Rational thinking

I couldn't think of a good title today. I'm not really sure what I'm writing about. I just want to write.

I texted my sponsor today that I am considering inpatient but that I am concerned about cost and about being taken seriously. I guess it's the second bit I want to talk about.

I wonder if this is a rational fear. Honestly, I think it is in the sense that in a psych ward they do not take you seriously if you are not truly suicidal. They expect you to have a plan (I mean really I've always assumed I have enough meds in my apartment if I ever need one). If you cut, they take you more seriously if you have needed stitches. For an eating disorder, bulimics get little attention if they are medically stable. I have had people question why I was there when I was inpatient. My response sometimes didn't seem good enough to them.. but patients tend to like to compete for who's sickest (I've been guilty of this).

What is frustrating is that my stays in the psych ward and the ER visits to be admitted really fucked with my head. I was left convinced that I am not that sick if I am not planning to kill myself. I was left convinced the self harm was no big deal if I didn't need medical attention. I am still convinced that this is true..
Some sane part of me can tell that it is never normal to cut yourself, and this should be taken seriously. I know that when I am afraid to touch pill bottles or sit researching ways to die, that is not far away from being actively suicidal. I also am fully aware that I am using the cutting and eating disorder to keep those thoughts away.

But the problem is that I am only sometimes rational. Today I am slightly rational because I talked to one of the supervisors/bosses at work (she was daytime supervisor and is now manager or something) about the possibility of needing time off. The issue is if I end up not having enough PTO. She asked what was going on, and I realized I didn't know what to tell her. I said some mental health stuff and that I've really been trying to stay out of the hospital. I kinda said I am self destructive, and that was one of the points where I couldn't make eye contact. Anyway, I didn't know what parts to tell her because I know telling a normal person about cutting will worry them because it is a big deal to most people. Any mention of thinking about death panics people (whether it's a detailed plan or casual research). The eating disorder isn't relevant because I'm not interested in recovery.. but yeah. All of what's going on seemed like it would worry her, which made me think that maybe it should worry me more.
She was really nice. My supervisor wasn't there, which is why I was talking to her, but honestly I would rather talk to her than him. She asked what she could do and if work was stressing me out (which I said wasn't it). She said my health is important, so we could figure something out and tell her if there's anything she can do to help. I feel guilty because maybe I did worry her, but it is probably less than if she suddenly got a call that I was in a hospital..

However, now I'm back to thinking I shouldn't go. I'm also thinking I should cut my wrist again. I am going to dye my hair now and hope that passes.

Oh and on the topic of eating disorders, I need to work on hiding better. I haven't done anything truly eating disordered at work, but I said pretty openly (and not for the first time) that I kept getting dizzy when I stood up today. I'm assuming dehydration. I swear I thought I was going to pass out when I bent over while shopping. I had to grab onto a shelf after standing up. At work it happened a few times. I finally drank some coconut water (yuck) for potassium, and it got better.. but I am wondering if people might catch on to me being crazy someday. I also didn't eat today. I also was gesturing while talking and I think the scratches on my wrist were really showing, but the guy I was talking to didn't say anything.

And now I'll shut up.

An honest update (trigger warning)

So I feel like things are getting worse.. or are worse. At times I think it's fine, and then I get glimpses of reality.

One glimpse (I will try to keep it from being too triggering) was on Tuesday at work. Monday was slow enough at work that they sent us home early. Tuesday we sat around for quite a while (probably more than an hour) waiting for work to be available. Well that fucked with my head. I had been listening to Wasted by Marya Hornbacher as an audio book for the 3rd time in 2 weeks, and there's a line she says where her mom left her to make decisions and "Those decisions, I think, were primarily about whether to live or die, and I was making the choice by default"
And this seemed so accurate.. the eating disorder and drinking to me are that choice to die. Well, that inspired me to start looking on Google about how long it takes a person to starve to death and reading all these things about a certain way people with terminal illnesses can kill themselves rather than involving doctors.. and this is obviously all a terrible choice

I left work and bought binge food.  I binged and purged and all the while my head was still pretty bad. I realized what I read was not a viable option, so I thought about other things. I sat down to take my meds that night and was overwhelmed by the pill bottles in my desk. I just stared. I didn't even take all my meds because it was too much.
The next day I went to AA, and I don't know if physically I look poorly (I've lost 17lbs in a month but am not underweight by far) or just clearly mentally unwell because 2 people asked me if I was alright. One woman put her hand on my shoulder when she asked and then hugged me. The other guy just asked in a tone of voice that isn't the normal "how are you?".. if that makes sense.

I did mention the whole thing about researching things online to my sponsor because I hadn't texted her about taking my meds since I hadn't. I said I didn't want to make excuses, but then I don't know if the rest of what I just explained is an excuse or just an explanation of what happened. It wasn't like I just decided to skip them. I was scared to touch the bottles. Anyway, she asked if I had considered going inpatient to sort out my meds. I said no. I don't think I'm bad enough for them to take me seriously or to justify spending the money.
I honestly would like to go.. it would be a nice break. It would need to be somewhere that won't force me to eat and has vegetarian food.. I'm half afraid if I let my sponsor drive me, she'd tell them I have an eating disorder so I have to eat.. but most psych wards don't care. Still.. I'm not actively suicidal, so I don't need to go. I still am cutting daily.. but  I've convinced myself it's no big deal. I am however still obsessed with cutting my wrists and am just brainstorming ways to hide it. Probably not sane.
I am considering inpatient, but I am very afraid nobody will think things are that bad.. and I'd have to tell work at least something to see if I could get time off. My mind says if I want to go, the simplest thing would be to try to kill myself and plan to fail.

