Faith's Story

Recovery is possible

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Hi, my name is Faith I want to share my experience of having an eating disorder to raise awareness in the community and give others hope of recovery. I was diagnosed with anorexia when I was 15 years old, but it had all started way before then.

 

From a young age I was always worried about my weight and the way I looked. For years I tried my best to lose weight but I never really got the results I wanted and decided I needed to try harder and harder. At the age of 15, life was just starting for me – so many exciting things were happening, I was getting ready for year 11 and I also had my first boyfriend! Life was good but I still had a craving to be skinny. I thought my life would be so much better, I thought I would be finally happy but I wasn’t.

 

Losing so much weight left me lethargic and depressed and the worst thing was I still craved to be skinnier. I ended up needing a hospital admission where I was force fed through a tube and given nutrients through my veins. I hated being in hospital and all I wanted to do was stay home but the voice inside my head telling me to lose weight was so strong I couldn’t fight it. I ended up having countless hospital admissions where I was force fed, held down by security and put under the mental health act. So many people think eating disorders are glamorous and pretty but they are far from that. My mind constantly told me I was fat no matter how skinny I got no matter how little I ate the voice in my head was never happy.

 

After 6 hospital admissions I decided I was going to fight the demon in my head and that’s what I have done ever since. Anorexia took too much of my life away from me and I won’t let it happen again. I now have been 1 year out of hospital and I am doing great! I still have days where I am down and have bad body image but don’t we all. Yes I still have voices in my head telling me I will never be good enough but I have managed to turn the screams into whispers and I have learned to ignore them. To everyone out there who is struggling recovery is possible! Even if you don’t think it is. There was a point in my treatment where I thought I was going to die, but here I am today happy, healthy and loving life and I hope you can be like that too.