Not Equipped

I have been saying this for quite a while but this morning I am faced with this reality, staring me in the face. I do NOT know what to do anymore. Things are sliding fast and I am don't know where to turn. Back to eating one meal a day, running at least 10 miles a day, and now he is back to missing work. He is frustrated and I get it.........I am frustrated with myself, my house, and I am depressed too. I am in therapy and taking antidepressants trying to navigate my way through this. We have kids, we have a life together for almost 24 years.......over half my life I have been with the love of my life. As I type this I think of my favorite song by Patty Smyth and Don Henley "Sometime Love just ain't enough." 
    

Now, I don't want to lose you,
but I don't want to use you just to have somebody by my side.
And I don't want to hate you,
I don't want to take you, but I don't want to be the one to cry.
And I don't really matter to anyone anymore.
But like a fool I keep losing my place and
I keep seeing you walk through that door.

But there's a danger in loving somebody to much,
and it's bad when you know it's your heart you can't trust.
There's a reason why people don't stay where they are.
Baby, sometimes love just ain't enough.

Now, I could never change you,
I don't want to blame you.
Baby, you don't have to take the fall.
Yes, I may have hurt you, but I did not desert you.
Maybe I just want to have it all.
It makes a sound like thunder, it makes me feel like rain.
And like a fool who will never see the truth,
I keep thinking something's gonna change.

But there's a danger in loving somebody to much,
and it's bad when you know it's your heart they can't trust.
There's a reason why people don't stay who they are.
Baby, sometimes love just ain't enough.

And there's no way home when it's late at night and you're all alone.
Are there things that you wanted to say?
And do you feel me beside you in your bed,
there beside you where I used to be?

But there's a danger in loving somebody to much,
and it's bad when you know it's your heart you can't trust.
There's a reason why people don't stay where they are.
Baby, sometimes love just ain't enough.  

Reading these lyrics just solitifies my feelings. I just don't know.......in addition to all of this he is not working consistently. This job might now be what he imagined but we have to have a paycheck and he has to work. As I go to counseling and work through what I can, I have been told most of my life I am nobody and nothing. I know once I left home that wasn't the case, but since all of this its coming out in everything. I apologize all the time (spent my life doing that), I feel guilty about so many things with his eating disorder. I crave love, intimacy, and sex. For the first time in my life I had to purchase toys because I see no end in sight. Our sex life was fantastic......and even without sex, the intimacy we shared was great. I am afraid to touch him or even try to initiate anything......makes me feel like I am forcing myself on him. The last time we talked about this I was told that he has no desire for anything or anyone else. I don't know what to do or how to do it...... I know I love him, I love him very much but is it enough? Not equipped, uncharted territory. Any advice? Anyone else out there dealing with this?

Setbacks

So it's been a while again but not much changes I guess. So now my husband is only eating 1 meal a day and running at least 10 miles in an evening. His logic with only eating once a day is that since he binges through the night, he doesn't need to eat anymore. He has no idea how dangerous things were before but this is even more dangerous. I have been receiving counseling since August 2016 and she said something that really made me look at things....she said " You have a marriage without a husband." I have said that we don't have a marriage, we are 2 people raising kids together. But her words are very thought provoking. It sheds a different perspective on things. She has also asked the question why I stay.......and we have a difference of opinion but I respect what she says and I think on it. So many things that are very thought provoking and give me the reality of both sides. It's been a rough week, started last Friday. All I can do is cry......sob in most cases. I am a mess....just in our house is hard enough but then outside drama and stress really has me a mess. Everything is chaos. Nothing is right. This year I will be smoke free for 5 years....and also 5 years without intimacy. Even through losing my Dad it's been a huge struggle for him to even try to comfort me.....like he wants nothing to do with me. I continually have to ask him. Really wish I could reach others going through these struggles and have someone to talk to and support one another. This dynamic of Male Anorexia, Orthoexia is not one just everyone understands. So I put this post out there hoping to offer something to someone!  Taking it 10 seconds at a time.

So much turmoil

So things are teetering here. As the weight goes up, he keeps saying he is getting fat.....our goal 3-4 years ago was 160. I don't like how the food habits are going again. We were all together for the Christmas break and it was so nice to have him home. Unfortunately his weekend habits of eating 1 meal a day continued for the whole vacation. Just makes me sad that he punishes himself with or without food. The running has been down which I am so proud of.......unlike before where break downs were typical and these day its not a break down and he pushes himself to continue his normal snacks in the evening. Progress is happening but worried about what happens when work schedules go back to normal, the weather gets nicer..........what happens then? My kids struggle too. Our son is having such a hard time, thinking that its his fault for all of this. That him being born has some correlation. 

I wish I could talk to someone who knows.....who has been through to tell me I will be ok and what to do. But it isn't up to someone else its up to me to know. I don't know where that line is. My life is so far from the way it should be and that is my fault......I am sad......and I don't see the light. 

