Sunday, September 21, 2008

I think my depression is starting to take a huge spiral downward. I know I've been saying over and over again that it's not that bad, and for awhile it wasn't; but tonight it is that bad, and it seems to just be getting worse. And I don't know what the fuck to do about it.

All I can think is this: If I'm just going to feel exhausted and cranky and be unable to concentrate whether or not I eat, I might as well just not fucking eat, so at least I can lose some weight and look better, if I have to be this goddamned miserable anyway.

Fuck this shit.

Saturday, September 20, 2008

I try so hard to help other people, and then find it so hard to help myself sometimes. I try to be there for others -- give them a listening ear, maybe some gentle nudging or poking if I think it might be useful -- and then am extremely stubborn when anyone else tries to give me advice. I try not to hide from the truth about myself and my intentions and desires and fears, and yet I find myself continually, unconsciously, trying to go back to one old coping mechanism or another when I get stressed or sad or lonely or bored. There are still so many normal human emotions that I can't stand to be in for extended periods of time. And I wonder if that makes me really hypocritical, in trying to help other people; and then I wonder, if this is the definition for hypocritical -- trying to help others when one oneself isn't perfect -- whether every person on this planet isn't at least a little hypocritical.

Lately I've been compulsively overeating way too much. Started one day at school when I bought fast food for lunch -- and that just started a downward spiral, wherein I wanted all the tasty foods I could get my hands on all the time. The fact that we have barely anything in this house to eat that I actually want to eat doesn't help, as it has made me feel more justified in buying a lot of bad foods with my pocket money. Of course, on the other hand, it probably short-circuited a bout of COE last night that likely would have ended up in b/ping had we had anything else tasty in the house. Cause and effect circle each other, dance with hands on each other's waists and sparks flying between them, the danger and heat of the exchange flashing darkly in their eyes.

I wish all of it was as easy as telling myself to just stop. (Don't we all?) People see compulsive overeating as somehow different from a "full-blown" eating disorder, as more of a willpower thing and less of a full-blown disease that totally consumes a person. And, admittedly, it doesn't have quite the same physical effects as many of the other disorders. It takes a long time to die of compulsive overeating, if in fact you do die. For me, it has a little less to do with self-destruction and much more to do with comfort. Eating many sweet things at once, eating a lot of salt, it does, as studies have found, trigger that large output of serotonin. Like a chemical trigger for beating the blues. So is it any wonder that when I get tired, I want to overeat? After all, I always feel much more energized and able to carry on after eating too much. And is it any wonder that my largest desires to compulsively overeat happen when I get very sad or depressed? Biologically, my brain is actually being quite intelligent. It knows that the rush of sugar or salt (my personal tastes usually lead me more toward sugar) will make the mood rise, which will better restore equilibrium. And so it drives me to try and consume more and more and more.

Part of my problem is that I can't figure out what is the basis for the depletion of the neurotransmitters in the first place. Why do they get so low that my body tries to force me to restore them by eating a lot? Is it certain things that I do that make them worse and unbalance them -- for example, not sleeping enough? Or is it more related to faulty brain chemistry? Sometimes I really think I am still dysthymic, or maybe even cyclothymic. Because I do still have many times when I feel pretty good, or even quite happy, and then there are times when I am lethargic and down and completely unenthused for no really good reasons that I can figure out. So I often wonder if it's some cycle down into dysthymia that affects the sleep patterns, eating, etc, and these other dysfunctions in turn make me feel worse and worse and worse. But then I think that maybe I'm really stressed by school, which causes me to sleep unsoundly, which causes my body to try and eat more to compensate for its fatigue and allow me to keep going. Cause and effect, cause and effect. Which is which? How the heck can I ever know?