So yeah.. today is less bad. I bought new scrubs (size small!) and had dinner with my parents. Now binging.

**Editing this later.. so in the middle of binging and purging I decided to scratch my wrist a couple times with a dull utility knife. Scratches because they don't even qualify as cuts.. and I was right, I like how it looks. Now I just have to stop at that.. and hope that tomorrow they aren't noticeable.. or maybe I don't care.

Therapy

Normally I see my therapist on Thursday, which is one of my days off work. I've been going every 2 weeks. She was gone the past few weeks, so she offered to see me earlier this week rather than waiting the extra days until Thursday. At the time it made sense, I regretted it when the time came.

I am getting tired of seeing her. I do talk about things, but she has been pushy about things lately. Like for quite a while, she has been pushing eating disorder treatment. She wants me to do a certain outpatient program, but at times she has suggested inpatient or residential.

She's been saying this since the eating disorder was not nearly as bad. I mean now she might be right about needing it. These days I might be going crazy. 

Then she asked about cutting, and I kinda lied about how often I was doing it. She decided this meant I definitely should go for an assessment. In my mind, most outpatient programs want nothing to do with you if you are cutting frequently (not to mention the suicidal thoughts). I've always had to lie about it or they would start pushing inpatient, so why even bother? Plus, I don't want to go anyway. 

She also wants me to see a dietitian. I mentioned I have meal plans at home I could follow. I just won't. What is a dietitian going to accomplish if I don't want to eat? I know plenty about nutrition from prior treatments. I know how much I should be eating. I just know that the crazy shit in my head is quieter if I am not eating or eating less. I know that I am losing weight despite how my therapist claims starving doesn't work because of that starvation mode crap. 

I definitely feel crazy though. Last night work was so slow they sent us home early. I almost started crying before leaving because I didn't know what to do. I didn't want to binge (or eat at all) so I ended up going to AA, but the idea of going home was upsetting. I'm starting to think I'm more suicidal than I think I am, or maybe just scared of myself. Today I finally made an appointment with a different psychiatrist. I've seen her before, and she wasn't as terrible as my current one. Of course, the soonest appointment is the end of February. So I get to be miserable until then.
I don't know what else to say. I know I need help of some sort but I don't know what. I am not convinced my therapist is right. I can't seem to tell anyone else the whole truth of what's going on, and I'm not sure if I should. Maybe it will get better on its own. I can just hope for that.

A lovely evening

Thought I'd share my fun night. I was sitting watching TV and heard a bunch of yelling from the apartment across from mine. This is my neighbor who seriously needs to invest in curtains and a shirt to cover his beer belly because yuck. Classy guy. Anyway, I ignored it. Eventually it got louder and I could hear he was telling someone to leave. The other man was obviously drunk and telling my neighbor that he was the shit and various things. I started watching through the peephole at some point mildly concerned since the guy was clearly drunk and possibly going to be getting into a car. Well the neighbor says to leave and he's going to bed and slams the door. The guy starts beating on the door and yelling. Eventually, I hear him beating on a different door. I become more concerned and am listening to hear if anyone answers from whatever apartment he's at now. Finally, he beats on my door and starts trying the doorknob. At that point I am in the kitchen and dial 911 because that's scary. Either eventually he's going to get into an apartment or someone is going to open a door. I also wondered what would happen if anyone was outside and encountered him. I then sit watching TV once I can tell he isn't right outside (he went downstairs). I heard the people across the hall come home and him say something to them. I haven't seen the police but I heard them ask those neighbors if they saw someone because they got a complaint. They said which way he had just gone and agreed he was very drunk, so at least I'm not the only one who saw him. Shirtless guy has come out of his apartment and looked around a few times. I was a little afraid he was coming to my door at one point, but definitely not answering for him right now.. probably not going to be popular if they arrest this friend of his. Oh well. Not sure if he was looking for drunk guy or if he heard the police. I did tell them which apartment the guy came out of.

No idea what ended up happening. The police never came to talk to me, which I am kinda happy about. The drunk guy never came back. I did discover this morning that he puked on the stairs, which I heard my neighbors mention to the police. 

So that's my interesting story. Just thought I would share. This shit is why I lock my apartment as soon as I walk inside. Not that it's happened before, but I know how classy my neighbors are. 

An eventful and slightly (very?) upsetting day

So today was the day I had planned with my sponsor and another friend from AA to clean my apartment.. it had been planned for last Saturday and then postponed (for which I had been super grateful at the time). We planned for 10:30AM, which is kinda early for me these days.. but I let her choose the time since I generally would choose to sleep the day away.

