| On 7 September 2005, we received this story from a young woman who has now recovered from years of laxative abuse:
"I would like to share some of my experiences with eating disorders, laxative dependency, and recovery. I have struggled with an eating disorder for approximately six years. I have never been anorexic nor have I been extremely overweight, but I have moved in and out of bulimia and purging my system with laxative use. The main focus of my disorder is my dependency on laxatives and other purging herbal concoctions. I have watched this disorder destroy my health, particularly during the last few years.
I am a professional, independent dancer. I live from contract-to-contract. This is a very competitive field. It is important to be energetic, light, emotive, able, and with perfect body proportions. I see now that this all comes from patience and nourishing the body and the entire system rather than forcing the system to assimilate food and eliminate it by force.
I became obsessed with being perfect. I am now learning to uncover what perfection is for me. I became obsessed with cleansing my system. My negative body image was relieved by cleansing to get the thin-young culture look. As I became more removed from the dysfunctional way of living, I see that my eating disorder manifested itself through a desire to be lighter, thinner, cleaner, and more perfect.
After many cleanses through diets, fasts, and herbal cleanses, I felt much lighter and more alert. However, with the pathology I was operating on, I became obsessed with what I perceived as the perfection of a clean inner body with clean inner organs. I was massively wiping out any nutrition that food could have provided to me by eating and actually causing stagnation in my system.
I used laxatives with almost every meal or snack to ensure that digested food did not stagnate in my system. I continued this habit with cleansing and using purgative herbs for about five years. I depleted my body of its vitality. One of many problems with the overuse of laxatives is that the intestinal tract becomes depleted and ineffective.
It took a lot of hard work, love, and patience for my body to turn around. One may think that laxatives are making them lighter and thinner, but overuse actually depletes the system and weakens the body.
While I only used herbal laxatives, instead of the drugstore type, many herbal concoctions are very strong and wipe out the system quickly, traumatizing the body.
I must say that is very difficult but COMPLETELY POSSIBLE to come out of laxative abuse with a strong body and mind. It is necessary to heal whatever is causing the behaviour in the first place. Eating disorders are manifestations of other negative pathology.
For those of you who are struggling with eating disorders or laxative dependency, do not underestimate the long-term damage that it does to the body. It is important to learn to live in balance and in health.
I personally did what I could with what I had. It was necessary to stop using laxatives, create a sense of balance, and learn proper nutrition. I educated myself with books, restorative movement and dance practices to soothe the traume in my body. I began to cook the food I ate. I drank tons of nourishing teas. I ate soup made from seaweeds and sea vegetables to restore a state of balance in my body.
I no longer use laxatives. I no longer strive for an impossible perfection for inner cleanliness to help me achieve something I can't define. I live in harmony with my body. I recovered. You can, too."
|
