“I wasted most of life achieving nothing. There was no dancing on the bar with cleavage showing and crazy, curly hair. I had to find another way to make myself happy, I had nowhere else to look but within myself.”
‘I was the superficial party girl. I lost my fabulous cleavage and all my beautiful hair, the two things I felt made me beautiful.’: Woman finds self-love after battle with breast cancer, ‘It gave me the kick I needed to transform’
‘He said I was a hypochondriac and was faking. ’You must be enjoying the attention.’ I became extremely nauseous, dizzy, shaky, and felt like I was going to pass out.’: Woman with bulimia, POTS, MCAS, EDS struggles for symptoms to be believed
“I don’t remember losing consciousness. Everything happened so fast, the next thing I can clearly remember is lying flat. I was sitting there, in a wheelchair, and he said I was a hypochondriac and was faking. I left his office in tears.”
‘Why would you do this to yourself? This is just bizarre.’ It’s hard to look in the mirror and see the damage I’ve done.’: Woman shares her history of self-mutilation and bulimia
“Sometimes I’d hit a vein and the blood would shoot out in an arc, creating stripes across the mirror and pouring into the sink. I was cutting away everything seemingly imperfect. Pulling out little threads which turned out to be nerves, partially paralyzing my lower lip and bits of my chin. I still didn’t stop.”
‘No one else has the guts to tell you this, but you look like a crack addict.’ I was surrounded by a looming cloud of self-hatred.’: Woman beats lifelong battle with eating disorders, ‘I get up every day and fight for my life’
“Every time I leaned over my toilet and stuck my fingers down my throat, I would tell myself this was just what a disgusting person like me deserved. I was a shell of myself. I was too scared to kill myself. “Please don’t let me wake up.’ On the morning of my grandma’s funeral, I knew I was next.”
‘My mom said, ‘You have to leave. I’ll kill myself if you stay in this house with us.’ I was given one week.’: Woman overcomes neglect, eating disorder, ‘I wake up every day and choose recovery’
“When I had my first period, I felt I was confessing to a huge crime. I asked her, ‘Why?’ She simply said, ‘Out of sight, out of mind.’ I moved into a rundown bed where nobody spoke English. There was no lock on the front door and I frequently saw and heard people doing drugs on the roof of my bedroom.”
‘At 13, I was 300 lbs. My dad told me, ‘If you want to kill yourself, I’ll help you pull the trigger.’: Woman undergoes weight loss surgery at husband’s demand, ‘My soul is healing with each bout of laughter’
“I almost died on the operating table while my husband was talking to other women. ‘He said you’re giving him a hard time about not coming to visit you. You need to be more independent and let him do his duties.’ I was physically and emotionally broken. I didn’t care if I survived.”
‘Your body is my worst nightmare. Make your account private, you trigger me.’: Young woman describes ‘feelings of doubt’ while recovering publicly from anorexia
“At 8 years old, my pediatrician said, ‘You need to eat more salad.’ My eating disorder started to spin out of control. ‘I’m sorry my body terrifies you, it’s healthy. I refuse to hide because I’m larger than you’d like.'”
‘My brother started the ‘naked man’ game when I was 6. I felt so empty I thought I might just float away.’: Woman overcomes sexual trauma, now uses kindness as an ‘act of rebellion’
“I walked home in a dress, but no underwear. I told my mom and dad I was staying with a friend, and then went into the operating room to have my right fallopian tube removed along with the baby that would never be. I went home the next day and said, ‘I feel like I have the flu’ and went straight to bed. My cry for help didn’t work. Nobody noticed. Nobody asked if I was okay. I knew if I didn’t start fighting for myself, I’d end up dead.”
‘I dropped 10 sizes on a starvation diet. ‘Wow, you look GREAT!’ I basked in compliments, but deep down I wanted someone to grab me and say, ‘Hey, I think you need help.’ Woman explains why congratulating weight loss is ‘problematic’
“I dropped to one meal a day. Coffee for breakfast, Red Bull at 3 p.m., light dinner. They’d look and say, ‘Congrats! You look awesome!’ It made me feel REALLY good. But part of me wanted to shout in their faces. They might as well have said, ‘That not-eating thing you’re doing? Totally working. Keep it up!’ It fueled me.”
‘I removed my breast implants. Within minutes, I was attacked by a man. ‘You look like a little boy. Where did your breasts go?’ It felt like a punch in my gut.’
“He proceeded to tell me that smaller chests were meant for middle school and that real women had ‘grown up’ bodies. Ouch.”