Well the first upsetting bit.. the rather large one, is that my sponsor shows up with her daughter. Her daughter is 13 (I think? or 14) and I have definitely met her before.. I've eaten with them.. I've gone to her daughter's choir concert once. I've slept on their couch before. But I would have liked some choice in her showing up at my apartment. I was worried enough about how much judgment my sponsor would have about it, but her daughter has never been inside it before and this was just not something I was expecting.. anyway.. yeah. I wasn't happy with that but couldn't really make them turn around and leave. My friend came too. My friend started in the kitchen and my sponsor and her daughter started in the living room.. I hovered in the kitchen because I really did not want to be around my sponsor during this.. so it stayed like that for a while except when I needed to give opinions on things being kept. Her daughter mainly organized the bookshelves and was in charge of carrying trash bags..

Oh and when it came time, her daughter (being the strongest of us oddly.. ) got the honor of shoving the couch down the stairs. Yes.. we did just shove it down the stairs. Then of course retrieved it and quickly carried to the dumpster area because really I could get in  trouble for that but nobody was watching.. and it's not like nobody else in the complex ditches furniture (though nobody has loudly slid anything down the stairs before).

So the couch is gone.. my fridge is cleaned out.. it looks fairly empty except the big pile of food by the kitchen that needs to be put away or thrown away. I am leaning toward thrown away.. but my sponsor suggested maybe only an item a day and no rash decisions (it's nothing that will spoil). Dishes are washed and just need to be taken out of the dishwasher. I have one chair left in the living room that I actually sat in tonight.. first time I've sat anywhere other than my computer desk in god knows how long.

So progress..

The other upsetting things though.. my sponsor.. I very much wanted to smack her a couple times today, and this was again in part because her daughter was there. At various points while we were doing things or talking about things (like food in the apartment or kitchen things) she'd say "You don't eat" or "But you don't eat" and I would stop whatever I was doing and look at her and say "I eat!" because it fucking pisses me off. I don't know why it bothered me so much.. but 1. it clearly isn't true 2. I don't want my eating disorder to be the topic of discussion randomly and I definitely don't want false things to be said about it. Then there were other things.. like her daughter found my old FitBit on the bookshelves.. and she asked if it was a Fitbit and my sponsor was like "Yes, have you met Beth?" which I am guessing is again a reference to the eating disorder or some related obsession? But again joking about the eating disorder to her daughter.. and I tried VERY hard when I ate at their house or stayed at their house to act normally so as not to pass on unhealthy behaviors. Then one of them found a pair of jeans in the living room.. that were originally hanging on the exercise bike but I think had fallen off. My sponsor commented on how small they were and how skinny I am. I said that they don't fit yet. I said I bought them too small for when they would fit (didn't include that the reason that they're hanging there is as a constant reminder of how fat I am). Well then she's like "Oh they will fit." and goes on about how skinny I am and how they wouldn't even fit her daughter.. and I'm sure her daughter is thinner and the jeans are a US size 9, so not a small size. .. Fast forward though to tonight, and I finally tried them on after months and months of not touching them because they wouldn't have fit (I couldn't even fit my size 10s) and they do fit.. so I guess she wins that argument. Not going to tell her because it still wasn't appropriate.

Well, I go to a meeting after this.. and I decide not to share because my head is kinda in a fucked up place. My sponsor decides to announce "I just want to share the Beth did something really brave and awesome today" or similar wording.. and didn't say what I did obviously because this was not something people were meant to know about. My apartment was a personal thing. But then a woman asks me what it was, and I have to say in the meeting that i don't want to talk about it.. and I feel worse. If I explained that i cleaned the apartment, I would have to explain why that was significant.. and explaining why that was significant involves telling people that I'm a worthless pig.. so no.. I don't want that to be discussed in a meeting.

After the meeting I was upset and started crying.. and it wasn't that. My sponsor asked what the fear was about (she keeps asking that). I said I don't know, but that was kind of a lie. The real answer is that I didn't think I should tell her. The only honest thing I said is that I'm afraid of myself.

I complained about the things my sponsor said about me eating to my friend after my sponsor had left the apartment. My friend said to me that she didn't know what to do to help, but that I needed to keep telling people things so that they would know when they need to help (paraphrasing obviously).
And that's where the fear comes from.. because I'm not doing that. I am too scared or feel too worthless to tell people a lot of the shit that goes through my head.. sometimes because I just don't know what I need to tell them. These days I have all kinds of recurring thoughts that I know are not normal. Like I was staring at my wrists in the car thinking "My wrists are skinny. They would be pretty if I cut them" and I've thought that before.. thought repeatedly that I have such little wrists and that I should cut them.. and then it passes.. and I don't tell anyone, and I don't do it because it would show and people would notice, so instead I cut where they can't see.
The thought that has come to me a couple times since we started talking about cleaning is that I used to lay in bed thinking that I wouldn't want to kill myself and have my parents come to my apartment and see it like it was. I wouldn't want them to have to clean it. I wondered at night if I could hire someone to clean it when I died.. or if they would.. or if they would forever remember me for that mess. Well, now it isn't going to be that mess anymore. I need to clean a few more things (sweep and vacuum and put food away) but then I don't think it will be the kind of mess that changes how you remember your daughter. And I don't know how to feel about that.

So I was at my sponsor's house for a little while.. and then she left to go to a meeting and I went to Target. I went to look at chairs and ended up just buying binge food. I got home and parked my car and started crying before I even got out. So I texted her that.. what my friend said about telling people things.. and the thought about cleaning.. and that. She said that change is difficult. She asked later if I needed to sleep at her house, but I said I was fine.. honestly I was in the middle of binging and purging by then and all I cared about was the food in front of me (and the adorable kitten trying to steal it too).

