Interview with Angelique, anorexia blogger
On CalculateYoursBMI, we have decided to let certain bloggers speak from time to time so that they can answer a few questions on subjects on which they are used to writing.
On this March 13, it is therefore Angélique who signs the very first interview of CalculateYoursBMI. This new mom has a blog about anorexia and bulimia, and she’s very kindly agreed to answer some questions so you can get an informed perspective on anorexia and eating disorders.
Can you introduce yourself ?
I am a 29 year old young woman. Mom of a 2 and a half year old little girl. I’ve been blogging about the TCAs for almost 8 years.
How long have you been anorexic?
I’ve been anorexic since 2000, it’s better now but I don’t consider myself cured
When your anorexia started, did your parents realize it right away? How did they react?
My mother realized that pretty quickly. A few years earlier, I was followed at the children’s clinic in Brabois for a diet, they had mentioned the risk of anorexia.
When a few years later, I started a diet again, she quickly saw that it was degenerating. It must also be said that at least once a week she came to look for me at the school infirmary because I was not well. My anorexia was for a long time doubled by a serious depression. One fine day, after picking me up for the umpteenth time from the high school infirmary, on the way home she told me that I was anorexic. I was amazed because I didn’t really know what anorexia was and I didn’t even realize that I wasn’t eating anymore.
At the time when this anorexia started, how long did it take you to realize that it was indeed anorexia? How did it go?
I remember an episode where my mother weighed me at which two days apart Several kilos had flown away and I did not understand where. It took me two good years to realize what anorexia was, that I really was anorexic. I think it helped me to find people suffering from the same pathology as me on the Internet.
The healing of your anorexia has greatly accelerated with the arrival of your first child, what would you like to tell Internet users about this?
Never lose hope. I have the impression that it’s really when you don’t really believe in it that you start to feel better. Maybe because we finally accept 100% of our TCAs at that time.
What would you like to say to Internet users who claim that there is no cure for anorexia?
That they are not wrong. I believe in remission but I don’t believe in healing. Anorexia is an addiction, an addiction can never be cured. But that does not prevent you from getting better, from rediscovering your joy of living, from being more in harmony with yourself. Afterwards I think that everything also depends on how long the anorexia lasts. I think we can come out unscathed from a short anorexia but when it becomes chronic even when we are better there are remains
How do you go about helping someone with anorexia? What advice would you give to Internet users who know, in their entourage, an anorexic person?
Do not forget to tell him that we love him despite his illness. Don’t blame her.
During your anorexia, do you know what exactly you were looking for? You probably wanted to be slim and happy, but was that your only goal or were you looking for something else?
I wasn’t looking for anything in particular. I started a diet to lose a pound and be happy. This is the message of our society: thinness = happiness. It added depression and I no longer realized that I was not eating. At one point I wasn’t even trying to lose weight anymore, I was losing it without realizing it.
Many Internet users consider anorexia more as an addiction than a disease. Some liken it to tobacco, for example, and do not understand that anorexia is a disease. What would you like to say about it and do you yourself consider anorexia an addiction?
Addictions are diseases. Anorexia is considered an addiction, but it is still a psychiatric illness. People have many prejudices about anorexia, most often they regard anorexia as a whim and think that anorexia is on purpose. No, anorexia is a real disease. A deadly disease. A disease that ruins our lives and our health. And getting better is not a matter of will. As much in the other addictions one can move away from his addiction, but with anorexia one cannot, it is necessary to eat to live.
For you, what are the main causes of anorexia today? Do you think these are environmental factors at the level of society itself, such as the image of thin women, for example, or are they other factors? Who particularly imposes, today, this desire for the “thin woman”?
Anorexia is a multifactorial disease. There is already a genetic side. There are also often commonalities between the patients: low self-esteem, perfectionism, anxiety, depression. Anorexia is an addition of lots of little things and one day the glass overflows.
The apology of the thinness of society does not help in the sense that one day we try to lose weight to be beautiful and happy as society makes us believe. But that’s not what makes you anorexic. Besides, anorexia existed long before the cult of thinness.
The cult of thinness is especially hard to heal, we are in a society that worships thinness, how to serenely regain weight?
For me, the cult of thinness is harmful for all women, more than 70% of women feel bad about themselves because of this ideal of thinness.
What do you think of the BMI (Body Mass Index)?
It’s an indicator like any other. I don’t think it should be an obsession. The important thing is to feel good in your body and in your head.
Do you think BMI is useful for people with anorexia?
No, because doctors have declared you to be anorexic if you have a BMI of less than 18.5. If many anorexics are thin, there are also many anorexics with almost normal weights because they alternate periods of strong restrictions and periods of crises. The problem when we are not thin medicine does not take us seriously while the suffering remains the same, even worse since we remain anorexic in the head but the body says the opposite.
Would you like to tell us about your blog? It’s time to advertise 😉
I started my blog at the end of 2004. Basically it was more of a diet book to motivate me. The summer of 2004 I had gained weight and I was living with it very badly. I couldn’t really find any support on the TCA forums, so I created my blog like a bottle in the sea to tell my daily life, explain what anorexia is, collect articles on the subject. I was surprised by the success of my blog. I often receive thank you emails, it always surprises me because I don’t feel like I’ve done anything exceptional.
Along my journey, my blog has evolved with me. It was important to me to testify on anorexia and pregnancy because it is almost a taboo subject since for many doctors pregnancy is synonymous with recovery.
Will your blog last a long time? He will soon celebrate his 8th birthday if I’m not mistaken? 🙂
Good question. Even if I update it much less because my life no longer revolves around anorexia, it is important to me to continue it to show that we can get better but that for all that it is not a long river. calm. Often cured anorexics disappear from the web and ultimately we don’t know what’s next.
Stephen Paul is the lead author and founder of My Health Sponsor. Holder of a diploma in health and well-being coaching with more than 200 articles in the field of health, he makes it a point of honor to offer advice based on reliable information, based on scientific research, and verified by health professionals.