Can a Recovered Anorexic Still Feel the Damage Years Later?

Hey,

I was anorexic also from 1999-2002.
Congrats on battling the disorder and being back to a healthy weight! I had the same issue as you..when I finally got treated and started eating again... I went from a very low weight to a very high one. As you probably know, it has to do with how your body is responding to you eating again; even if you are eating normally and healthily, your body will be like "ooo, food, I better save all of this in case he/she decides not to eat again!" Scared me too. It's definitely not what you want to happen when you're just starting to recover.

As for all of this affecting you now, physically... Well, there's a lot about you I don't know. I guess the first thing would be to make sure you really are getting all the nutrition you need. Tons of people eat enough calories but are still not getting enough of certain vitamins/minerals. This can affect your body more than you might realize. I'm not a doctor so I don't want to say something that may not be true, but I imagine that lack of certain nutrition could cause dizziness, tiredness, and other symptoms.

As for anxiety/panic... the only thing I can really suggest is to ask your physician/therapist/psychologist about this. I'm guessing it's possible that the eating disorder could have caused some kind of chemical imbalance that is worsening the anxiety problem... Sometimes anxiety/panic disorders worsen with time. I don't know if you are on meds for this or not.. I've actually often wondered about this myself, because I've noticed that I am a lot more obsessive about certain things and I worry a lot more than I did before anorexia. Sometimes I think that maybe, since I am not controlling things with not eating anymore, that stress is just manifesting in another way now. Now worrying is my outlet as opposed to not eating.
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