My problems are all so mild now, compared to what they used to be, that I simply do not feel validated in seeking any assistance whatsoever. If the lethargic moods are so mild that I can function around them, why would I bother going for help about them? If I cycle between being able to eat normally and then into a little bit of disordered behavior and then back again, where is the justification for seeing a dietician? If I feel that I've uncovered so many of my psychodynamic/unconscious issues already, and no therapist around here is likely to even do the right kind of therapy, let alone be completely psychologically sound themselves, or be as understanding and patient as I would need them to be, why would I even bother trying to go back to therapy? I honestly just can't see how any of these routes would help me at this point. I would basically go in being a whiner and an attention seeker. And I am NOT going to do that. I absolutely refuse to be the mental health equivalent of someone who goes to the doctor about a few sniffles. I am not going to be one of those spoiled, pampered brats who takes advantages of services just because she can. That's not my style, and I hope it never will be.

In the meantime, though, I get the not even remotely fun work of trying to do this myself. Which is the part that annoys me. But at the same time... this is what I have chosen to do. So I guess I'm just going to have to make it bloody work, aren't I?

Sunday, September 14, 2008

Clipped from an entry on another journal site.


My life seems to have taken a slight upswing lately. I finished at my shitty fast food job on August 30th, and then I started school again on September 4th. I am taking a full course load -- 15 credits, the maximum I can have before needing a letter of permission to take more classes. This equates to five courses which require a fair amount of reading, study, and some written assignments (although thankfully not many, and NO heavy-duty essays). Most of my evals are being done through tests, in fact, which is pretty common in first-year courses.

For, yes, I am still taking all first-year courses. Technically I have the credits of a third year, but as most of those courses were for a specialized degree, most of them don't even count towards my new degree. So, basically, I get to prance around campus with the credits of a third year, and the student number of a FIFTH year, while really, for all intents and purposes, being a first year. You can see how this might create some awkwardness on my part. Luckily, people don't ask many questions -- I just tell them I was doing a music degree first, and then I took some time off / worked before going back to school again to do a new degree, in which most of my previous courses don't count for anything. This generally seems to cover all the bases in such a way that nobody asks me about the specifics of my "time off"... I guess they just assume I was working for most of it.

It's a little sad, though, just how easy it is to cover up the fact that I was previously crazy. I mean, there are a bunch of people who know -- my family, many aunts and uncles and probably cousins, my close friends from high school, the friends I met online and in various treatments when I was still very trapped in my disorders -- but I think most of them, aside from some of the online friends, basically assume that it's all in the past now. And I will admit that I do a decent job of putting on a sane, normal front. I try to be generally cheerful; I held down a job, and now have converted into a full-time student, which lord knows is no easy task to begin with; I socialize and play games and chat with people and seem, from all fronts, to have a normal life. But we all know that appearances can be deceiving (clichéd but true). And even though I think I have, in a general sort of sense, been improving more than declining since leaving Homewood, there have still been a ton of struggles along the way.

I sound a lot more grounded now, though, and I know that too. Which is partially because a lot of the time I am more grounded. Since I started school I have been trying to adopt a healthy/normal eating routine (healthy when I am able, or normal when healthy isn't fully possible), as well as adding some exercise, because I am required to pay for a gym membership at school and moderate exercise can only benefit me health-wise. I have realized, very practically, that if I ever want to get out of the shitty minimum-wage work I have to do school, and therefore I have to do whatever it takes to make school work, and to get the best grades that I can possibly get. And I know myself well enough to know that this includes following a sensible and mostly healthy meal plan, and being active enough that I don't feel like shit because I am so sluggish and depressed. So, basically, I have to at least try not to torture myself constantly with the ED, whether it be bulimia or restriction. Both of them make me tired and irritable and cold, and make my focus less on school and more on food and weight and self-destruction. Obviously, that isn't going to work if I need school to be the priority.

So, basically, I have once again decided that I am just really fucking sick of all this ED bullshit... but I know the only reason I have been able to decide that is because I am back in school. If I'd been at my job much longer, on the other hand, I think a relapse would have been pretty much inevitable, or at least I would have had a serious downward slide. I was on the point of developing one before school started -- having fasting days a lot, only eating at work on the days that I did eat, or at least limiting the cals, etc. It's just a damned good thing I got out of there, and saved my body as well as my soul. You know?

