Topic : 08/25 Extreme Food Obsessions

Hello everybody. I have never posted on this message board before, but after yesterday's show I feel compelled to. I want one point to get across and that is that eating disorders are not a choice. Anorexia nervosa is a brain disorder, the causation lies in the brain. Our brains are abnormal, just like the young girl with PWS. Triggers are the underlying issues, not the causation. The causation is in our brains. It is a disease, and there is no cure (management, yes, but no cure). That is the first point I want to make clear. I have been suffereing with anorexia for over 6 years and have been to many treatment centers and researched more than my fair share of information on anorexia. If you don't believe me about the causation being in the brain, see for yourself at this medical page http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?DB=pubmed  

I was very upset with Dr. Phil after yesterday's show. The first thing I  heard Dr. Phil say to Kathy was that she looked wonderful. Hello?? WOnderful, good, great, healthy, etc. all equate FAT in our minds! I was livid by that time and should have turned the channel, but I chose not to. Dr. Phil, don't you understand that eating disorders are not a choice and that any comment on our appereance is not needed and only a trigger? I was also upset by how the show kept flashing Kathy's emaciated pictures and her extreme weight. Weight is not reflective of the amount of pain we are all in. One does not have to be extremely emacaited in order to be suffering imensly. I felt so bad for Kathy because of how her weight and pictures were right there in front of her the whole show.  I'm sure it was a BIG trigger! Kathy, I am so proud of you for having the strength and courage to go on the show and give yourself a voice. You are an inspiration, and girl, you are stronger than you think you are.  

I am also upset because it seemed as if Dr. Phil was saying that Kathy is now recovered. SHe has worked very hard, yes, but the hell will live on for MUCH MUCH longer and it seems to minimalize her pain and suffering. I am sorry if I sound like I am lecturing, but I just cannot stay quiet. Too much misinformation and stereotypes are out there. People with eating disorders are anything but selfish. We did not choose this way of coping. Please understand that. We did not choose this. We live with undescribable pain and hurt each and everyday. The battle in our minds is out of control, however, we percieve anorexia to be the only thing we can control. Anorexia is hell and recovery is much more hell. People do not understand how HARD it is to eat or to not purge. It is a battle each and every day. Our minds scream at us how fat, lazy, worthless, selfish, and undeserving we are. Anorexia is PAIN! If any of you have anything in response to this, I would love to talk with you. Anorexia has killed me every single day I continue to hold on, and I understand just how horrible and painful this road to health is. Thank you all for listening, 

Julie 

There is an area of research that has determined that uncontrolled eating from brain disorder is a result of a particular protein being absent from the human body.   

The research has been able to isolate the specific protein - Neuropeptide Y (NPY), a 36-amino-acid peptide.   

The protein to suppress brain disorder appetite is now available in injection and patch form but is available only through prescription.  The research website ( www.phoenixpeptide.com ) has an outstanding amount of technical information regarding this research.   

This direct link to the specific information to which I am referring is somewhat long but very well worth the typing and the visit  to the website :   www.phoenixpeptide.com/Catalog%20Files/NPY%20Section/PYY.htm   

This protein became available to the public only within the past year.  

Hope it helps!  

YES! You said this very well; I absolutely agree. My family thinks that I am well because I gained weight, they say how much better I look now- this is causing me to relapse. People cannot just keep their mouths shut on this topic.  I think about weight all day long- it will not leave me. I am sitting here, still underweight, and feeling like the most worthless slob in all the world. And for those that continue to think that we are sinning, maybe we are- but don't you see that this is a battle, that we don't choose for this to be how we survive? I mean, I am not trying to kill myself or commit suicide.  Eating is just difficult and full of shame. Do you condemn those that cry for relief, that are depressed? Our feelings manifest into physical problems.  Unfortunately, we cannot hide our scars, and so the world takes this opportunity to throw stones at us.  No one with anorexia is happy!  

I'm sorry that you're angry/sad.   We all have bad days where we think we are fat, ugly, unpopular, etc.  I work at a gym of all places and we have this machine that tells the fat% of a person's body weight.  I am here to tell you that for a person of my height 5'2" and weight of about 125-128 age (I'm not telling) it tells me my percent is 39%.  The chart that we have says 35% is the max for people my age in the healthy range. 

If I believe that machine totally, I would go away thinking that I am fat.  Sure I have some lumps and bumps (ok they call it cellulite), but not for one minute do I think that I am fat!!!!   

Try and get out of the house and take a walk.  Can you join a gym????  I know that exercise works, and do not try and eat too little.  If you eat too little, your body's metabolism slows down, and if you are watching what you eat, it has the opposite effect on you. 

Hang in there and take one step at a time.  Look at each day and not so much in the future. 

I know my user name is food/how funny is that??  I like pie, that is why I exercise and try and eat healthy, so I can have dessert.