Anorexia and being Catholic

[LSK]

Hang in there, Anna! You are on the road to recovery if you can recognize as much as you have already - good for you! Look into Light Weigh…its on the web and is spiritually based. It’s helped a lot of us with similar issues. My prayers are with you, darlin!

 

[spacecadet]

CatholicSam:

Once an alcoholic, always an alcoholic, right? So once an anorexic, always an anorexic?

yes, as someone that is in recovery from food addiciton/starvation i can say that with the level of healing i’ve experienced satan doesn’t have the grip on me he once did with it but if it weren’t for my strong faith, my emotional health, my surrendur to Christ, and the constant support of my DH i would be right back in that world.

as for the disease statements, i call it a disease but using a diff. definitnion. it isn’t a disease like cancer it is a disease like alcoholism. i think much of the disagreement above is actually semantics. any of these disorders and addictions all stem from spirtual brokeness in one form or another. they are tools the devil uses to keep us from fulfilling God’s will for our lives.

in the end who cares if these things are genetic or environmental. it doesn’t matter. what matters is beating it.

 

[pira114]

LSK:

Being an Alcoholic is not simply being addicted to alcohol. This is a common misconception. If this was true then detox centers would spit out cured alcoholics all the time. They don’t…because alcoholics are treating their disease by drinking alcohol, they are not simply addicted to alcohol as a substance.

It is a difficult distinction to understand, I know, but you cannot compare it with being addicted to nicotine.

I am a recovering alcoholic and have been sober since May 4, 1992. I quit smoking at 2 years sober and picked up a cigaret 2 months ago during Roddy’s illness…and just put them down again a week ago. I did not reset my sobriety date for alcohol…that would be stupid. However, I would be equally dishonest if I didn’t say to people that I became addicted once again to nicotine and had to break the habit again.

It is not the same thing…

I salute you on not being an alcoholic anymore. Also for stopping smoking.

I’m not saying that addictions are easy to stop. They can be near impossible without a strong will, good advice, counsling, great support group, etc… But that still doesn’t make it a disease.

You stopped a bad behavior after you were able to admit to yourself that it was destructive and it was time to quit. Bravo!! Many people never do that. By choice. They choose to continue to drink. I choose to continue to smoke. I’m not sick. I’m just not mentally ready to quit yet. And that may even be my own cop-out. I’m shooting for the new year. Currently getting my plan ready for dealing with cravings and getting my support group ready. But in the end, it’s still up to me. Period.

I sincerely hope that I’m not making anyone with these types of problems feel bad, I don’t intend to. I just think that calling it a disease and shifting responsibility is enabling addicts, and I can’t do that.

By the way, I don’t buy this “once a something, always a something.” You quit being an alcoholic 13 years ago when you made the choice to stop. Congrats!

 

[LSK]

I salute you on not being an alcoholic anymore. Also for stopping smoking.

I am an alcoholic…I will always be an alcoholic. I am an alcoholic that no longer uses alcohol to treat my alcoholism.

I’m not saying that addictions are easy to stop. They can be near impossible without a strong will, good advice, counsling, great support group, etc… But that still doesn’t make it a disease.

Alcoholism is more than simply being addicted to alcohol…I would suggest you read the book Alcoholics Anonymous to learn more about the disease. Also, to be quite blunt, since you do not have the disease and are not dealing with it - your opinion as to its validity and how to correctly treat it really does not matter.

You stopped a bad behavior after you were able to admit to yourself that it was destructive and it was time to quit. Bravo!!

That is not why or how I quit…and while I thank you for your kudos, you have underscored why it is important that non-alcoholics NOT try to tell those of us who have the disease what to do and how to do it.

Many people never do that. By choice. They choose to continue to drink. I choose to continue to smoke. I’m not sick. I’m just not mentally ready to quit yet. And that may even be my own cop-out. I’m shooting for the new year. Currently getting my plan ready for dealing with cravings and getting my support group ready. But in the end, it’s still up to me. Period.

Apples and oranges…you are addicted to nicotine. Alcoholics who are still drinking are treating their alcoholism with alcohol. Some treat their disease with medication and no alcohol. Some treat their disease with no alcohol and prayer. Some with no alcohol and food. Some with no alcohol and other things. I choose, today, to treat my disease with no alcohol and the program as outlined by AA.

I sincerely hope that I’m not making anyone with these types of problems feel bad, I don’t intend to. I just think that calling it a disease and shifting responsibility is enabling addicts, and I can’t do that.

