If you have been following along, reading my story, you know this post was supposed to be about my college life. I was attempting to write my story in chronological order. However,  I am currently living out some of the consequences of my eating disorder life so I decided to take a different approach and share what is happening right now.  

I am 45 years old, living in freedom from eating disorders, yet I am still living out the consequences.

My eating disorder of choice was the restricting type of anorexia. According to Help Guide:

When I adopted a habit of extremely restricting my diet I had no idea what the consequences would or could be other than "skinny". That was my goal and not eating was how I achieved it. 

After having my first baby in 1996, I went straight to restricting my diet to try to lose weight. One Lean Pocket a day. I was also nursing my baby. Immediately, I started having dental issues. I remember lying on the couch with such terrible tooth pain I couldn't focus or do anything. I had my first root canal at that point but didn't realize the connection between my dental issues and my eating disorder history or the eating disorder lifestyle I was living at the time. I continued with my restrictive diet and went on with my life.

The years that followed were, and are currently, full of continued dental issues.

Restricting my diet while nursing is not what caused my dental issues, I believe the issues started years earlier when I began extremely restricting my diet. After having a baby I reverted to the habit I was familiar with, extreme diet restriction. The fact that I was nursing, while restricting my diet surely expedited the damage that was already started in my teeth. I don't remember when it dawned on me that my dental issues were directly related to my eating disorder. Sometime during my true recovery process the thought hit me. At the time, I looked it up and confirmed my theory. From that point on, as I started to share my story with  my own girls I told them and warned them, about some of these long lasting consequences. 

Selah House, an eating disorder recovery program, lists these signs and symptoms of dental problems associated with eating disorders:

This entire list applies to me. My dental issues continued through the years. For many years now I have been ashamed to open my mouth too wide due to broken teeth and very ugly mess inside my mouth. I am forever thankful my smile in the front has stayed nice, but at this point I am careful how wide I smile and if I can avoid it I am never in a picture with a wide open mouth (such as a laughing picture).

I have been putting off this dental work because the truth is I don't have the cash to really "fix" my mouth. I hate the thought of spending so much money and possibly going in to debt over dental issues that really are a consequence of my choices. However, I cannot put it off any longer. Part of my recovery process has included learning about health and what I have learned is your physical health and your oral health are directly related. Not to mention, more pain has started to occur.

As I sat in the dental chair yesterday, getting ready for phase one of this long, costly process I thought, this is it - go ahead and share this part of your story. As you live it.

This is part of my story. I am no longer hiding it or hanging my head in shame.

I am not proud of living with an eating disorder but I can finally face it. I can finally share this long, painful story and all the complicated layers of life with an eating disorder, hoping someone can help themselves or someone else.

Thanks for reading. I will get back to sharing my "college years" at some point.

Image Credit: By SSgt Wesley Farnsworth [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Coming up to the finish line in high school I hit some real social lows which brought me to emotional and mental lows like I had never experienced before. Thankfully a good friend from childhood, who never gave up our friendship even when I distanced myself and pulled away, was still there for me. She stepped in at one of my lowest points and invited me to a youth rally with her church youth group. She sat me on the front row and that night my life forever changed. My faith became real to me.

My faith walk is connected to my journey with eating disorders but is not the main focus of my story. Some in my Christian circles would be appalled at that statement. The reality here is my faith walk is a part of me in every way but I did not have a magical experience with God that erased all my issues, struggles and problems. My eating disorder journey lasted over 30 years and at this point, graduating from high school, we are only about 6 years in to that journey.

I have come to realize an eating disorder, much like alcoholism, is something you may become free from but is something you must always remain aware of in order to keep your freedom.

After the youth rally with my friend my life did start to change. I started to eat more and wasn't drinking as much; I was still seeking attention from guys, still sexually active. I completely separated myself from all the friends I had during my high school years - keep in mind I was still in high school. I think this was an attempt to run away from my own issues rather than face myself. 

With all of these changes, even with starting to eat more its important to note, ​eating disorders are not just about eating. 

On to college...

Abandonment issues combined with a destructive self-image prove to be a lethal combination for anyone and even more so for a young girl navigating puberty, teenage years, high school social pressures and the uncertainty of life as high school graduation approaches. Combine all of that with eating disorders and you get a picture of me throughout Jr. High and High School. A real mess mentally and emotionally - perfectly put together from the outside.

After the bus I was determined to stay skinny at all costs. What are those costs? At the time I didn't even consider any "cost", I was only interested in the immediate result - skinny. The consequence at the time was being hungry, very hungry but to me the pay off was better than being hungry. Staying skinny was worth more to me than eating. The long term costs were something I knew nothing about. These long term costs didn't materialize until many years later, after it was too late to prevent the damage that was done (more about this later in my journey).

To put it in perspective I am 5'3" tall and have been this height since 7th grade (remember the Bus Ride) this was my height then and it is now. As I began drastically dropping weight my lowest weight was in the 90's; 95-97 pounds never going above 105 pounds in high school. This was all well and "good" I felt "good" about the way I looked. This was very skinny but still a weight that to others looked "ok" and didn't cause alarm. No one had any concern about how extremely thin I was becoming. After all I was just being a teenage girl, every teenage girl is "thin" or wants to be right? 

According to an Anorexic BMI calculator a 17 year old, 5'3" girl weighing 102 pounds is at an "anorexic weight". So as I continued with my weight loss and dropped to the mid 90 pound weight range I was becoming dangerously thin. 

More problems began when being skinny all of a sudden didn't seem to be enough to keep people around. Dealing with my abandonment issues I ventured into destructive, unhealthy behavior and relationships as a way of connecting with people and keeping their "love" and attention. This is when the drinking and sexual activity started in high school.

A November 2015 article on Very Well states:

This is very true, it’s alarming and based on the date of this article this issue is still a concern today, not just something we dealt with in the 80's.  

Keeping the focus on eating disorders I will only briefly discuss underage drinking and promiscuity. Some will think "all high school kids experiment with drinking and sexual activity". While this may be the case for many teenagers in America it is my belief that when someone is dealing with serious psychological issues such as abandonment and eating disorders this "experimentation" becomes increasingly damaging. You end up with a young person incapable of saying no, someone who continues to retreat into a hole of self loathing and self destructive behavior. Someone ripe for abuse physically, mentally and emotionally. This is something to seriously consider as adults raising teens today. We need to pay attention.

Back to my journey...