23%)
Temporary	9 (13%)
Dieting	23 (35%)
Controlled	22 (33%)
Defeated	29 (44%)
Bloated	29 (44%)
Disgusted	50 (76%)
Powerless	41 (63%)

Would you like to share your experience with how shame relates to your eating disorder to be included in an upcoming post here at Weighing The Facts?



click here for more poll results.

Eating Disorders News: July

To Hell and Back: Appetite for Life Regained

Kate Benson Medical Reporter July 26, 2008

IT'S been six months since Lucy Howard-Taylor wished she was dead. For almost four years, the demons of anorexia nervosa rode on her back, convincing her she was worthless, unattractive, dull and unnecessary in the wider scheme of life.

"I had some very poisonous conversations with my anorexic demon," she says as she recalls her descent into hell with a compelling combination of fragility and strength.

Howard-Taylor, 19, seems an unlikely hero in the war against eating disorders, but her new book, Biting Anorexia, is being hailed by experts as one of the "most stunning" ever written on the subject.

Read in full here.

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Senate Passes Scaled-Back Mental Health Parity Bill

By Kay Lazar, Globe Staff

Patients with autism, eating disorders, substance abuse problems or post traumatic stress disorder would have greater access to treatments under proposed legislation that passed the state Senate today.

The measure differs from a more sweeping version of the "mental health parity" bill that passed the House earlier. That proposal would require insurance plans to cover all mental health disorders the same as physical conditions and would allow any treatments that were medically needed.

Both the Senate and House versions would maintain the current law's requirement that health insurers provide full coverage for nine of the most common psychiatric conditions: schizophrenia; schizoaffective disorder, major depression; bipolar disorder; paranoia and other psychotic disorders; obsessive-compulsive disorder, panic disorder; delirium and dementia; and affective disorders.

Read in full here.

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Quebec Considering Voluntary Charter Against Anorexia, Ministers Says

The Canadian Press

PARIS — Quebec is considering following France's example in the fight against anorexia, the provincial culture minister says.

Christine St-Pierre said Wednesday she is looking at tabling a voluntary charter against anorexia which fashion professionals, the advertising industry and media would be invited to sign.

She did not rule out resorting to tougher legislation if the results from the voluntary charter are unsatisfactory.

St-Pierre, who is also Quebec's minister responsible for the status of women, said she is very interested in France's approach to fighting anorexia.

"It inspires me a lot," she said.

Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder characterized by low body weight and an obsessive fear of gaining weight.

Read in full here.

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Family Meals Can Help Teen Girls Avoid Drugs, Alcohol

HealthDay News

Eating meals together as a family can reduce a teen girl's risk of turning to alcohol or drugs, a new study suggests.

In families who ate at least five meals a week together, the teen girls were much less likely to drink alcohol, or smoke marijuana or cigarettes five years later, said study author Marla Eisenberg, an assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of Minnesota Medical School.

The same effect wasn't seen for boys in this study, although Eisenberg can't say why.

"One of the key findings we have here is for girls," she said. "We found girls who had regular family meals had half the odds of initiating cigarettes, alcohol or marijuana use in the five-year time period."

Read in full here.

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London College Creates Eating Disorders Course For Parents

Eating Disorders Help Blog

Effective early treatment is paramount in a person's battle against anorexia, and the support of loved ones is a key part of that treatment. But friends and family members are often unsure of exactly how to be supportive.

"King's College London has begun a course to give carers necessary skills. The Collaborative Caring Course teaches the necessary skills to understanding eating disorders, such as anorexia and bulimia, and the consequential behavioral changes."

Read in full here.

sources: http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/to-hell-and-bac-appetite-for-life-regained/2008/07/25/1216492732908.html

http://www.boston.com/news/health/blog/2008/07/senate_passes_s.html http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5gMNXRsFfWlsnvSwCk4lb7cQTkM_g http://www.forbes.com/forbeslife/health/feeds/hscout/2008/07/23/hscout617671.html

http://www.eatingdisordershelpguide.com/blog/2008/07/london-college-create-eating-disorders.html
picture:http://www.everystockphoto.com

ADD/ADHD and Eating Disorders

It is not uncommon to find that those suffering with eating disorders are also dealing with underlying psychological disorders. ADD or ADHD, studies have shown, often co-exist with eating disorders. Food is used as a form of self-medicating, temporarily calming the restlessness that someone with ADD/ADHD experiences both physically and emotionally.

WHY FOOD?