Then go figure.. a while later (while still binging because this went on a while) my friend called.. and I had trouble hearing exactly what she said but she said when she wanted to kill herself or when she tried to kill herself she thought about her parents finding her stuff.. and she wondered if I was feeling the same way. It is remarkable how similar our brains are.. so I had to explain that yes I had those thoughts but I had texted my sponsor and I was doing ok and I promised I would call someone before I ever did anything.. but it was reassuring in a way to know I wasn't alone in that thought.. and also in a way to feel like I got caught thinking that? if that makes any sense.. like she figured it out.. so even if I hadn't been able to say anything.

Because definitely lately my brain is fucked up. The only way to silence it seems to be binging and purging.. and I just can't afford to do that all the time. Starving at least seems to change the topic to less dangerous things.

But on a less terribly depressing note.. here's the kitten when she was falling asleep on my back. Then she slid off onto my lap, woke up, and started trying to eat the muffin I was eating..

Terrifying

I should most definitely be in bed.. or taking some steps towards going to bed by now, but I'm not.. there are both sane and insane or practical and impractical reasons for why I'm not. The practical/sane reason is that I haven't taken my meds yet, and currently I am convinced that I will puke if I try to take a pill because I'm really nauseous.. and I'll get to why in a moment. The reasons why have a lot to do with all the insane reasons I'm not going to bed.

One reason I'm probably nauseous is that I haven't eaten today. I have apparently gotten back into the habit of skipping meals or skipping days of eating. Monday I ate 1.5 gingersnaps because my sponsor asked me to, and then I didn't eat again until Wednesday night.. where at work I ate a slice of cheese (because I fail at being vegan) and a roll with mustard.. and a bag of skittles. That was around 10pm. Then I went home and binged and purged. Thursday I ate meals and then binged and purged.. today I haven't eaten. I felt bad today because I have a very sweet (although at times very annoying) coworker who was saying her wife has been cooking more vegan meals lately.. and she knows I'm vegan (the annoying thing is how often she brings up this topic). She asked if I'd like to try the food when she makes new things and offered to bring me some.. This was thankfully over the instant messenger we use and not out loud because it took me about a million tries to type a response. I didn't want to say yes because I really don't want the food. I didn't want to just say no because it is an extremely sweet offer, and I don't want her to think it is anything personal. I finally said that I have some problems (mental) with food and have been having a hard time eating.. so probably not. I don't know if that translates to "I have an eating disorder" in her mind, but it was easier to say that way.. and she said ok and if there was any way she can help to let her know. So.. given how much she likes to bring up me being vegan.. I really hope she does not decide to bring this up. I just really didn't want someone bringing me food on days I decide not to eat.

So onwards.. Where things get stupider is that after a day of not eating, I decided to come home and gather 2 bags of trash and clean my bathroom.. both cleaning the toilet and the sink and around and using a cleaner with bleach in it in a very small bathroom with the door closed.. so that is probably also the cause of the nausea. The reason behind the sudden cleaning spree has to do with the title of the post.. I don't know how much I've talked about it really.. some I know.. definitely have not (and will not) shown you all what my apartment looks like. In my drinking, it became a complete mess.. I spent my time blacked out, so I didn't clean. Then honestly in sobriety for a while it was just too overwhelming to deal with it because the mess was caused by my drinking and all wrapped up in those memories.. and I just hate so many things in my apartment. Plus, some things I just couldn't do myself.. like I have a couch that at one point I had to throw out one of the cushions because when I was drunk I threw up on it.. so I simply threw out the cushion rather than dealing with it because I didn't discover this until waking up the next morning. Well, the couch is ugly and pointless without that cushion.. but I cannot on my own carry it out of my apartment, so I still have it.. and it has just kind of gathered stuff on it since then.

Add to it all that I have a bit of a shopping problem? Maybe.. I don't know.. I buy things.. odds and end.. nothing expensive, and that stuff built up over time. I shopped to kill time before I drank. I shopped because I couldn't stand to be in the apartment. I also have this tendency to buy food and never eat it.. When I first got sober, a good friend in the program offered when I was ready to help me clean.. so did my sponsor. Honestly, I didn't really want my sponsor to do it because one time she made a comment about my apartment looking like someone else's that she knew.. and while I don't think she meant it to be mean, it was judgemental.. you know? And any level of judgment was hard. I just never let them come. Well, tomorrow they're coming over.. and what I told them is basically that other than my TV and computer (and bed and such because honestly the bedroom I've dealt with) I just want it all gone. I don't care what gets thrown out. I don't care about the stuff. I don't care about any food I've bought. I am not in a financial situation where I cannot afford to buy more food.. and if I haven't used these things or eaten this food, then I don't think I will. I don't want the couch. Honestly, anything else they think should go.. fine. A bed, a TV, and a computer.. plus the animals obviously.. and I can start over from that.

