Health is Wealth

One of my greatest blessings is being able to use my story to help others. My hope is that my experience with ED can teach others about mental health, ED, treatment, prevention, and identification. My book and blog have been instrumental to this, as they allow anyone all over the world to learn about my journey. The interviews that I do are another way to advocate. And a few months ago, I was asked to give a presentation to medical students at McMaster university . (Note that this presentation occurred in November 2014, but I have only just now had a chance to post it!) The focus of this presentation was to share my journey and shed some light on EDs. This was a wonderful opportunity. It strikes me how sparse education on EDs is in the healthcare field. In my presentation, I highlighted the signs and symptoms of ED, diagnosis information, treatment goals, and the process of supporting recovery. Although I have this presentation to future physicians, the information in it is...

I have written many posts about ED and brain changes , and I know that many of you are interested in this topic (as am I...). This blog post summarizes all the posts I have written thus far on ED and brain changes. Feel free to click on one of the links below and learn more about what I have written! PS. I LOVE this particular post because reading through my past posts has helped me realize many things. First, I can see how far I have come in my recovery since 2012. Second, I can appreciate how much I have learned about ED and brain changes. I have also reread all the comments, and am so touched by everyone's ongoing support thus far. In addition, reading these posts makes me appreciate that when I was ill with ED, I was suffering from a real illness - I wasn't trying to be a 'difficult patient or person', I wasn't looking for attention, I wasn't being stupid for staring myself, and I wasn't lying when I said that eating was extremely difficult or stre...

I am blessed to say that once again, my writing has been featured on Fr. Anthony's site. This time, my post is about suffering and pain, and how to communicate with God during these times : http://franthony.com/how-long-o-lord/ I will be honest with you, I find that when I get overwhelmed by the troubles in this world, it becomes difficult to do anything. And sometimes, the hardest thing to do during tribulations is to pray. We all have times when we don't feel like talking to God - and this is harder when we feel angry or fearful that God has forgotten about us. Here is a little secret: God can never forget about us . He loves us unconditionally. And He has His eyes on you all the time, His hands around you to protect you, and His ears ready to listen. I know that sometimes it is hard to pray and communicate with God when we are facing obstacles because we don't understand why things are happening as in our lives. But know this: 'all things work together  for the g...

By now, you must know that I love relating brain changes and science to what I can. The differences that occur in the brains of patients with ED are still being studied. Remember how we talked about differences in neurotransmitters and hormones, such as dopamine, leptin, etc? Well, I was able to find a document that summarizes many different studies and what brain changes were found to occur in ED patients. I'm not suggesting that you even try to read the document, as it is long and uses a lot of scientific and research terminology. However, for the purpose of referencing, I will provide a link to it here: http://anp.sagepub.com/content/early/2013/10/24/0004867413509693.abstract . The picture here is an extremely simplified depiction of the brain and different regions and their functions. So, what changes in the brains of ED patients? One of my favourite changes to discuss is what happens to the amygdala and the limbic system . This is the part of the brain involved in emotions. ...