Just spent an hour talking to a girl about being anorexic and how you can’t relate unless it happened to you. I could relate to that for sure. There is a lot of problems people have that others can’t relate too. Thats what she taught me and me and we are not the only ones. She has to now eat 1000 calories a day because of it. But she is still a great person.
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I think for a sz to talk to people is a great achievement,I used to have a lot of difficulty talking and understanding but now it’s much better,though sometimes I still had problem frankly
The less I talk to my voices the better I am in social conversation.
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I keep trying to tell this to some of the guys in my SZ group. We’re not the only ones. Just because others have different illness and different symptoms and can do different things doesn’t mean they are normal or better off.
Poor girl you talked to. Did she mention how she managed not to puke up her 1000 calories or compulsively burn it off by getting fidgety and running for 2 hours?
My kid sis is in the thick of the anorexia battle right now, had surgery for ulcers and coughing up blood last month. Almost hospitalized and force fed. It’s been a lot of work, but she finally gained a few pounds. Getting her to be able to eat something and then not go into a hyper run is hard.
If she can keep a meal down, it’s a lucky thing. She’s working at it the best she can and it’s been a screaming battle, but we have gotten all the food scales out of the house.
So at 5 foot 10 she’s finally at 109 pounds. She has to take prenatal vitamins and drink ensure.
It is still a huge way to get her up to a healthy weight. She should be at least 130. The biggest thing I notice is her skin looks less anemic and her finger nails are growing again and I think her hair is growing again too. The biggest thing the next appointment want’s too look at is bone density.
There is NO way I’d want her to have to fight SZ, but at the same time, there is NO way I would want to have to fight anorexia. We’ll just stick with the devils we know.
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I had anorexia when I was 16. I have had a handful of disorders in my lifetime. Schizophrenia is just the worst one and hardest to recover from. But I don’t like when people pull the “you can’t relate” card to someone with a shattered mind. That’s just stupid. I do feel for people with anorexia, it is a psychological, not neurological disorder and is fueled by painful feelings.
HAD… past tense… what helped you get over it? My idea is working, but it’s very hard.
I went from being anorexia to being man-orexic. I started building muscle and eating lots of protein, I gained a healthy weight back and was lean and muscular, not skeletal. Six months later I was 160 and lifting heavy, learning Krav Maga. Then the next year I was a bodybuilder, about 180. Then I lost weight when I had a testicle infection, became schizophrenic, and got to around 165 after the testicle infection cleared up. Now I am 168 and powerlifting, a whole different game than bodybuilding or martial arts.
In short, I became started what my shrink calls “male compensatory behavior” and wanted to be bigger and badder, the opposite of anorexia. I figured my anorexia was all about social desirability, and being brawny had people finding me more socially desirable than being skinny.
Anorexia is a psychological disorder, not neurological. It is often fueled by social factors and then it gets stuck in the psyche, that is why therapy and not medication is the best treatment for it.
But being anorexic can make you feel like you have lost control. I remember feeling like I just couldnt think differently, I had to reach rock bottom and see a skeleton in the mirror before I could realize that I needed to change. But once I did realize that I was unhealthy, I quickly came to the reality of my situation.
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Thank you for allowing me to post here. If I may and it’s not too personal, may I ask;
was it hard for you to change the thinking?
Did you have any therapy to help turn your thinking around or did it just click for you? I’ve heard of both happening.
I am working on this the best I can. But food sort of hurts. I’m trying to get a healthier lifestyle idea into my head. Did it take you long to be able to conquer this?
It just clicked. I was so skinny for so long, I remember it was uncomfortable to sit or lay down because I could feel my ass bone and pelvis, I had no butt to sit and lay down on.
It wasnt hard for me because I got dangerously thin. I remember having distortions about my image in the mirror, but one night I saw what looked like a POW and I ate until I was full the next day and did some pull ups and push ups as well as my daily run.
I was seeing a psychologist, but I wasnt really listening to him, I was too stubborn. I found motivation to change on my own, and he was happy to see me get back to normal.
It took me 3 months to gain my healthy weight up, if I remember correctly. I gained like 20 lbs in the first month though. I was about 110 and 5’7 and I got to 130 in a month, working out and putting on only muscle. I was still thin but I looked healthy and athletic instead of malnourished. within three months I was 145 and had a six pack, arms, calves and a butt. I was using dumbells at home at that point as well as push ups, pull ups and running.
At first I had an “anything goes” diet of friggin anything I looked at. I remember eating whatever I could think of, it takes 3500 extra calories to gain a pound, and I gained 20 in a month.
I then got my weight back up and still ate healthily but incorporated higher calorie foods in my diet. I ate peanut butter and granola with milk for breakfast every morning, sometimes with a banana thrown in. I ate tuna salad sandwiches at lunch and ate lots of chicken, fish, rice, pasta and refried beans for dinner.
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