But we'll see what happens. Maybe I'll break down and not let them do it. Maybe I'll break down and cry in a corner. Maybe it will be fine. Tonight I dealt with the bathroom.. because honestly I don't want them dealing with that. I took out some trash in the hopes they would judge me less. I am not sure if it's the cleaning or the feelings making me want to puke right now.. maybe eating would help, but I have this fear they will make me eat tomorrow.. so why not wait until then. I just need to be able to swallow one more pill tonight so I can sleep.

Crying

I do not know what is going on with my head these days. I really feel that I am going mad. Like I am truly losing it. I can't really explain this.

The newest thing is the crying. I think I've mentioned at least one instance (the Target one?) so sorry for repeating myself. I have been crying at weird times and for weird or unknown reasons. I left my sponsor's house, and I started crying in my car driving to Target. Loneliness? Feeling misunderstood because she didn't seem to get how bad things are?

Then yesterday.. I admitted to skipping one of my meds, and she said she thinks it's sabotaging myself. She asked me to make a fears list and we could discuss it after I got off work. Well I get off work and text her to see if she still wants me to come over. She says yes but she needs to drive someone home and will be home soon. I stop at a store and say I'll be over then. On my way, she calls and cancels.. says she wants to stay and talk to this person, it's late and this isn't something we should do when we're tired, various excuses.. she says we can meet today. I wonder if she thought I didn't do the list because I did text her I couldn't write much because I was doing it at work (which is true), but I did it. This time I think I was right to be upset. I wrote down all these fears that may be behind my behaviors, and she decided she didn't want to see me at the time she was supposed to be at her house to meet me. I hung up the phone and started crying.

Today.. we went over the list. I didn't cry until we were discussing the fact that I'm mixing diet pills/caffeine/ephedrine. She said a heart only has so many beats and to save some for her and the other friend I have there. I lost it. Just the idea of living and someone wanting me alive. It happened again when the other friend asked me after the meeting if I wanted to hang out. I said no.. I don't really remember what else I said before I was just sobbing. So I think I have her pretty worried now, but I'm starting to think it's justified. Anytime anyone mentions caring about me or I think about it or I think about living, I cry. I am not really suicidal, but I feel very desperate not to feel like that when it happens. I'm wondering if I should just tell my sponsor or my friend that I'm cutting again or if it's not really important since they can't do anything.

But in other news, I am the lowest weight I have been in a long time. I also discovered that I can wrap my thumb and pinky finger around my wrist now. So that's good. I do keep getting dizzy and a tight feeling in my chest, so I should probably be drinking more water.

Just need to talk.. does this count as talking?

Not really sure why I am writing tonight. I feel like I should.. or really I feel like I need to talk to someone, but my ability to talk to people is pretty much gone. Texting people is even hard now. I cannot imagine making a phone call.. or answering one. Like I emailed a place looking at a new psychiatrist. The office called yesterday, and I didn't answer. Admittedly, I was still in bed when they called, but I didn't call back. I can't even call someone's receptionist.I may try again Monday, but honestly knowing myself I will put it off longer than that. Maybe they will call again, and I will answer because answering is slightly less terrifying than dialing.

The texting thing.. for a long time my sponsor used to text me to check if I took my meds. Eventually this stopped, and then eventually I stopped taking them (not because she stopped.. I am NOT blaming that). Well, when she wanted me to start them again, I said that I take most of them late at night and maybe it would be better if I texted her when I've taken them. This has been making me anxious  because I am texting her at midnight or 1am usually, but the one time I didn't text her she called me the next morning about it. She has told me before that texts don't wake her up. Yesterday, I decided to text her that I think I've been taking them long enough again that it would be ok for me to stop texting her about it everyday. That I would be ok. It took me a while to actually write that whole text and send it because I didn't think it would be well received. Either she would simply say no, or she would think that something was wrong. Honestly, something probably is wrong. I sent the text and wanted to cry (and I did this while at work). She responded that she liked hearing from me everyday.. I said that I felt bad for texting so much.

Oh and then all that texting made me debate last night if I should really send the text about my meds since I had already texted her multiple times that day. Finally she texted me something ("with earnest awareness.." was the message and I'm not sure what she meant). I said I had taken my meds but my head was in a crazy place. She said we'd talk about it tomorrow (meaning today)

Anyway.. I don't know why texting her so much bothers me.. and texting her "so much" is once a day. This is my sponsor, who I am supposed to be calling everyday, and I feel terrible guilt over one text. I think lately some of it is that I feel like there is so much I want to tell her that i'm not. All I text is that I took my meds. I am not telling her that I'm depressed. I am not telling her that at times I am having suicidal thoughts. I am not telling her that I have been cutting again. I am not telling her that the eating disorder decided it was a brilliant idea to write "FAT PIG" in giant letters in permanent marker on my thighs, so I've been looking at that for days because it hasn't washed off completely yet. I am not telling anyone a whole lot of things right now, but I know they're bad.


Today I went to an AA meeting, and it was not a pleasant meeting. I mean not a happy meeting.. and I cried a little. I didn't speak. Afterwards my sponsor said I could go to her house for a while to watch TV, and I ended up going.. I didn't end up saying anything much while I was there. I finally left because she needed to go somewhere. I started crying in my car after I left.. I was driving to Target and crying.. wtf? I didn't know what to do about it. I couldn't really call her. I didn't know who else to call. I ended up telling myself that soon I would be home with food and that would numb things, and I would be fine. I'm binging now, and I'm ok.. not ok, but I'm well enough. I am telling you this (whoever ends up reading this) because at least that's something, and now I am going to go eat waffles.

