Eating Disorders Recovery Blog

What really gets my blood boiling is how sneaky Eating Disorders are. I can best describe them as the "Perfect Murder" Take Brittany Murphy and Michael Jackson for instance...both talented individuals in their field of acting and music. The Eating Disorder makes its sneaky "entrance" or what we call in the field "is triggerered" with the demands to stay beatiful and attractive.

After the sneaky murderer is present it corners it's victim with threats of making them fat if they don't do exactly what it says and starve. In the field we call this the "presence" of the Eating Disorder voice.

In an effort to escape from the murderer, the Eating Disorder victim turns to drugs and alcohol to at least give themselves some short escape from the miserable existence they have found themselves in. This escape is what we call "cross addicition" the Eating Disorder victim shuts the ED voice off with other substances. In the process there is still no long term reprieve from the  Eating Disorder so they increase their use of alcohol and drugs.

After time the threshold for this pain becomes so shallow that the Eating Disorder victim takes as much drugs and alcohol that they possibly can that allows them to still survive. This is where the Eating Disorder takes the victim out and kills them. Using an overdose on drugs is the easiest way to kill it's victim because it leaves the Eating Disorder blamelsess. When  the coroner comes and analyzes the body they find the cause of death to be a "heart attack" or a "seizure" but, they never claim that the root was the murdering Eating Disorder because the Eating Disorder is too smart for that. All along it plotted to get its vicitm into this drug addiction, fully knowing that it could get off scotch free for the murder and go off and attack someone else in the same way. Eating Disorders are truly genius, murdering, psychopaths that are the best at what they do.

I came up with this "Perfect Murder" theory after I repeatedly saw celebrities die and hear so many news broadcasters tell the public, "Britney Murphy died of Cardiac Arrest" "Michael Jackson's heart stopped." "It was an overdose" or "It was just a freak accident." Having worked in the field it doesn't take a genius to know that these two individuals suffered from Eating Disorders. Just looking at their weight at the time of their deaths shows that their Body Mass Index was well below even a thin healthy weight. As well as the stories and speculation around each ones body image. Michael Jackson with the constant plasitc surgery and Britney Murphy with rapid weight loss show evidence that each one was unhappy with their appearance.

I write this article today just to simply get the truth out and stop all the "Hush, Hush." Eating Disorders thrive on secrets. The more we expose this merciless murderer the closer we are to catching him!

Love,

Irvina

Labels: Anorexia is deadly, Anorexic Britney Murphy, Anorexic Michael Jackson, Bulimia treatment, Celebrities with Eating Disorders, Compulsive Overeating Treatment, Eating Disorder Treatment

The time has come again! Another amazing therapist in the Eating Disorder field will be faciliting a meeting at The Victorian House this Sunday!
Chandra Chalkin will be discussing the Psychology of Women and doing some Movement Therapy. To learn more about Chandra Chalkin and her services visit her website here. Otherwise I look forward to seeing your beautiful self:
Sunday, March 28th
7pm - 8pm
The Victorian 505 29th Street
Newport Beach, CA 92663

Ciao Bellas!
 Irvina

Labels: Anorexia information, Anorexia rehab, Bulimia treatment, Compulsive Overeating Treatment, Eating Disorder Meetings in Newport Beach, Eating Disorder Treatment

Sunday nights are my favorites at The Victorian...where else can you meet up with amazing women, do a book study and/or get group therapy from a professional in the field of Eating Disorders? Hello...Jackpot! And the jackpot it is this weekend cause we are having the lovely Dr. Roxanee Cherry PhD coming to do Guided Meditation and Art Therapy with our women, Alumni, friends and friends of friends-sisters-baristas- dog-sitter! Our motto is "The more the women IN- the more the Eating Disorder - OUT!" So mark your calendar:

Meditation and Art Therapy at
The Victorian
505 29th Street
Newport Beach, CA 92660
7pm to 8pm

*To learn more about Dr.Cherry and her practice please click here.
Otherwise...see you on Sunday!

xoxo
Irvina

Labels: Anorexia rehab, Art Therapy for Eating Disorders, Bulimia treatment, Compulsive Overeating Treatment, Eating Disorder Blog, Eating Disorder Treatment, Meditation for Eating Disorders

Here’s a look at what Anorexic days look like…waking up to hunger pains which are numbed with appetite suppressants…. The ritual weighing in “How fat I am” happens right out of bed and periodically through out the day. Then there is a spin class at 5am followed by pinching her belly and arms after class to see how much more fat is still there…. Eating half an apple to calm the hunger and drinking 2 Venti Coffees with Splenda to fill up the stomach and give the appearance of energy. More complicated than dodging hunger pains is dodging “People”. They can be an obstacle with their invitations for lunch and offering a slice of a co –workers birthday cake…they just get in the way! For lunch she eats half a power bar for energy….making sure no one will see her eat it thinking that they will think shes “fat” for eating it. The rest of the day, she will research diets, calculate the calories in everything she has eaten since breakfast and order a 21 day detox program on –line…And that’s all before noon.

But, this Anorexic existence can only last for so long, until, the house of cards comes crashing down. Within the Eating Disorder recovery community we call this “The flip of the coin” where the Anorexic gets so nutrient deprived that she has lets say just one bite of ice cream….all of the sudden out of no where the full time Anorexic does a 180 and now instead of constantly focusing on staying away from food, she is now focused on getting as much food as she can and starts bingeing. Cyclically this can lead to purging behaviors like bulimia and laxatives. Like Alcoholism, Eating Disorders are progressive in nature. Try and think of the Alcoholic who drank all weekend, then just at night, then all week, then it lead to prescription pills and then to cocaine. Now, this person isn't just an embarassing "bar drunk" she's an Alcholic and a drug addict. But, it didn’t happen over night, it was progressive.

What many Anorexics and their parents don’t understand is how the behaviors of different eating disorders feed off of each other. To re-cap: Anorexia causes binging and compulsive overeating which then turns into purging. Now, just because a woman binges doesn’t mean that her “Anorexic phase” is over. Her binging will cause her to gain weight and then her Anorexic flag will go up and she starves again. The starving leads again to binging which then leads to purging and of course shame which takes us back to square one of the Anorexic thinking, “I’m not good enough. I don’t deserve to eat.” As well, now this woman isn’t just working full-time as an Anorexic, but she is now a slave for 3 eating disorders…Anorexia, Binging/Compulsive Overeating and Bulimia all compiled are more time consuming and mentally draining than you could ever imagine.

I know so many women who wish someone would have offered them help at the anorexic stage. In my own words I have said, “had someone told me how painful Compulsive Overeating was, I would have eaten those damn carbs as an Anorexic.” If you or someone you know has Anorexia, believe me, recovery is the hardest thing to do, but RECOVERY gets easier….ANOREXIA only gets worse and only lasts so long, until it turns into another Eating Disorder or death.

Xoxo Irvina

Labels: Anorexia rehab, Bulimia treatment, Compulsive Overeating Treatment, Eating Disorder Treatment, Rehab for Eating Disorders, Rehabs for Eating Disorders