Christmas First Aid Kit!

Christmas is fast approaching






I know a lot of us will struggle at this time of year
So it's important that we stick together over the next few weeks



 Be there for another



Support each other



We know exactly what each other is going though

We know how to help

We know what to say

Because we going through it too

We may be miles and oceans apart



But we are all connected through the common thread of our illness








So if you are dreading this Christmas know that you are not alone



We are all here for you

Remember to be kind to yourself




Remember to be gentle with yourself

Remember that you are strong

That you can get through it



Remember that you can eat and not feel guilty

You can enjoy yourself and not feel self conscious



You can live life on your terms



You can live without anorexia or bulimia

In fact life will be better

Remember that you are strong



Stronger than the demons that plague you

They will get tired some day and give up



On Christmas day remember not to put pressure in yourself

To just do what you feel comfortable with

Remember it is just another day

And it's only 24 hours

We can do anything for 24 hours

Remember that you are precious

That there is only one of you

You can never be replaced

You are unique



Remember that you can do anything

Anything you set your mind to

We won't be beaten by our demons

We are stronger than them

You deserve to be happy

To be well

To live the life you've always dreamed of





Remember that you are loved

Help!

I'm sorry
All I can say is I'm sorry
I'm failing miserably at recovery
I feel like I'm letting everyone down
This has been building for the last couple of weeks and came to a head this weekend
I saw Mary on Friday morning
I was going to cancel so I wouldn't have to be weighed but I need all the support I can get before I go away so I went
I hadn't been weighed in 2 or 3 weeks
And in those weeks I was convinced that I had put on 3 - 4 kilos
I felt bigger
I felt like there was more of me
That I was taking up more space
And of course the mirror tells me that I am fat
I would have staked my life on the fact that I had put on weight
So Mary weighed me but I didn't look
She spent half an hour talking me in to hearing the number and I finally relented
My heart thumped in anticipation
I was dying to know but I also couldn't stand to know

'You haven't gained Ruby'

'In fact you've lost'

What the?
After the initial shock, relief flooded through my body
I couldn't actually believe it
How could I have got it so wrong?
But then I've never been good at judging my own weight

It just goes to show that I can not trust the way I feel
Or the mirror
Or even my own eyes
Would I like to  lose more weight?
Yes
In my head I am fat no matter what the scale says
The cruel thing about this illness is that we never get to enjoy the one thing that we crave the most because we never believe we are thin enough

Trying to shake this thing is harder than I ever imagined
This eating disorder just won't seem to let me go
Or rather I won't let go of it
It's like a poison invading my body and mind
Mary says that I will get out of therapy what I put in
I do want to get well
Or more like I want to want to get well

There is a girl I used to meet when I was walking my dogs
She was extremely thin and power walked up and down the beach
I would meet her everyday rain, hail or shine
Then all of a sudden she disappeared
I often wondered what had happened to her
Did she get better?
Did she finally get tired of pounding the pavement everyday?
Did she die?
I hoped and prayed that she was in recovery
But then on Friday while I was walking my dogs in the pouring rain I saw a familiar figure walking towards me
It was her
As thin as ever
I wanted to run up to her and wrap her in a hug and tell her that I know what she is going through
That I know exactly how she feels
The sick part of wants to join her

All these things have massively triggered me
I binged and purged my way through Friday like it was going out of fashion
But I'm ashamed to say that I haven't eaten since Saturday
Every minute of every day is filled with thoughts of

'Will I eat?'

''When can I eat?'

'What can I eat?'

And then eating nothing
I have to admit that those old  feelings came flooding back
The emptiness
The power
The control
The lightheadedness
The anorectic in me is  having a ball
But in my heart I know that this is wrong
It's wrong
I hate it but I love it
I don't want it but I want it
I want to stop but I can't
I know  that it's wrong but it feels good
I feel hugely guilty
It feels like when I used drugs when I was supposed to be clean
The butterflies in my tummy
It's terrifying but thrilling

My behaviours are all over the place
Abusing my meds again
Barely leaving the house
Shoplifting
Lather, rinse, repeat
I swear if I put as much as much energy in to recovery as I do in to my illness I would be well on my way
I know what I need to do but fear and anxiety keep me paralysed
I sat in the living room last night
It was dark apart from the twinkling Christmas lights that I put up the day before
I would've cried if I wasn't so numb
I don't know where to go from here

Help

Please

Do you ever......