Oh how I hate my psychiatrist

For a couple years I guess I have been seeing the same psychiatrist.. not sure exactly how long. I switched to him after I got tired of the ultimatums the previous one was giving me.. if I didn't quit drinking, she wouldn't see me. If I kept cutting, she wouldn't see me. She never stopped seeing me or prescribing my meds, but she kept threatening it. It was frustrating. I mean she had no practical solutions for me, just lots of threats. So i switched to someone who specializes in addiction in the hope that either he could help me or at least have a bit more understanding for my situation.

Don't get me wrong.. he is not terrible. I have had worse. It is the same problem before that he doesn't seem to have very high hopes for me.. he was willing to try lots of things to help the drinking. We did the Vivitrol shot, naltrexone (the oral kind), topamax, and various other things... so he was definitely more understanding that I couldn't just quit drinking. He did seem a bit baffled that I didn't really have physical cravings for alcohol the way others do.. it's a psychological thing. I never could explain that well. Also, none of the medications really helped. He didn't seem surprised when rehab failed and hospital stays failed. He was not a big fan of AA I think.. I mean he never pushed me to go, and he didn't seem interested that i was going. When I was 6 months sober (I think I wrote about this) he basically told me that wasn't good enough. That wasn't a long time. At 9 months he finally seemed surprised and pleased with me. However, after I got sober he just kinda stopped listening to me. I'd say I was more depressed, and he'd say that is to be expected. I'd say I was having trouble sleeping, and he didn't really do anything. He kept commenting on my weight loss despite me telling him more than once that i have an eating disorder. I'd say that.. we talked about it briefly (I didn't expect him to do anything about it. I wanted him to shut the fuck up). Then a couple months later he'd ask how much I'd lost and say he hopes I was doing it for the right reasons. Seriously? I gave up on that. But our appointments basically involved me sitting there for less than 5 minutes.. I might try to say something, and he would just kinda blow it off. Then he would refill my meds and say I will see you in 2 months.

This week.. Well it had been 2 months, and for at least a month of that I was not taking my medication.. probably longer than that. I honestly don't think I was taking everything when I saw him the last time, but I didn't say anything about it. I had texted my sponsor the day before about whether or not I should tell him because it felt pointless.. she said I should. So I told him that i stopped my medications for a month or so. His response was "Well, weren't we planning on tapering off them anyway?" To which my response was No.. not that I was ever aware of. I said I had started them again. He said the goal was to eventually be on less medications at least. Honestly, this is less medications for me.. I've been so overly medicated by previous psychiatrists that this isn't that bad to me. I mean the topamax is entirely unneccessary I think, but I want it because I think it helps suppress my appetite.. but the rest I see no problem with. I did say I'm bothered by needing the seroquel to sleep. He didn't say anything about that.. He filled everything. He started talking about how I should do TMS (transcranial magnetic stimulation). He said my insurance covers it now. He then basically invited in the person that does it and sent me to fill out paperwork. I said I didn't want to say yes to this. I mean 1. I am sure it will still be expensive 2. I am not thrilled with the idea of anything that makes permanent changes to my brain and it is not an impulse decision and 3 it would involve driving there (an hour each way) 5 days a week for 6 weeks. That's ridiculous. He did finally say that maybe if there's somewhere closer, they could just do a referral.. and still sent me to do the paperwork for it to see if my insurance would pay. I honestly think he wants me to do it because he probably gets money from it since it's out of the same practice. I don't think he wants it because he thinks it will be the thing that fixes my depression. I mean he said it could work or at least not make things worse.. and there's no side effects.. but it was not a convincing speech.

So I did the little evaluation (that lady was nice at least).. and now I'm looking for a new psychiatrist. I mean at no point did he seem at all concerned that i took myself off my meds suddenly.. or started them again suddenly. At no point did he really ask how my mood was.. or my behaviors.. (I've been cutting again..). No, he just decided to try to convince me to do this thing that he probably gets money for. He talked about reducing my medication, but he didn't do that.. I am pretty sure he is supposed to be concerned that i am not being compliant with my medication. I mean I am diagnosed with major depressive disorder, recurrent, severe.. with multiple hospital stays because I was suicidal or self destructive. Several of those resulted from me stopping my medication.. but he doesn't seem concerned.

Part of me is a bit nervous about finding someone else.. for multiple reasons. He was very tolerant of me while I was drinking.. my old psychiatrist had a point that prescribing me all these meds while I was drinking that much was dangerous. He was ok with it. If I were to ever relapse, I run the risk of another psychiatrist firing me as a patient for that.. or for being non-compliant. Also.. I have been known to manipulate doctors. I had one prescribing me ritalin (methylphenidate) for fatigue.. which doesn't really make sense. (actually it was my therapist's idea but that was probably because of me). I had another prescribing me benzos while I was drinking which is dangerous. This guy specializes in addictions, so I'm pretty sure I could no convince him to give me either benzos or amphetamines.. so I haven't tried. I have planned out what I might say in my head a few times.. mainly thinking of how to get some kind of amphetamine. They do prescribe phentermine for binge eating disorder.. so I wondered if I could convince him to give me that for the bulimia.. but I don't think he'd fall for it. But you see my point? My brain does come up with these things.. and I've gotten psychiatrists to fall for things before. I seem a lot more trustworthy than I really am. Really, I have an addictive personality and should not be prescribed any addictive medications for anxiety.. and really I have an eating disorder and would LOVE to have something that would help me lose more weight. (The other argument in my head is that maybe I could convince a doctor that it would be safer to give me phentermine than for me to keep taking diet pills and ephedrine containing allergy pills)

