What do you wish people knew about your eating disorder?

Even though I may be eating ok on the outside, doesn't mean that my eating disorder is getting quieter, or that I'm getting stronger. Sometimes even while I am eating, I really am getting worse on the inside. And sometimes I slip to old habits. It's not easy fighting an eating disorder.

With love,

Breathe

I wish people would know that it takes a long time to recover from and eating disorder it doesnt just happen over night, that it take months and years to get better and the even when you are in recovery that there is still set backs and relapse.

That I hate when people talk about what they ate or didn't eat during the day because Sometimes I wish I could be the other person, and not being controled by everybody else on what I eat, where how when why ahhhhhh!

I wish people would understand it's not easy for me to 'just eat.' I wish people understood the side effects, both physicall and mentally, that my eating disorder has caused me to deal with.

That recovery isn't a straight path forward - sometimes it turns backwards for a bit, but that doesn't mean it's starting over

That looking healthy isn't the same as being healthy and support shouldn't stop just because weight is restored

That hearing them talk about their diets or how fat they are makes everything harder

@Laura That its not all about looks, that most ED's arent caused by "media" and models, but a twisted way of trying to control the uncontrollable with food.

I am NOT making it up.

It IS a problem, and a problem for me.

I need help and I want support (healthy support, to get better).

It is technically a choice, but not all the time.

Sometimes, often times, the ED takes over and I cannot think of anything else.

Sometimes I don't care that my ED could kill me.

I want to know that people (family, friends, servers, even strangers) care about ME and not just the ED that I have.

It is not about weight !!!!!!!

Weight numbers and calorie numbers (even height sometimes) can be very triggering for me.

Please don't ask me if I'm finished yet, or maybe even "Would you like seconds?", or really comment on my plate/food choices at all :( Those kinds of comments are fuel for ED and I don't want 'him' to have any more than he already has.

Don't tell our family or post on FB and such without asking me first. EDs are hard to deal with alone, yeah; but that doesn't mean I want 'everyone' to know either.

...................... So if I choose to tell you about my eating disorder, please feel honored. For it means I trust you a lot. Like, a LOT.

This got much longer than I intended. :\ ~ Platy

Wish peeps knew ED is to be taken seriously, not just a physical issue but also can affect someone mentally and emotionally. If not treated, it could hurt them in long run. Can cause injuries and even death too, so if you see someone suffering an ED, don't pressure or force them to get better within like minutes/days. Give them time, even if it takes over a year.

Peeps have NO RIGHT to control how someone should eat/drink, and if they really knew what the hell was going on, they'd step in for aid. But unfortunately, society isn't that way. They call it attention seeking and would skinny/fat shame them to the point it triggers the victim into suffering their ED even more. I've been through it, and so have people similar and even those who had it much worse.

If your ordinary bullies doing the shaming is bad enough, doctors prescribing you sleep meds with weight gain effects without you knowing at first is MUCH WORSE. Especially if you have an ED or any other mental disorder. I have an ED, and because the stupid meds I got in my psych ward visit after a suicide attempt, I didn't know why I gained so much weight. It was a huge skinny shame in my part. Doctors doing that to you is 100x worse because they're supposed to HELP you, not SHAME you. Half the time they don't see who you are. God.

I wish people knew that I'm not bulimic to hurt them. They take it so personally but I don't do it on purpose to hurt them. That's why I'm hiding it. But I have gotten caught in the past and people have not taken it well at all

I wish more people realized just how significantly it affects me and everything I do. Just because I seem happy or confident doesn't mean I feel that way internally, and my struggles shouldn't be dismissed just because they aren't aparent.