“Food is legal. It is a culturally acceptable way to comfort ourselves. For some people with ADD, food is the first substance that helped them feel calm. Children with ADD will often seek out foods rich with sugar and refined carbohydrates such as candy, cookies, cakes, and pasta. People who compulsively overeat, binge, or binge-and-purge also eat these types of foods.

It is no accident that binge food is usually high in sugars and carbohydrates, especially when you take into consideration how the ADD brain is slow to absorb glucose. In one of the Zametkin PET scan studies, results indicated that "[g]lobal cerebral glucose metabolism was 8.1 percent lower in the adults with hyperactivity than in the normal controls..." [[1]] Other research has also confirmed slower glucose metabolism in adults with ADD, with and without the hyperactivity component. This suggests that the binge eater is using these foods to change his or her neurochemistry,” says Wendy Richardson MA, LMFCC, in her article THE LINK BETWEEN ADD/ADHD AND EATING DISORDERS.

She discusses eating to increase serotonin levels in an attempt to feel better, “One way to temporarily increase our serotonin level is to eat foods that are high in sugar and carbohydrates. Our attempts to change our neurochemistry are short-lived, however, and we have to eat more and more to maintain a feeling of well-being.”

Adult vs. childhood ADD / ADHD

“The symptoms of ADD / ADHD change as someone with ADD / ADHD develops from a child into a teenager and then into an adult. While the core problems of hyperactivity, impulsiveness, and inattentiveness remain the same, the specific symptoms manifest differently. Typically, the symptoms of hyperactivity decrease and become more subtle, while problems related to concentration and organization become more dominant,” according to helpguide.org

Hyperactivity in adults:
* inability to relax
* restlessness, nervous energy
* talking excessively

Impulsiveness in adults:
* volatile moods
* blurting out rude or insulting remarks
* interrupting others

Inattentiveness in adults:
* “tuning out” unintentionally
* inability to focus on mundane tasks
* constantly losing and forgetting things

Signs and Symptoms of Adult ADD/ADHD

According to Dr. Thomas E. Brown of the Yale University School of Medicine, "ADHD is essentially a name for developmental impairment of executive function." Executive functions are the skills involved in planning, selective attention, motivation, and impulse control. Adults with ADHD have problems in six major areas of executive functioning:

* Activation – Problems with organization, prioritizing, and starting tasks.
* Focus – Problems with sustaining focus and resisting distraction, especially with reading.
* Effort – Problems with motivation, sustained effort, and persistence.
* Emotion – Difficulty regulating emotions and managing stress.
* Memory – Problems with short-term memory and memory retrieval.
* Action – Problems with self-control and self-regulation.

Symptoms in children can be found here.

COMPREHENSIVE TREATMENT

"It is essential that both ADD and eating disorders are treated. Too many people are struggling with their eating disorders because they have undiagnosed or untreated ADD. When ADD is properly treated, the individual is better able to focus and follow through with treatment for their eating disorders. They also have greater control of their impulses and less of a need to self-medicate their ADD symptoms," according to ADD.org

Coping Alternatives

From Something-fishy.org:
Here are some more positive methods of dealing with your emotions and stress, rather than turning to such Eating Disordered behaviors like starving, binging and purging, or overeating.

Stop, Swap and Console!

* Use the ideas below, and your own ideas, to make a COPING BANK!

* Write in your Journal
* Listen to your favorite music
* Tell one person how you feel
* Call an old friend
* Read a book
* Remind Yourself "It'll be OK"
* Take a deep breath, count to 10
* Ask your therapist to make a tape with you that you can use during difficult times
* Go to a favorite "safe" location (beach, park, woods, playground, etc.)
* Think of advice you'd give someone else... and take it!
* Say something good about yourself
* Use Self Affirmation tapes and books... and make your own affirmations (use notebooks, index cards, tapes, post-it notes, journal)
* Meditate, use Relaxation
* Call a Hotline
* Stay in touch with others through contact - don't isolate yourself

Grounding Methods

Ideas for when you feel out of control, are having a flashback and/or need grounding...

* Remind yourself "I'm going to be OK" and "I'm not crazy"... this is a normal part of the recovery process

* Call someone on the phone
* Don't be afraid to ask for help
* Hug someone safe
* Hold someone's hand (someone safe)
* Call your therapist
* Call a Hotline
* Pray, talk yourself down or yell
* Say what you feel out-loud, even if you have to yell or cry!
* Change your environment
* Do self-affirmation... read books, listen to tapes and write down good things about yourself
* Identify your triggers (things that make you feel badly or have bad memories or flashbacks)

The above lists can be seen in full here.