But I think my frustration with him has won this time. I am tired of him not listening. I am not happy with him pushing the TMS thing suddenly like I should just decide on the spot. That's kinda like I stopped seeing one psychiatrist pretty soon after he mentioned ECT. Also, I think I do need a psychiatrist that understands that it probably is not a realistic option for me to not take medication. Me not taking medication has NEVER ended well. It just varies how long it takes for me to go nuts. He really just doesn't give a shit as long as I'm sober.. Maybe he doesn't understand that my problems started long before I started drinking. Drinking is a symptom not a cause. It has since been replaced by other symptoms. I'm rambling.. but it is frustrating to think of starting over. I hate even thinking of that question they ask about what meds you have taken. I have taken nearly everything. The lady doing the TMS evaluation thing kept asking me how many times a day and what dosage of things I took.. like I remember.. I've been on meds for 14 years. I don't remember. I can probably tell you if I've taken something. I might be able to tell you why I stopped taking it.. but the rest is a blur. Maybe I should just say it that way to be clear, or does that make me sound bitchy? Maybe assertive is the correct word.. not bitchy.

One year

My sobriety date is January 9th 2015, which makes today my one year AA birthday. It is very hard to believe it has been a year.. in part because I am still baffled by the fact that I am sober. I wonder if other people are too.

Last year I stopped drinking the weekend before the Spring semester started because at that point I couldn't hide it anymore. My hands would shake constantly.. and not just my hands, my legs, and even my face would twitch. I had almost zero short term memory.. I constantly repeated stories to people because I honestly couldn't remember telling them. I kept losing words and switching them out when I spoke.. it was a mess. Over the past month or so I have been remembering all these things. I remember drinking in my car at my parent's house before going in.. hoping it would help the shakes. I remember drinking in my car in the church parking lot because I didn't think I could drive sober (I couldn't.. I would get disoriented). I should have probably been in the hospital again because my blood pressure was crazy high when I stopped drinking.. but I didn't have any time left, and I had gone so many times before.

I got my chip today at the women's meeting.. it's nice that it fell on the same day. My sponsor gave it to me.. and they did the usual "Tell us how you did it" thing and I didn't have much to say.. just that I remember learning about "yets" before coming to AA. I think I learned it in reference to eating disorders.. but you never say "I never did... " because really it is I haven't YET. There's always that possibility.. and I had started doing all those yets.. the day drinking, the driving after drinking, the hiding alcohol.. so many things.. and honestly I feel like by the time I stopped it was very much a life or death decision. Other people said things.. and I cried.. a lot. I put some people in that room through a great deal of pain by relapsing over and over. One woman even said that someone had told her that I wasn't going to get it.. not going to get the program. Apparently, I did, and that person didn't.. not sure who she was talking about. I remember going to a meeting last week and having someone tell my sponsor I was a walking miracle.. he had been around a lot when I was still going to 1-2 meetings a day and then drinking every night.

I spent the day with my sponsor.. in part because I had a little breakdown after the meeting (not going into that now), so she had me come home with her. Also because at some point she and my other good friend in the program had talked about (not sure who came up with the idea) getting tattoos when i was a year sober. I remember her saying something around the time I got my 6 month chip. I didn't know if that would happen.. but she texted me a couple days ago that I had better have the day off because they had the appointment at the tattoo parlor for today. They wanted to know if I would get one too (their treat), and I settled on this.. my sponsor got a quote, and my friend got a semi colon (if you look up semi colon project that will make sense).. I spent the afternoon deciding and this was something I had seen a while ago. I considered various quotes, but I didn't really want words. I have wanted a phoenix for a while.. I like the idea of rebirth and starting over.

So excuse my fat back and the weirdly posed picture (it's hard to take a photo of your own back).It didn't hurt very badly. I had been nervous because I was a bit nauseous because of anxiety over going and the fact that my sponsor insisted I eat beforehand.. and that was honestly as big a source of anxiety as the tattoo. I hadn't eaten anything since 4am, so she was probably right to make me.. Anyway.. it's late and I have typed this all out twice because blogger on my phone froze and I lost the whole thing, so I'm going to bed.

New toy and poor choices

So anyone who reads that title is probably going to think this is about something much dirtier than it is.. but this is not about anything adult themed... just more eating disorder madness. I like the title though, so it's probably staying.

So last year in February I purchased my FitBit Charge. It was shortly after I got my current job and had money to spare. In a fairly short period of time I bough the Charge (activity tracker) and a used/kinda broken Aria scale. It doesn't do the body fat percentage, which is why it was so cheap on Ebay.. I got it because it automatically syncs my weight to the app. The Charge I bought shortly after managing to lose my Up24 and not being able to cope with not having something counting calories burned anymore. That time I opted for the Fitbit because it would use the same app as the scale, and it was great. Well.. by great I mean kinda terrible in a way because I was weighing myself more and pacing the apartment like a madwoman to get to my step goal.. but great.

