This day marks the start of Eating Disorder Awareness Week. Six years ago, I did not realize that I was sinking into anorexia. I who thought of starting a food rebalancing, I was swept away in the infernal spiral of anorexia, a disease still misunderstood.
In the spring of 2016, I fell into this disease which bruised and mutilated me until my body was in such a critical state that the only solution for me to continue to live was to transport me to an emergency ward. specialized emergency.
A person suffering from anorexia knows and understands what is happening to him. If her body image is blurred, she knows how much her life is in danger. This is probably the reason why anorexia corresponds, in my opinion, to a form of mutilation. For those who come out of it, the pathology bequeaths deep scars, both physical and psychological, which never cauterize.
A pain that almost took my life
For me, it all started with a desire to lose weight and stop being bullied at school for almost 10 years. By constantly telling myself that I was fat and malformed, I had come to believe it.
Gradually, I started to eat less, to accumulate 12 hours of sport per week and to display reminders to restrict my diet: a toxic cocktail that made me go from 121 to 83 pounds in a few months.
Many adventures in hospitals finally led me to meet the doctor whom I hated for a time, but who today I recognize as the one who saved my life. I have not always appreciated nor accepted the intense and tiring treatments. However, if he hadn’t been present at that pivotal moment, I might not be writing these lines.
Madam, Sir, I would like to tell you that the hospital setting is beneficial for positioning people suffering from anorexia on the path to recovery, even if a long relearning of oneself is necessary.
Act before it’s too late
Notwithstanding this, Quebec must have credible resources to help people living with eating disorders. The visible lack of resources in this area testifies to a lack of interest on the part of the public authorities which cannot last. We must act quickly – that is, now.
Two components must be considered: the preventive component and the curative component. The first will come to prevent the disease by making children and adults more aware of the dangers of eating disorders.
It will make it possible to anticipate the risks by taking greater account of violence at school or even family violence, regardless of their nature, but also to make young people aware of the stereotypes of the perfect body, particularly conveyed on social networks, including the use is growing.
The curative component will aim to offer more resources to people who need them (support groups, professionals, support of various kinds). For this component, Anorexia and Bulimia Quebec (ANEB) already offers several considerable resources to help people with eating disorders, but its mission is limited by the lack of interest from public authorities and the crying need for funding to to be able, in fine, to create a house which will offer under the same roof all the available resources. It will allow them to get back in shape, at their own pace, and with professionals at their disposal. Dear political actors, you will have understood that it is now time to take concrete measures.