It's Sunday evening and it's been raining virtually all day here in the beautiful Staffordshire Peak District which means trying to keep everyone occupied all day ('everyone' includes husband who has been able to come here for the weekend but goes home tomorrow). But, so far, ED has kept a reasonably low profile.
Mind you, I tend to feel that a 'normal' 17 year old boy when faced with waiting for his parents to drink up in the cosy local village pub before we go back to the cottage for our evening meal would have had a packet of crisps or peanuts to keep the "I'm starving!" hunger pangs at bay. They might also have ordered a beer instead of a diet coke. But, hey, things are a million times better than our French holiday last summer when, within minutes or even seconds of arriving, Ben was having an almighty screaming manic ED rage and husband was sitting outside, head in hands, threatening to drive right back to the ferry port...
Ben has kept to the Eating Plan so far, which is good. But he didn't like all the 'emergency extras' I stashed away like cake, biscuits, sachets of drinking chocolate and so on... ("For the record, mum, can you NEVER do that again please?")
As husband and I discussed in the pub, after Ben had gone back to the cottage to heat up the pork stew and pasta, there's still something in him that insists on keeping to the calorie total 'to the letter' and not going over by one single calorie, presumably in case he suddenly 'balloons out' into an obese monster.
You would think that, after 2 years of proving that this is most definitely NOT the case and having lost weight in real terms over the last year, he would realise that this is most definitely NOT the case - and he would treat himself to one or two extras on holiday, like a slice of cake in a cafe or one of the delicious home-baked Bakewell tarts provided by our generous host...
But you and I know that ED isn't logical. It's also behaviour like this that makes us realise that, yes, unfortunately ED is still present, even if it is a shadow of its former horrendous self.
Never mind, so far within the first 30 hours of our week's holiday, things have not been too bad at all.
Except the weather, of course, which is attrocious.
Want information on eating disorders in boys? Worried your son has an eating disorder? What are the signs of eating disorders in boys? In 2009 my 15-year-old son developed anorexia. Now aged 31 and with a MSc in Psychology he is recovered & working in mental health using his experiences to help others. I help to raise awareness of eating disorders in boys, point parents to helpful resources & talk about how eating disorders can traumatise families.
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PART FOUR of the notes I was making as my son hurtled into anorexia in late 2009...
By November 2009, my son's escalating anorexia was making him behave incredibly erratically and my stress levels were stratospheric. The...
If it helps, I stuck to my meal plan/calorie intake to the single digit right up until a month after I was weight restored. Some people take even longer to relax a bit around food. Actually that probably doesn't help - I don't want you to think "argh, it going to take forever", just for you to know that it's possible for people to recover to the extent that they CAN eat intuitively again. I'm glad ED isn't being too much of a pain in the butt anyway!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Katie, I find your comments really helpful. Keep them coming!
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