Well, this year the Fitbit (charge) was looking a bit tattered.. the band was peeling away from it, and I had superglued it back in place.. but I was tired of how beat up it looked. I decided after Christmas i was going to use some money I was given to replace it. I debated whether or not to simply replace it with another one or something different. I didn't want to spring for the Charge HR because I really don't care about my heart rate, and honestly I was wondering if another Charge would end up the same way as mine did. So I did some research. I looked at the Up2 which is slightly less unattractive than the UP24 (that thing was ugly but I got it cheap) but still slightly ugly.. and it doesn't have a display on it. You have to open the app to see your steps and calories, and that also means it doesn't show the time like the FitBit which allowed it to replace my watch. So I would have had to get a watch too.. so that was out.. mainly because it was kinda ugly.This was the UP24 by the way.

Anyway long story short, I ended up with a Garmin Vivofit2.. because it's the same price as the Charge, it's water resistant (can wear it in the shower), and you can switch the band out.. so if it ever gets beat up, that can be replaced. Also.. they make some cute colored bands.
Here's the new one.

The problem was that it doesn't use the same app as my scale, so I would have to do things differently. I settled on MyFitnessPal because I can link both the scale for weight and the Garmin for steps/calories, and it's all in one place again... though this was a bit of a pain in the ass to get working properly since I had to unlink the Fitbit Charge.

Well, the fitbit app is really not very good in my mind for tracking food because so few things are in the results when you search, brands are impossible to find, and so many things I had to enter myself. I gave up on it after a while.. or used it occasionally but not daily. Well, this is different.. everything is entered in MyFitnessPal if you search calories, and it reminds me everyday to enter breakfast, lunch and dinner.. although.. lately those are not all occurring. It also sets the calorie goal lower.
I've started using it.. tracking everything pretty much except binges that are purged. I tell myself I don't want to see the calories if I eat an extra snack or a veggie burger at 2am, but I find myself tracking it anyway. And I kinda love the little nagging reminder that I haven't eaten enough calories. I pretty much only once in the past week have reached/exceeded the goal and then every time I have eaten less. Less can be 1000 calories in a day, or today it ended up being 179. It was one of those days where I entered food before work that I brought with me to eat, and then I ended up deleting some of it because I never ate it. Today's odd plan was 7 rice cakes, but I only managed 4 because I've been nauseous all day. I was actually frustrated because they sounded delicious (can that describe plain rice cakes?) when I bought them today, but I only ate the last couple to see if my stomach would settle.

And my weight is still dropping steadily. I failed at the cereal diet.. well one day I managed.. another I caved and ate a meal at work (vegan chili I had stuck in the freezer after not eating it when I first brought it) and chips. The other I ended up eating a veggie burger at 2am. So today I was supposed to not eat as punishment for the chili, but I decided the rice cakes were a reward for weight loss. My reward was rice cakes with mustard... I think maybe I'm dehydrated and just need to eat a big bowl of salt (kidding)

But this whole decision about tracking calories does not seem to be good for me. I'm searching to find the one entry for mustard that lists it as having calories because so many say zero. I'm entering the 4 calories for a mini warheads candy. So this probably isn't healthy, but I feel safer now. I did end up pacing my apartment once already to get to a certain number of calories burned.. but mostly am settling for the number being greater than what I've eaten, and that doesn't take much effort some days.

I also failed miserably at sleeping last night and laid in bed contemplating how completely pointless my life is. That was not pleasant.. so the nausea today is because of too little sleep, too little food, and too much caffeine I am sure.

Diets and paranoia

Not sure why I am writing this. It's kinda pointless. Also probably triggering and disordered.

So I guess I'm not eating a whole lot. Well, a lot by some standards but not healthy ones. I mean yesterday I binged and purged and otherwise ate nothing. Today I ate a serving (carefully counted) of fritos and one cup of cereal. It took me the 8 hours I was at work to actually finish the cereal.
I've been losing weight.. 6 pounds so far. That seems like too much, but I've weighed twice today on 2 scales (and twice yesterday on two scales). I do not trust my fitbit scale. It is terrible about changing whenever it's moved. It was in the kitchen because there was more space, but the cats kept walking on it. I worried that would affect it, so I moved it to the bathroom where there's very little room. Sometimes it's bumped by the door. One day I stepped on 3 times and got 3 different weights. I was obviously bothered. After thinking about it, I decided not to care. I would do my best not to move it, and even if the number isn't 100% right, it will show a gain or loss. The other scale I trust more because it always says I am the same or heavier but never lighter.

So anyway.. work today. I don't know why, but I got the feeling people were staring or looking at me strangely. I didn't know why. I checked my clothes, my face, my hair (which admittedly looks dry and frizzy and awful). Nothing looked that bad. It was really weird. I wondered if it is my weight. If it was that I was shaking from too much caffeine. Did I look tired? Was I simply imagining the whole thing? Probably that... But I couldn't help it. I do that.

I am hoping to make them stare because I've lost weight. I'm going to put myself on a diet consisting solely of cereal. Probably an awful idea, but I like it. It starts tomorrow... Or rather later today since it's past midnight.