Do you ever feel like you are falling?
Falling slowly and you can't stop yourself?



Do you ever feel like you are drowning?
In deep, black water?
So cold it takes your breath away?



Do you ever feel like screaming?
But you open your mouth and nothing comes out?



Do you ever feel so alone even though you are surrounded by people?

Do you ever feel so afraid?
So afraid that you are paralysed by fear?



Do you ever feel like giving up?
Holding up a white flag and surrendering?




Do you ever feel hopeless?
So hopeless that you can't see the point of anything

Do you ever feel so desperate that you are hanging on by your fingertips?
Do you ever feel so broken that you feel that you are beyond repair?



Do you ever feel sick and tired of feeling sick and tired?

Do you ever feel like sleeping forever?




Do you ever wake up and dread the day ahead?

Do you ever feel like happiness is a distant memory?

Have you forgotten what it feels like to laugh?

Do you ever feel so over whelmed that you can't think straight?

Do you ever struggle to find reasons to keep going?

Do you ever fantasize about your own death?




Do you ever feel like you are just existing and not living

I do

But did you know that you are stronger than you realise



You are beautiful inside and out




This thing won't break us

Everyday we are getting stronger

Everyday that we fight we are winning this battle

We are suffering but every time we fall down, we will get back up

We feel so alone but we have each other



We are not victims, we are survivors

We feel pain but because of that we have the ability to feel happy

And we will one day

One day this will all make sense

It will all become clear

Then we will see that we did not suffer in vain

That there is a reason for all this

We are shining stars in a black sky

We will love and be loved

We will let our demons go and replace them with angels

We have strength in each other



We will get to where we want to be

We will

Heroin - The ultimate diet pill

I often get asked which is more difficult, dealing with drug addiction or dealing with an eating disorder
It's a tricky one to answer
They are both similar in many ways but they are also different
A lot of the feelings are the same
The guilt
The shame
The highs
The lows
The obsession and impulsiveness
Recovery
Relapse
They are both all consuming addictions
Same shit different substance
Your life revolves around them
Every waking moment is spent thinking about them
Even when you sleep you dream about them
Both are a full time job with no days off
Both are overwhelming
Draining
And they're both progressive
They wear down over time
They break you
They change the person you
Turn you in to some one you don't even recognise
They both want you dead, I have no doubt about that



For me drug addiction came first
At first I felt like all my prayers had been answered
I had found something that made me happy
Because in the beginning it feels good
It has to to get you hooked
It was like a switch flicked inside me
Suddenly all that mattered was the drug
That time is my life was so crazy it's hard to believe that it really happened
And it's so easy to slip in to denial
I genuinely believed that I could stop if I wanted to, I just didn't want to

I found a diary in my room during the week
It was from a few years ago when I was 19
It was terrifying to read
At the time I was doing my  first drug detox in a hospital in Dublin
I was in a locked ward with 10  other people who were hardened addicts
I was the only teenager and the only 'country girl'
I recorded my weight as 38 kilos at the time although I had no idea how thin I was
I wrote about how the nurses kept hassling me about food and I couldn't  understand why
I just couldn't face up to the fact that as well as an opiate addiction, I also had an eating disorder
My calcium, iron levels and blood pressure were extremely low and everyone was really worried
I was oblivious to it all
I was 19 and all I knew was that I wanted drugs
I look at photos from that time and I look like the walking dead
Heroin is the ultimate diet pill
A sick and twisted part of me longs for those days again
Not the drugs days but when I was really thin
Mary asked me recently if I wanted to look well and healthy
The truth is I don't
I don't want the soft curves that I am developing
I miss my sharp edges and pointy bones
How messed up is that?
The same part of wants to retreat down  the rabbit hole that is anorexia one more time
To go as low as I can
To reach a new low weight
The only thing stopping me is that I don't want to hurt my family
And also I may have one more relapse in me but I don't have another recovery in me




