Hey everyone, I'm new to this forum, so I thought I would give a little background on why I'm here.
I'm seventeen and for the last four years or so I have had problems with food. I think it was all mild though. In middle school sometimes I would restrict my food, or overeat. For high school so far I have mainly overeaten or binged, and since a lot of people in my family have that problem, I never thought it was too bad. I mean, I knew I had a problem, but I never thought too much of it. Except now I am also purging my food instead of just exercising like I used to when I binged or overate. I am not quite ready to talk to my doctor or therapist about the binging and purging, but wanted to talk to others with the same issue.
I guess I just wanted to know that there were others with eating issues, it's not like my friends really talk about this stuff. Thanks for reading all this.
I am 18 and have suffered the same issue. I always thought it was okay to overeat because that is what people in my family had done and when I did I would just workout. But it ended up in me becoming anorexic and bulimic. It sucks and it is a terrible path to travel down but things will get better Im sure. If u need a person to talk to ur age about these issues who knows how u feel I am always here just message me=]
Mallory...it's good that you have reached out and shared here. Welcome! I sense that you would not be sharing if you were satisfied with what is happening with your food issues. This focus, and the confusion that it brings up, does indicate that you may be headed for more problems if you don't get help. Why do you think you are not ready to share with others or seek help for this? I know it's hard to talk about, but you don't have anything to be ashamed of. Please seek help, and talk to your family!!!
I hope you will continue to write....take care...Jan ♥
hello mallory - it's great you're reaching out! i've been here for just a month now and it's been very helpful. not sure if you've experienced this, but it's difficult to talk about eating disorders to people who don't have them or understand... but we are fantastic listeners (or readers), and all dealing with the same issues.
i'd like to encourage you, as jan has, to seek some help. it's hard to even think about going through with it, but it's so important because the disorder doesn't cure itself, and it's common for things to get worse.
but we are here for you... we are all here going through the same thing, and really really want to help you, everyone else, and ourselves.
thanks for the comments everyone! the reason I have not told my family/doctors the full story is that I go to a college prep boarding school. I'm really scared that if my aunt knows how bad my eating problems are that she might not let me go back. It's the only place that I have been anywhere near to happy in a long time, so I don't want to do anything to sabotage my chances of finishing high school there.
As for my body image, it changes. Sometimes I feel really good about how I look, and other times I can't stop thinking about how fat I am, but at least I like other things about myself, so I guess it could be worse.
mango...thank you for sharing further. Does your school offer counseling? That would be confidential, and having someone there to talk to could make a huge difference. I understand not wanting to jeopardize your educational opportunities, but recovery is a life/death matter...what is more important? Please keep writing, and think about it...Jan ♥
I do see a psychologist at school, and am seeing a therapist while I am home for the summer. I want to talk to my therapist about it, but I am only going to see her for another five weeks, so I'm not sure how much she could do in that few meetings. I am planning on telling my counselor at school once I go back in August.