My Battle With Anorexia Nervosa And How I Made The Road To Recovery.

When I was a teenager at the age of 15 years old I was always teased about how I looked [my body image] and how it became a struggle with bulimia at first in which I quickly recovered from but as always stayed at the back of my mind for many years.

As my life went on I have struggled with my mental health which at this point became quite difficult. At the age of twenty years old I was what I felt was very chubby and I started to lose weight and at that stage, things started to go horribly wrong, I started to get thinner without noticing the consequences about what I saw when I looked in the mirror. The more comments I was getting from people that I lost weight made me feel more and more to lose weight without thinking of the danger.

I would like to put my story out there for people who are struggling with this terrible disease that can take over people’s lives as it did mine. My anorexia nervosa was an emotional and physical rollercoaster I was in complete denial my bones were brittle and I had downy hair [like straw], dry skin, facial hair, drawn in the face, in which I didn’t see in the mirror it destroyed my life and family life and social life. Basically anything that had joy in my life was taken away by anorexia nervosa.

Recovery seemed to be an impossible journey but this treatment was meant to be a turning point to the point where I wanted to start to live my life again and catch up on the yrs that I missed to restore my health. Anorexia had ruined so much [my dream] to go into travel and tourism to travel to different countries around the world. So, I started treatment I was going to be a recovery story and my life was going to begin again. And I’m happy to say that I have actually succeeded. I’m not going to lie it was not an easy journey and was not pretty, tears, anger, agitation, frustration and confusion.

It was a very emotional process, but absolutely worth it as everything started to fit into place and started to make an entrance back into my life of being happy, family holidays, eating out, and laughter and for the first time I felt like I was getting my life back. Yes it was the most terrifying journey of my life but I never lost hope and faith to recover I just kept believing and putting my trust in the care team, my family was also very supportive and they never doubted me, who did support me through every moment and watched me as I began to blossom I was beginning to feel better having the experience of getting my life back on track and started enjoying life again.

I managed to turn things around by doing more courses and studying an nvq level 3 in the caring sector and travelling was very important to me. In all honesty, the future for me was simple and so bright that after my recovery I started to see a light at the end of the tunnel. My hope now is being able to inspire and help others realise that the journey of recovery may be a long process and there will be many bumps in the road ahead but it’s totally worth it and giving up is never an option.

You as a person going through this illness can be strong and find a light at the end of the tunnel too because that is what I believe in whoever may be reading this we are strong we are human beings who are beautiful no matter whoever you are and that is what I believe in the most is never giving up on your journey to recovery because we are strong.