Holy cow, it has been crazy. I mean to update last Tuesday, and then Wednesday, Thursday, and so on until we get to tonight. I’ve been busy and exhausted, because I started PHP a week ago. I remember the beginning of this year. One of my top goals/intentions was to avoid treatment at all costs. Ironically, this quest to avoid has actually harmed my recovery. I have been so, so adamant against treatment that it took me a month (and the IOP team forcing it) for my to agree. I know hindsight is 20/20 and all that, but I actually wish I had listened, dangit.
I guess I may as well start off where I left off. Rather than make a separate post, I’m going to insert what I wrote and didn’t publish last Tuesday.
July 31st is a significant day in my life. It is my person’s day of birth (love you Livvy!) and also when I first went into eating disorder treatment.
4 years ago today, I was pushed into this huge world of what eating disorder treatment looked like. It was terrifying, confusing, frustrating, with some understanding mixed in.
If you had asked me 4 years ago where I would be now, I’m not sure that recovered would be the answer. Later on it definitely became the ideal future, but at that moment I was just so stuck into the ED. Treatment wasn’t optional and I was angry that I had to change.
Today I was back at the same hospital I started at 4 years ago. I’m not in clinicals anymore and there wasn’t support group. I had an intake assessment and tomorrow I will head back for my first day of PHP.
I cried the entire way there. It’s really hard to see that I’m in this spot again. I do feel a little hopeless and discouraged. How could I not, given how much I’ve wanted to stay strong/avoid treatment?
My disordered thoughts are very present right now, and one of the most pressing is “I am just in the same place as 4 years ago and that makes me a failure.” Yes, I am struggling enough to go to PHP. I am not in the same place, though. I can never go backwards in that way. I’ve grown, a TON. No amount of relapse can change that fact.
The past 6 days of PHP haven’t really gone quite as expected. I had plenty of expectations going in: irrational (I’m going to weigh 50 pounds more than everyone, I’ll have to eat a full meal plan right away, they’ll put me inpatient) and more realistic (it will be hard, I’ll have the same annoying nutrition groups, the adult PHP is terrible/dramatic). I also had an incredible amount of worries that didn’t stop at one full sheet of paper. I realized that probably wasn’t helping any and attempted to distract instead. Some things I didn’t count on happening:
- Having a treatment center reunion since there are 3 of us from IOP there currently
- A huge group, between 10-13! I know this is tiny compared to some treatment programs, but we barely fit in the one room and need to eat lunch in the huge room.
- Being semi-terrified walking through certain units. The first day I recognized 5ish staff members from when I was in clinicals. For some reason, that freaked me right out and I’ve been ducking my head each time we go in the unit where I spent the most time.
- The whole adult PHP room full. We actually didn’t have enough chairs today, so my friend and I sat on the floor. It’s pretty intimidating/annoying to have that many people staring at us as we come in and leave approximately 75 times every day. Luckily, we’re only there for 2-2.5 hours per day, which is more than enough.
- Eating every 2 hours (sometimes less!!!). So I completely forgot about this part, or maybe blocked it out. We have breakfast at 8, morning snack at 10, lunch at noon, and snack at 2. Typically lunch and breakfast will both run late and that means even less time between meals. I knew volume would be hard, but I think eating this close together is harder even. I just get full by morning snack, then have to down even more. I haven’t been eating dinner until at least 6 because I’m still full/uncomfortable. I wish I could have started on an even smaller meal plan to try to reduce this, but I know that wasn’t going to happen. I really hope I/my body eventually gets used to it.
- Not knowing a discharge date (or even a vague idea). My main psychiatrist did leave for vacation Friday, which was just day 3, so it is understandable. What bothers me is that there is no time frame whatsoever. My case manager yesterday said she had set up appts with my dietitian, therapist, and psychiatrist when she can’t tell me when I could be done. I’ve learned now that I have to avoid thinking about it for now, and just hear from my psychiatrist next Monday.
- My defiant side coming out. Okay maybe I shouldn’t be all that surprised, but the ED is not taking any of this treatment BS. I have had urges to throw out food when no one was looking, nearly cried when the AT remembered to give us snack, secretly rejoiced as I saw my breakfast tray was lacking one exchange. I don’t do all I need for dinner. I’m not always doing “the work” part either. I don’t know, I guess I just thought it would magically be fine if I just took the leap to PHP. In reality, I am feeling quite a lot like 2014 PHP Emily.
- The other patients are not too triggering!!!!!! That deserves all the excitement since it was one of my many excuses not to do partial. I was prepared for the worse and just haven’t seen it. Yes, there are others way thinner than I am, but I’ve found that I don’t necessarily want to be more like them. Behaviors are used unbeknownst to the staff, but I’ve kinda come to the conclusion that I cannot base my recovery off that. We are supportive of each other. Some don’t finish meals/finish Ensures and that doesn’t bother me too much either. Overall, it’s a pretty fun environment. We have some hilarious conversations and plenty of inappropriate ones too (also, all the swear words aha). That is so very needed in a setting like this.
- I get to work with a psych resident one on one!! I saved the best for last. She and I have a 10-15 minute meeting each morning. I don’t get to see my case manager pretty much ever, so this has been a great time to process and really be open about progress and struggles. She’s been challenging me everyday and actually holds me accountable for those goals. I just feel very grateful I am one of the patients who get to work with her because I totally expected to maybe have 2 individual meetings a week.
PHP isn’t as bad as I expected it to be. I spend plenty of time wanting to run away and never come back. I think that’s pretty normal, though. I have come back each day to do the hard things anyways.
After all of the fighting and whining and complaining and driving my treatment team bonkers (I’m sure), I can semi/kinda/mostly admit it: I needed a higher level of care. I haven’t eaten this amount of food in a day for at minimum 6 months. That alone was never going to happen with IOP. 5x a week 8-3 means my world is invaded by treatment, but I can see this as a good thing. It means spending more time on recovery. I can’t ignore that need forever. So, while I can think of a million and one other activities I would enjoy more than PHP, I am here. I am going to be in a healthier place for school. Quoting one of my favorite dietitians: “I can guarantee you’ll find more happiness without the eating disorder, BUT THERE’S WORK.”
To finish this off, a few treatment goals that go beyond the very generic “improve healthy eating” or “learn coping skills” that we check off on our sheets.
- Be able to tolerate the meal plan when I’m not in treatment
- Get into the recovery mindset where I can put that first.
- Push through the hard days because eventually they do get better.
- Journal and make goals each day.
- Do the little things, too – gratitude, worksheets, assignments, etc.
- Come to a point where I am working for my recovery and not kicking and screaming every step of the way
- Feel confident going into this next year
- Don’t limit my exercise to compensatory only
Those are some pretty lofty, open-ended goals, but for a reason (of course I do have all the SMART goals on a small scale, though). Recovery is not black and white. I’m trying to be flexible here because I know how much feeling like a failure can harm me. I aiming for growth and not just perfection
Sorry for how long this has become, oops. It feels nice to have this all out here now. I hope to document this journey as I go. Processing it here is always helpful and something to look back on later.
reviving emily 