For anyone who has actually read to this point... I applaud you. You must have a lot of stamina and patience to wade through such boring crap >P. In any event, I guess I had better go. I have to see about retrieving my fifth Harry Potter book from the clutches of my sister's friend (hopefully it's not beaten up and dirty like the last book my sister loaned her was when I got it back -.-), and then I am going to finish Goblet of Fire, and then maybe I will start some of my reading for school. Toodles! :)

Sunday, September 07, 2008

I hate everything that I am.
Tonight... I am tired. And also wondering if I will ever really, truly get out of this eating disorder for good.

Basically everybody I know, or used to know, with an ED still struggles with it at least some of the time. Probably the majority of them still have anywhere from mild to moderate to severe life interference, even today, from their eating disorders. What would make me so special, so lucky, that I would somehow magically be able to get rid of it where most of my other friends have not been able to? The answer, of course, is nothing.

I'm not quite sure I was ever able to truly shake off this disorder. Sometimes I sort of forget it exists -- but then I have a tendency to veer back towards COE, that disordered eating pattern I began to develop in the ninth grade, a pattern which, in times of so-called normalcy, never seems to quite leave me. I am a lot better at intuitive eating these days... I can usually stop before I become so chock-full that I am ridiculously uncomfortable or sick... but I still end up getting just a little too full too much of the time. It bothers me a lot, honestly. I wonder, too, how much of it really is a disordered eating pattern, and how much of carelessly overfilling yourself a little is just a normal eating behavior which happens to normal people sometimes.

But then I wonder how many people in this world really ARE normal eaters. I look around me and see just as many overweight, obese, or morbidly obese people as I do normal or underweight people. And, in fact, I would wager that there are more overweight and obese people around here than normal or underweight. So maybe most people I know will habitually, when they go to restaurants, eat until they are stuffed. But a lot of the people I know are also not normal weights. I'm not even judging at this point... it's just a FACT. So how can I possibly rely on their behaviors to be a cue for my own, when what I desire is to maintain my weight? I mean, they gained the extra weight somehow, so it seems to me that it is not wise to put my trust in their methods.

On the other hand, though, it is very very difficult to starve myself these days. Too difficult. I get lightheaded, cranky, tired; I have no energy to do anything; I cannot think or concentrate properly. None of these things are conductive to doing well in school, going to the gym, or having a social life. The last two, especially, are very troublesome to me. The lack of vitality, enthusiasm, passion -- the cloudiness of thought -- they are unacceptable to me when I have other important things in my life that need to get done. I probably would have pursued the eating disorder more while I was just working; now, though, I have my grades to think about, and I MUST do at least decently well or I feel that my whole life will go to shambles. I don't want to gain a shitload of weight, but if I want to be functional at all I probably can't lose a shitload of weight in a short time, either.

So then... what the fuck do I do? I don't even know. I'm still trying to figure that one out. Eat normally enough that I can eat socially, but rely on my hunger and fullness cues instead of overeating, but try to get some exercise in so maybe I can be less flabby, and then try to rein in my caloric intake just enough for me to slowly lose weight. Is that actually all POSSIBLE to do at once??? I have severe doubts. I really don't think it IS possible. At best, I think I can try to eat intuitively and healthily most of the time, and intuitively while socializing, and then I can exercise several times a week at the gym and hope that this somehow decreases the flab. Which it may or may not. Which bothers me... but it's such a complicated issue to work out that I may only be able to work on a couple things at once. In this case, perfection may just not be attainable, as I must pursue balance among all areas as opposed to zoning in on one area and letting the rest fall to the wayside.

Somehow, I have to teach myself the way to eat normally and mostly healthily and generally happily. Somehow. Without gaining a ton of weight -- without losing a ton of weight -- without giving into the ED behaviors in any way.

But can I even do this?????

Saturday, August 30, 2008

I love Googlism.

sylvia plath is now recognized as a major
sylvia plath is essential reading for all those who have been moved and fascinated by plath's life and work [yes... yes, i suppose it is...]
sylvia plath is opgenomen
sylvia plath is a contribution to the very thin stack of books in turkish on american literary figures [she should be flattered]
sylvia plath is their oj simpson
sylvia plath is a shoo
sylvia plath is published in johnny panic and the bible of dreams
sylvia plath is one of the poets who has written multiple poems that give me those feelings [i actually agree with this one]


Why I looked up Plath? I really don't know. She was the first writer that came into my head. Which may or may not be a good thing.