I was supposed to go to treatment straight from the detox ward but because I wasn't physically strong enough they wouldn't accept me until I had gained some weight
I was discharged and 3 hours later was back on drugs
Reading this diary I see how lost  and confused that I was
I just wanted to escape reality
To get out of my own head
Nothing's changed there then

So a few years down the road how have things changed?
Well I'm not addicted to heroin anymore
I'm still on methadone
My anorexia got worse, got better, got worse and has now morphed in to bulimia
But I think my state of mind may have got worse
Depression and anxiety have crept in
At 19 I still had friends  and now I barely see them
My confidence and self esteem are non existent now
Fear and anxiety keep me paralysed
I'm not moving forward, I'm not moving back
I'm just stuck
In limbo
And in some ways that's worse
I spent yesterday binging and purging
I literally couldn't stop
I felt like the monster that is bulimia had taken my body over
Kitchen, bathroom
Kitchen, bathroom
Kitchen, bathroom
The bin is overflowing with evidence
I'll burn it before my mother comes home
It'll be like it never happened
I really can't take much more of it
Something's gotta give
And at the moment it's my sanity
Am I going mad?
It feels like I am
I'm doing the same thing over and over again and expect different results
I am the very definition of insanity
The urge to starve is overwhelming
To vanish
To disappear and never return
If only they would let me go
I just don't know how to stop
I don't know what to do anymore





An eating disorder is different to drug addiction in that with drugs you can cut then completely out of your life
I was able to walk away from my old life
From drugs
From my old town
From my using friends
I got to start over
But with food you cant do that
You can't cut food out of your life
Well you could but that would defeat the purpose
You have to find a balance with food
A happy medium
My food intake is either too much ( in my head) or not enough
3 meals a day is an alien concept to me
The one common thing with all addictions is that you have to want to get well
Often the only person who can help is the one person who doesn't want the help, the addict
I am undecided whether I want to get well or not from my eating disorder
Some days I do
Most days I don't
As miserable as it is living this way, it's all I know anymore
It's my whole world



I found this in amongst my diary
I don't know who wrote although I'm sure it wasn't me
It sums up heroin addiction perfectly

I will seduce you and make you my slave
I've sent men stronger than you to their grave
You think you could never become a disgrace
And end up addicted to poppy seed waste
So you'll start to inhale one afternoon
Then you'll take me in your arms very soon
And once I've entered deep in your veins
You will never be quite the same
You'll need lots of money as you've been told
For darling I'm much more expensive than gold
You'll swindle your mother without thought or fear
You'll let your child starve if it get you the gear
You'll mug and you'll steal fro my venemous charm
And feel true contentment when I'm in your arms

The day when you know the monster you've grown
You'll silently promise to leave me alone
You think you've got the mystical knack
Well sweetie try getting me off your back
The vomit, the cramps, your guts in a knot
Your trembling nerves scream for just one more shot
Hot sweats, the cold chills, the withdrawal pains
Can only be stopped by those little grains
There's no other way, there's no need to look
For deep inside you know you are hooked
You'll give up your morals, your conscience and heart
And you will be mine until death do us part

A Pill for every ill

I saw my doctor on Monday
I really wanted to talk to him about my meds
I'm on methadone, olanzapine and mirtazapine
I take the methadone, I have no problem with that
But up until a few weeks ago I wasn't taking the olanzapine or mirtazapine
However I started taking them about a month ago because my mood was so low
Within a couple of weeks I started to feel bloated
So I looked up mirtazapine on google and was shocked with what I found
Person after person reporting unexplained weight gain since starting on this drug
I don't need to tell you how upset I was to read this
I immediately stopped taking both the olanzapine (as I know it can have the same effect) and the mirtazapine
So I questioned my doctor on Monday
He weighed me (I didn't look) and checked my weight since I had started taking it
Since I was first prescribed it in March there was no weight gain for 4 months
But then I wasn't taking it but he doesn't know that
He said it was only recently I had gained - since I really started taking it
Yes I guess I should be honest with him
He can only really help me if I tell him the truth
He spent about half an hour trying to placate me and said the weight gain could be down to any number of factors
But the thought that there is something in my body affecting my weight apart from what I eat is incredibly scary
So I'm not going to take it
No freakin' way
You can't just fatten me up like a pig and then congratulate yourself because I'm 'cured'
You can keep your mirtazapine thank you very much
And it baffles me why my doctors put me on these meds when they know the side effects could have this effect on me
Don't they know the damage it could do?
So it was either be fat and sedated or thin and lucid
I don't need to tell you which one I chose