Sources:
http://www.addconsults.com/articles/full.php3?id=1105
http://www.something-fishy.org/isf/mentalhealth.php
http://psychcentral.com/disorders/sx1.htm
http://www.helpguide.org/mental/adhd_add_adult_symptoms.htm
picture source: MrsMenopausal

Lies That Anorexia Tells You

A youtube video by Holdingon: "This is a video that deals with some of the lies that you believe when you have anorexia."

Song: Catch Me by Jasmin Tabatabai

Related posts:
Eating Disorders: A Look at Anorexia
Anorexia: Mortality Rates

See sidebar for Resources and Tools




Source:http://youtube.com/watch?v=SjBk0fOup1E

Bulimarexia

bulimarexia (bōōlim´rek´sē),

n an eating disorder distinguished by a combination of the symptoms prevalent in both anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa; develops primarily in teenage and young adult females.

"Bulimarexia is probably the most misunderstood form of the three main types of eating disorders; it is also not nearly as well-known. While the most obvious characteristic of anorexia is the appearance of starving oneself, and habitually binging and purging is the primary characteristic of bulimia, many people are quite at a loss to know what the problem is when a person exhibits both characteristics at various times. That factor is actually what bulimarexia is: the person who suffers from bulimarexia runs on a cycle of both conditions. If it isn't apparent, bulimarexia has the potential of being considerably more destructive than either of the two conditions alone.

Bulimarexia totally wreaks havoc on a person's entire system. While both conditions are damaging enough in themselves, the inability to sustain either of the conditions individually puts the person's health in an extreme state of decline. Obviously, if a person has reached this state, getting professional help as soon as possible is absolutely essential.

A person who has bulimarexia will bounce back and forth from the symptoms of one condition to the symptoms of the other. She will display some periods of restricting her food intake to nearly none, and some periods of stuffing in large quantities of food, removing it from her body afterward with purging. If she still has the physical strength to do so, she may engage in unreasonable degrees of exercise, believing that it will not only help her control her weight but will also help her to gain control in general. Bulimarexia is the absolute extreme in the person's sense of, and exhibiting, complete loss of control.

The observer should not make the mistake of thinking that when the pattern of one form of eating disorder changes into the opposite that this is a good sign. Instead, it is a sign that the person is no longer able to even hold to one pattern, and so goes back and forth from one to the other. Not only is this state potentially life threatening, the psychological implications can be equally deadly. Professional assistance is necessary for the sake of the person's life. "

Read in full here. TheEatingDisorderFacts.com

Please see sidebar for links to resources and tools.


Article source:
http://www.theeatingdisordersfacts.com/what-is-bulimarexia.html definition source: http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/bulimarexiapicture source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/porsche-linn/6999151879/

Don't Die For A Diet

When Would You Spot The Signs?
If you suspect your child is suffering from an eating disorder please check out this site that I came across today: Don't Die For A Diet.
"This site was created by a number of organizations, including AMV BBDO and Proximity London, in conjunction with beat.
It is designed to provide help and information for the parents of young people who may be affected by eating disorders."

See also: The Diet / Eating Disorder Connection

sources: http://www.dontdieforadiet.com/index.html

pic source:http://www.flickr.com/photos/purpleslog/3244332524/

Warning Signs of Bulimia

There are many warning signs that may help you determine if someone is suffering from Bulimia. Knowing these signs may save a life. Below is a partial list of warning signs. A bulimic may exhibit one, some, or all of the following:

*Binge eating and unable to voluntarily stop.
*Obsessive concern about weight.
*Guilt or shame about eating.
*Frequent use of the bathroom after meals.
*Stress eating.
*Menstruation cessation or irregularities.
*Emotional changes around food.
*Relying on the scale to determine the tone of the day.
*Feeling that their body is the only thing they have control over.
*Obsession with calories, fat, food, and/or weight.
*Isolating.
*Several pound weight shifts that cannot be explained.
*Vomiting Blood, stomach aches.
*Broken blood vessels in the eyes.
*Chronic sore throats/swollen glands.
*Low self-worth/low self-esteem.
*Purging.
*Feelings of worthlessness after binging or gaining weight.
*Recurring Headaches.
*Hair loss.
*Broken, brittle nails.

Please see "Eating Disorder Help" in sidebar for helpful hotlines and links.