Maybe I'll do a proper update sometime later.


PS: Googlism, for the unindoctrinated. (Is that even a proper word?)

Sunday, August 24, 2008

I am a whale. A horrible, awful, massive, gargantuan whale.

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

On another two-day fast. At first I didn't really want to, but at the moment I just can't imagine putting any food in my mouth for some reason. Just a second ago I thought about some salad... just the greens, not even any dressing... but then I thought, "Nah." I'd just rather not lift the fork or the hand to the lips, move the muscles of the jaw, chew, swallow. I would rather not take in any nourishment at all.

Also, I think I'm getting a little too pro-ana for my liking. Lol. Nobody has to jump down my throat or anything here... I know how stupid it is. It's just that right now, it really feels like the only thing that can save me from my fat and ugly self, and I am ALL for it. I don't even care about my strength, or exercise, or anything. I just... don't want to eat. Love to look at all that stupid thinspo. Whatever. I'm not making any apologies for it. It is what it is, and I'm cool with it for now, so it's completely fine with me.

Work tonight at 7 for five hours. The good thing about a late five-hour shift is that I can say I already had supper, and then on break I can just have some diet soda. Easy schmeasy.

Guess I'm out for now.

Thursday, August 14, 2008

How could I be so full of hope, happy and determined and so sure I was going to do well and be beautiful and lovable and have everything that I wanted -- and then crash down so hard?

Yesterday: I was fasting. I was sure I could lose weight. Willpower. Determination. I felt like maybe I could be beautiful, inside, out.

Today... well, I ate. A good amount at first. Then got displeased with my fat self just before going out to a birthday gathering for a friend, because my jeans are too fucking TIGHT and they made my love handles just pop out way more than they needed to, and it was awful, and I was overstimulated anyway because my sister wouldn't stop blasting her fucking music above my head, and I was tired because I'd only gotten four hours of sleep the night before, and everything was just horrible. And then I get to the gathering and of course there's nachos with this great dip and little two-bite triple chocolate muffins, and... FUCK!!! I really did not want to eat anything else, but I felt like I had to eat socially, and then of course I just dived right in because it was a comforting social thing, and I felt horribly awkward for awhile for various reasons, and... FUUUUUUUCK! Why am I so goddamned COE anyway??

I am the most gargantuan blimp on the face of this planet -- I am convinced. Even girls who have far higher body mass indexes than I -- girls who are really overweight, girls who are obese -- even they cannot possibly match myself in blimplike qualities. I might as well be swimming in the fucking ocean. Rename me the blue whale, and you will have some idea of the TRUE fatness inside of me.

I don't know how to describe the feelings in a way that doesn't sound completely stupid. I know that comparing myself to blimps and whales is pretty cliché. The truth is, that's not even the half of it. I feel like anybody looking at me must immediately KNOW how much of a fat, ugly, disgusting failure I am. They must look at me and laugh behind their eyes and whisper about me to their peers, giggling too loudly to ignore because they also think I am a deaf idiot and can't hear them at all. Only I do. I do. I can feel their criticisms, their judging looks, their stares, see the hands cupping mouths to ears, almost touch the hostility and negative feelings that flow towards me as they look at me. And all this they can tell just by LOOKING at me, I am positive, because my fatness MUST exude in waves and bursts and slap everyone in the face as they pass by. I am so huge that I am impossible to ignore -- impossible not to laugh at -- impossible not to hate and make fun of.

And don't tell me this isn't logical. I don't care if you don't think it's logical. I don't care if the whole fucking WORLD can't see what I see in myself. I see it, and so to me that means it MUST be logical, and it MUST be true. There is no way it CANNOT be true.

What I want to know, logically, is this: How can I possibly keep going on in a body like this, which causes me so much pain every time I look at it -- when I dress it in the too-tight clothing that fit me a few months ago -- when I go into dressing rooms and try on two sizes bigger and the pants are STILL too fucking small?? How can I even keep making myself eat, when I am alone and not accountable to anyone? It's a pure decision of LOGIC. I like food -- I really do. I WANT to eat. But everytime I eat I always end up feeling like this!!!

