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Kim's Story
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 Dear
Abby,
I am writing to share a success story with you. My maiden name was
...... ........., and I was one of your long-term patients
struggling with an eating disorder in your practice more than 10
years ago. It was so wonderful to see your picture on your website
this evening and to hear all that you have been doing over the last
10+ years.
I happily live in San Diego, CA with my husband and my little dog. I
moved to San Diego four years ago after completing graduate school,
to begin my career as a clinical social worker. I graduated with my
MSW and MPH (Master of Public Health) degrees from the University of
Michigan in 1999. I am now an LCSW working as the social worker for
a k-8 school district (I am the only social worker working for a
school district in the northern part of the county—unlike in the
midwest), coordinating all of the counseling programs in the
district, supervising school counselors, and working directly
with students and families. I will be opening a private practice focusing
on school-based services in the next three months. I am proud to say
that I am currently living a rewarding life, that I am happy and
that I am doing all the things I had imagined as a young adult.
The journey was a long one. After loosing contact with you in 1996
(my memory is still fuzzy about the exact year), I proceeded to grad
school and a series of new interventions related to my recovery. My
first intervention was to separate from my family of origin and to
challenge my issues of dependency. I hit what I would call my “rock
bottom”—my lowest weight and most depressed stage of my life—with
this separation and knew that I needed to make a choice, either stay
sick or get better.
I had for so many years dreamt that I would experience one moment
where the eating disorder would go away. In truth this never
happened, but the reality of my experience was that I did have a
moment of clarity. I remember sitting on my bed crying and in the
fetal position, home for a holiday break from grad school. My
parents came in the room and asked me what they could do. It was
that moment when I decided to let go and allow others to help me. I
begin taking a combination of prozac and buspar (I resisted for
years), asked my friends and family to support me in coaching me in
better choices (and actually accepted their help), and I worked
intensively with a therapist who challenged me and believed in me.
Within two months, I was feeling better, regaining my weight, and
focused on beating my internal monsters. Not without struggles, my
eating disordered behaviors became less severe and I began what I
now see as a chance for life again.
My story continues in California. I continued the counseling and
medication treatment, and began working with an acupuncturist. I
regained regular periods after 10 years just a few months into the
treatment and have continued to have regular female functioning
since that time. I continue to see an acupuncturist weekly, now in
preparation for my trying to have a baby.
The past few years have in no means been perfect, and I would not
want to give you the false impression that I am living in a recovery
world without challenges.
I was diagnosed with melanoma in 2001 and minus having 5 surgeries,
I was so grateful to not have to go through horrible chemotherapy
treatments. Just last year, after six incidents of unprovoked
fainting (and my family in Chicago thinking I may have regressed in
my eating behaviors), I was diagnosed with neuro-inhibitory syncope,
a condition that caused my heart to stop suddenly with no clear
provocation (I am still convinced that this is a long term result of
the low weight, but my doctors and the research find no correlation
between the condition and anorexia). I had emergency pacemaker
surgery one year ago and have been symptom free since that time. My
weight is the highest it has been in 13 years, healthy even in my
doctor’s minds!!!!
The best news of all, and the one I wanted to share with you, is
that I feel love, happiness, pleasure, success, warmth, intimacy,
compassion and appreciation for life, none which I could feel when I
was in the depths of my eating disorder. I am closer to my family
and friends than ever before—as I have the capacity to love and be
loved, to accept and forgive and to see the world in a positive
rather than in a defeatist way. I attribute being able to do this to
the support of the wonderful therapists who challenged myself (and
my family) to look inside ourselves to find the strength to see
ourselves in the world. My hope is to be able to support other
children, young adults and families in their struggles to make sense
of the world as well…
Thanks for all you contributed to helping me become the person I am
today.
With appreciation,
........ ............ |
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