I've been on methadone now  for almost 8 years
It's hard to believe that it's been that long
In reality a person is not really supposed to be kept on it this long
It should be a stop gap, a stepping stone between using and being completely clean
Although I've been on it this long, I've only been clean the last couple of years
I started out on 70mls and over the years worked my way down to 30mls
No mean feat
I originally went on methadone not because I wanted to get clean but because I didn't want to be sick
Methadone comes in handy if you've ran out of drugs
Yes, methadone has helped me to get clean off drugs but now I am addicted to it and I have a very real fear about coming off it
It has also destroyed my teeth as it is full of sugar




They say that methadone is harder to come off than heroin
They say it gets in to your bones
I've experienced methadone withdrawal a few times and I would have to agree that it is more difficult to detox
I've found that man made, synthetic drugs can be much trickier to come off than natural drugs
I remember Christmas a  few years ago
My family and I went away for Christmas
I was on methadone at the time but decided to treat myself for Christmas and brought heroin instead of methadone
I brought what I thought was enough for the 4 days
But I was always a greedy addict and had used all my drugs by the third day
This meant I had a full day and night with nothing
Withdrawals start out innocent enough
Your nose starts to run and you can't stop yawning
That I can handle
But as the last traces of the drug leave your body about 12 hours later, things start to get ugly

A dull ache sets in to your bones, so matter what position your in you can't get comfortable
You alternate between being freezing cold and boiling hot
I don't know which is worse
Sweat pours out of you like rain, you should really have a bath but that would mean moving
By now you have excruciating pains in your stomach
Opiates have a side effect of constipation which quickly turns to diarrhea if you haven't used in a while
Night is approaching but you can forget about sleep





Now you can look froward to a whole night of physical and mental torture
Everything hurts from your hair to your teeth
Everyone else in the world  is asleep and you feel utterly alone
It's just you and pain
Minutes feel like hours
The bed is soaked through with sweat
It feels like your body is trying to turn inside out



In a moment of complete desperation you fish the tinfoil you were smoking the drugs on out of the bin
You pray there is something left on it
You look for traces of black tar, hoping to see it bubble and smoke
There's a trace but not nearly enough to help your situation
You try to watch tv but you can't concentrate
All you can do is curl up in the foetal position under the covers and pray for this night to be over



For years I abused my methadone and other meds
It's only recently I started taking them properly
I do think that meds have a place in treating addiction and mental health illness but I don't think that we should be left on them indefinitely as I have
I think they should be used in conjunction with therapy such as CBT
For after all they don't solve the problem, they just put a band aid over the wound
We should be given better ways to cope with our problems and not given a pill for every ill

When I was in treatment I was put on a lot of meds
I remember seeing other patients queuing up to get their sleeping tablets at night
Being an addict I decided that I wanted sleeping pills too
After complaining that I couldn't sleep (big lie) I was put on zimovaine
I was on so much meds that every time I sat down I fell asleep
I was basically out of my head so of course I didn't get better, if anything I got worse



In the summer of 2004 I went to England to do a drug detox
The place was called the Stapleford Centre in London
I remember my doctor was called Dr Kindness
He prescribed me subutex, valium, clonazapine and zimovaine
Again far too much medication for someone trying to get clean
I spent that summer in a stupor
After I completed  the 'detox' I had a naltraxone implant implanted in my side
In effect it was an opiate blocker - if I used I would get nothing off it
It would last 6 months
I spent the next 6 months in treatment and was on no meds at all
I left treatment with a healthy body and mind
Completely drug free
But almost 6 months to the day I relapsed
The implant was still working but I used anyway
A kind of placebo effect
I've since heard that the Stapleford Centre was closed due to prescribing too liberally

Ironically it's the times that I've been off meds that I seem to do well
I feel clear headed and alert
Now if only my doctors would realise this

Are you on any medication?
How do you find it?