How can I keep doing this? Or can I even keep doing it??

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Going on a two-day fast to mark my return home, and (hopefully) the start of something new. [Cue High School Musical soundtrack.] I may let myself have one or two cups of coffee, which would be about 10-20 cals' worth of milk, but other than that it's just tea, water, and maybe diet soda. I imagine that both coffee and diet soda will end up being present.

I mean, come on... it's only two days, and it will sorta give me a bit of a kick-start, as well as making me feel like I actually can accomplish something, and that maybe I can stop being this gargantuan FATASS and become at least a semi-normal weight, even if I can't manage being really truly thin. I feel that I have a huge excess of body fat and inches, and this must change. Two days will start the process; and hopefully showing myself that I really can do this will be all the motivation I'll need. Not that I don't already have some motivation -- but I really want this to be more fuel for the fire, so to speak.

Can I be frank? I don't give a shit about "recovery", and I don't want to be told not to do this. I AM doing it, and I don't even think it will hurt my health at all, given that I have not truly restricted in a very long time. This body has got fuel to burn, and things in the digestive tract to be cleansed... trust me.

Time for bed. And tomorrow will be the first day of a whole new beginning. ^__^

Saturday, August 02, 2008

So I'm just starting a binge, and I go to my iTunes and turn on the shuffle... and what's the first song that comes up?

"Addicted" by Kelly Clarkson.

It's sad when even your mp3 player knows you have problems. >P


I'm hooked on you
I need a fix
I can't take it
Just one more hit
I promise I can deal with it

Sunday, July 20, 2008

Holistic wellness? Recovery? AHAHAHAA. Ha. HAHAHAHAHAHAAAAA. It's never going to fucking happen for me. I'm really starting to get convinced of that now. So many things try to derail me, and not all of them succeed, but enough do that I think I am really starting to fall off the wagon, in more ways than one.

Will the wave break? Will there be some kind of tsunami later on? Or will I just be stuck knee-deep in ocean water forever, never knowing when a huge, breath-sucking wave might overtake me?

Friday, June 06, 2008

Anorexia: a portrait

I thought this piece of writing was so fantastic that I just had to link it here. I emphasize so much with this... I remember very vividly, still, exactly what it was like.

Anorexia: a portrait.

Monday, May 19, 2008

If you've ever been confused about the differences between COE and BED, or the different kinds of bulimia, or what differentiates anorexia from bulimia, etc... I suggest you read this article. Everything this person wrote is so true -- and while it doesn't entirely clear up b/ping or purging anorexia vs bulimia, it DOES give what I consider to be a good version of the difference between COE and BED. And it actually clarifies bulimia as a disorder with binging at its core, but with different methods of dealing with the food than those with BED. I, at least, really appreciated the difference... especially since my bulimia has always been more about the binging and not the purging. But I digress.

http://stillhopingstilleating.blogspot.com/2008/05/what-disorders-look-like.html

Thursday, April 10, 2008

If I was in school, after a binge-tastic night like I've had tonight, I could just choose to eat almost nothing all day tomorrow and sort of "cleanse" myself, and then I'd feel better and not hate myself so much. But tomorrow I have to work, and I have to eat at break at work (or it will look extremely weird), and then I might have to go out to supper before I go see a musical with my dad... FUCK!!! I just can't goddamned win!

I hate food, and I hate eating, and I hate the fact that these last few nights I've been shovelling a bunch of shit in my face and not purging nearly enough of it out. I am going to be fat as a fucking pig by the time my exams are done. I think the stress, combined with the fact that I've decided not to restrict during exam time, are making me OVEReat as a stress relief mechanism. :|

WHY is it that unless I'm restricting I'm flat-out fucking BINGING????


And now I'm going to bed. I'm pretty tired, and I have to get up at 5:50 AM yet again tomorrow morning. (I've been getting up at 5:50 AM every day since Monday for work. Fun, hey??) Wish me luck in getting through my shift tomorrow -- I expect it to be fairly brutal -- and also in actually studying for my exams. I am having a really hard time concentrating on studying, and I'm really terrified I'm going to fail.


What a way to update after writing no entries in forever.