MY STORY
Over the past 28 years of my life, I’ve learned that everyone has a story to tell. You never know what people are going through, or what struggles they have gone through. Sometimes it’s the people with the biggest smiles that are struggling the most. That is why it is important to be very careful on how you judge others. I’ve learned the truth of the statement, “be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.”
In 2004 at the age of 11, I was diagnosed with anorexia nervosa.
At this time, I was an athletic kid in the 6th grade and was just getting involved in competitive soccer. My mom and dad were both working full-time jobs, one of my best friends moved away, my brother went off to college and my sister got married. I felt alone and that I had no control over my life.
For some reason, I turned to something that I could control, which was how much I was eating. I kept hearing that dieting was good and “junk food” was bad. I put in my mind that if I ate less junk food and food in general I would become a quicker and faster athlete. Over time, my obsession grew till I refused to eat but a few hundred calories a day. I was losing weight rapidly and beginning to create an unrealistic image distortion of my body. Friends and family would tell me that I looked way skinny but my brain didn’t see it that way. It got so bad that my brain wasn’t nourished enough to think logically. My body was diminishing. Luckily, my parents noticed something was wrong and took me to the hospital.
I was hospitalized on October 7th, 2004 weighing 66 pounds. I was forced to be tube fed because I refused to eat. I remember waking up in the middle of the night to alarms going off in my hospital room because my heart rate dropped to 20 beats per minute. My body was shutting down. I am forever grateful for my parents who never gave up on me and noticed something was wrong and that I needed help.
After a few years of treatment and therapy, I was able to renourish my brain and body through balanced eating and not going to extremes. If I want a burger, I eat a burger. If I want ice cream, I eat ice cream. If I want a whole large pizza, I eat a freaking whole large pizza. I’m not saying I do this every day though because that would be the complete opposite extreme.
I see a lot of people starving themselves or overeating in the fitness industry and in the general public. Although, I do believe it is important to push yourself, just not to the unhealthy point that I pushed myself.
To reiterate the purpose of telling you my story was not to seek attention. It is actually quite embarrassing to me that I was an anorexic, but I am putting my pride aside. My purpose was to let you know that you are not alone in your trials and everyone has different experiences that they have been through that we can all learn from. I write this to let you know that there is hope and that challenges can be overcome. Don’t ever give up on yourself and keep searching for resources that can help you. There are good qualified people who know how to help.
Last of all, be kind to people, seek help if you are struggling and help those who are in need. You might be the person that changes their life.
Here are some statistics about anorexia according to the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders (ANAD):
5-10% of anorexics die within 10 years after contracting the disease and 18-20% of anorexics will be dead after 20 years.
Without treatment, up to 20% of people with serious eating disorders die. With treatment, the mortality rate falls to 2-3%.
An estimated 10-15% of people with anorexia or bulimia are males.