Hi @Former-Member .....
Thank you so much❣
It is somehow a real comfort to hear from people who have actually suffered this .... but I think you are the first person I have interacted with directly. The others have been lived experience stories on recovery websites.
Butterfly Foundation were amongst the first support services I reached out to when I realised I couldn't access our family doctor ....
My Wayward Husband was previously in the "over-eating" (BED) firm of e.d. but then lost half his body weight under a medically supervised diet and exercise program .... only it's not medically supervised if you lie to the gp and "go off the grid" behind the scenes .....
Since then it's gone in all directions ... obsessive-compulsive exercising 7/7, c/s (doesnt seem to register as bulimia), Orthorexia, foods with laxative properties, intake restriction for amount of exercise performed, body dysmorphia .... EDNOS or BPAN are the closest I can work out ..... but he is so far in denial that we can't go near his "success story" without encountering aggression and hostility ....
He realised quite early how to avoid detection, so his bmi is at the low end of normal, and he sticks rigidly to that number on the dial ..... but all the weights work means he is carrying a lot of muscle on his depleted frame ....
If he doesn't surface from the denial stage before then, all support services have advised that he is headed for a breakdown. All we can really do is try to keep the rest of us functioning as we wait for something to change ....
Its heart-breaking .... and frightening .... and the relationships are not intact ..... just functioning as pragmatically as possible for now while awaiting the outcome.
In the meantime we are refusing to give anything else over to this illness. We are focusing on keeping our own balances as best we can, but circumstantial depression is ever-present. There are big family occasions happening, which provides substantial distraction, and faith and hope are beneath our wings .....
Bless you for sharing. Your story buys me more courage to keep swimming here .... sometimes so tired ....
🌷🐠💕