You are not making us feel bad but you are underscoring the fact that there is definitely an “Us” and a “them”. That’s ok. As I tell people when I speak at conferences all across the world…no matter how many times I have tried to explain to “them” why we drink they will never get it. And that’s ok…because quite frankly, while they do not understand why we drink, I will never understand why they don’t…

By the way, I don’t buy this “once a something, always a something.” You quit being an alcoholic 13 years ago when you made the choice to stop. Congrats!

You don’t have to…you’re not an alcoholic…I know someone who was sober for 25 years…they picked up a bottle on a Friday morning and was dead of alcohol poisoning by Sunday night…so who cares if YOU don’t think I’m an alcoholic anymore? It’s only important that I KNOW I am one…and that I remember it, one day at a time…

 

[pira114]

Apples and oranges…you are addicted to nicotine. Alcoholics who are still drinking are treating their alcoholism with alcohol. Some treat their disease with medication and no alcohol. Some treat their disease with no alcohol and prayer. Some with no alcohol and food. Some with no alcohol and other things. I choose, today, to treat my disease with no alcohol and the program as outlined by AA.

How can I be addicted to nicotine, but you’re not addicted to alcohol? The addictions have much different affects, but they are both still chemical/social addictions. If I quit smoking cigarrettes, am I a smoker who doesn’t smoke?

But your right. My opinion does not matter. I’m on the wrong side of the politicaly correct band wagon at the moment. Actually, in the end, even if my opionion were the popular one, I guess what matters most is the fact that you quit drinking. Whatever works for you is fine with me. Sorry if any of my comments offended you or anyone else. I do know what it’s like. My father was an alcoholic. He quit when he finally realized the negative effects it had and decided to stop. Hasn’t had a drink in over 30 years. He just woke up one day and decided he would never drink again. Again, what worked for him may not work for others. Maybe my experience with how he quit shaped my opinions.

 

[anna1978]

I think the main problem with food addictions/disorders is, that you can quit alcohol/cigarettes/gambling COMPLETELY…food is always there, you can’t stop ‘using food’ altogether…And I do think there is something in the brain that makes me ‘use food’ in different ways than most people…It relaxes me, comforts me, helps me cope…just like as a teenager I loved the feeling of being completely faint with hunger, it used to give me a rush! Now, if I’m stressed (which is pretty much all the time in the past 3 1/2 years…long story…) I react the opposite way: I eat! I totally recognise the triggers as well…but I can’t quite stop myself, because then I’d be crying and getting angry all day…the food really numbs the pain. I really think that unless you’ve experienced that, you can’t quite understand how your mind can say ‘You are giving yourself a heart-attack, you’ll die young if you eat like that, this is so unhealthy!’…but the body says ‘need to numb pain, need to survive’…it’s much more complex than ‘Just eat/don’t eat’…it’s not something you can ‘snap out of’ easily…

Anna x

 

[Zooey]

Anna, I appreciate your sharing, because I think it is great that you are looking at yourself clearly much sooner than many of us with eating disorders ever do. You find a good program & go with it!! You deserve that.

 

[LSK]

Absolutely, Anna…and it is different than being an alcoholic…what most people forget is that there are hard drinkers who can just quite drinking one day and never drink again and then there are alcoholics…completely two different things…and the realitiy is, one does not need to drink alcohol in order to live and one does need to eat in order to live.

As far as ‘the politically correct bandwagon’ most people who do not understand the difference between being an alcoholic and a hard drinker do not know that AA started over 70 years ago, alcoholism was recognized as a disease 50 years ago and Dr. William Silkworth started treating alcoholics at Towns Hospital in New York almost 100 years ago…hardly a ‘new’ bandwagon…

 

[Cadence]

If you can’t catch it then it isn’t a disease?

Is clinical depression a disease? When it is caused by a chemical imbalance of the brain how can it be controlled by the person who has it?
Is epilepsy a disease? You cannot catch it.

There are many diseases that develope for any number of reasons, there is not such a simplistic explanation.

I have suffered through depression, anxiety and agraphobia. When people thought I should just “snap out of it” I nearly lost all hope. This is one of the most uncaring attitudes you could take.
I believe anorexia is similar to depression but with compulsive disorder thrown in. It is not something you choose and the uneducated judgment from loved ones is not helpful.

Leave the judgment to the experts. Just love her and believe her when she tells you how hard it is.