Been Awhile....Anorexia

It has been quite a while since I have posted. We are still struggling through this disease. The affects on our lives is quite a roller coaster. First and foremost we have had positive head way and I am grateful and proud. I lost my father to Alzheimer's Feb 19 of this year. I was always very close to him and always knew his love for me. I am not the daughter or sister people wanted but I knew no matter what I was the daughter my Daddy wanted. He could look in my eyes and know whether something was right or wrong. I could tell him anything and he would support me. Even at 41 years old I could crawl on his lap and cry. I feel so lost, not sure how to live in a world without him but I have to. So in the last 5+ years I have watched 2 of the most important men in my life deteriorate. Not long after losing my Dad I talked with my husband telling him I would not watch the man I love kill himself. I can't watch another person die. My love for him is so great and I know that even if tomorrow we separated it wouldn't change how I feel or the affect his disease has. I have asked questions for years that have no answers but they need answers. As a highly emotional person it is very hard for me to be logical and approach things calmly, but I know that if I become emotional the wall goes up. I am of the belief that IF he doesn't feel what he is doing is bad then he needs to tell me that so that I can decide how I want to handle things. I am so proud of what he has accomplished and his ability to do half marathons. I have had to separate his running from his disorder. He just ran the Summerfest Rock and Sole and did well. But after running 13.7 miles he ran again that evening over 9 miles and his food intake was 1 full meal and a power bar. 

Our marriage is broken.....he has grabbed me, he has thrown things at me, and hurt me. Our children, especially our son have been affected deeply. They come to me asking questions and I try my best to answer but I don't have them. I am almost 42 years old and not ready to give up the things that have been denied, especially intimacy. We don't have any......I am afraid to touch him. I have no one to talk to about this because I do NOT know anyone who is going thru this. I wish I could find someone to talk to. Someone who can understand truly. People try to but they can't. I don't wish this on people but truly wish someone out there going thru this would see my posts and contact me. As I have stated before there is limited info out there on Men with eating disorders....even talking to a spouse going thru this...husband or wife.....to know I am not alone. I am thankful for Barbara Kent Lawrence's books because she is one of the few people out there to write and talk about being a wife in this situation.

So that is it....not much else to say......thank you for reading this.

Awhile

So its been a while since I have posted anything up here.  Since my last post things have gotten uglier and are now hopefully on the up swing of better. I lost hope a long time ago that this would be better so I am afraid to say it out loud........can't be disappointed again. Hubby is injured again. Same injury he had last time in his foot and soft tissue. He saw the doctor who ordered therapy so we see what the therapist recommends once he is there.  He has been skipping his runs here and there, handling them MUCH better than he used to. He is taking rest days but of course he counts everything he puts in his mouth and when he sees he is over 500 calories for the day makes statements like " I am getting fat" or "I am so fat and lazy". But he contines to put in his evening snacks and that again is a good thing. Not long ago when he couldn't run it would be pure hell here. We all paid for his inability to run. With it being winter in WI running outside is not always a possibility so we have to utilize the gym which puts him out of our home for over 2 hrs.....he leaves before the kids get home from school and by the time we do what we need to he sees them for maybe 30-60 minutes. In the evening after workouts and eating he has clarity.....he knows what he is doing is WRONG and that he needs to change but its like a reset come morning.......its so frustrating........

We are 18+ months without any intimacy and this is probably the worst for me..........I feel ugly,fat, and worthless.....I won't let him walk in the room when I am changing anymore or to see me without something covering me.....we are married, we can't have children anymore, and I had a hysterectomy so there is NOTHING on my end to stop us from whenever...our children are 17, 15, and 12. We had more intimacy all over the house when they were younger.....now he keeps saying its because of all the noise at night from our older ones walking around. But I know why except it doesn't mean I don't feel like crap about myself.  I didn't get married to not have sex. I am 39 yrs old and this is not how I want to spend the rest of my life.....but I love him and have made the concessions whether I want to admit that to myself or not. I can't talk to anyone about this....friends try to understand but can't. Family is too wrapped up in themselves to offer anything but looks of pity. So me and the kids are support for one another....UGH it kills me that the kids are dealing with this.......I wanted so much to keep them out of it, but they live here, and they KNOW. I stopped fighting about it so they didn't have to deal with the upset but trust me its come back at me in so many ways.

I have NEVER been afraid of my husband.  I was afraid of most other men in my life and was in an abusive relationship years ago. My husband was always kind and even when we fought I never worried about him putting his hands on me or throwing things at/toward me. I have had things land my direction since this all started. I have always said if you are going to throw something at me be prepared for it to come back at you and harder, but we have kids here and I won't show that example.  But that changed too.....and my kids saw it. I was trying to help with our son, he has aspergers and SPD, hubby took this as me trying to take over and  he came back at me pushing me thru the dining room until I was up against our cabinets....he had my arms. Our oldest tried to intervene but I was so scared he would go at her I kept going to keep his attention. He spend an hour JUSTIFYING his behavior saying that NO ONE ever defends him.......but NO ONE ever put their hands on him. I know its NOT him but now I am afraid every time he gets upset or starts banging and yelling. Of course after he ran and whatnot he had his clarity he was apologetic and whatnot but the damage had been done. He has not come near me in anger AGAIN and I walk away before things get too heated. We both try to talk to one another.....

I know he is in there.....I know I love him but this is hard.....no support. I would love to find others in this situation to talk to. I don't hear about wives with husbands who are Anorexic and have orthoexia. Hoping someone will find this blog and contact me! Really need someone who understand.

Can this be done?

It has been a while since I have posted and I am not sure why. I think its a combination of many things including avoidance.  We have a diagnosis of Malnutrition. WBC and RBC are in the toliet, Vitamin D levels in severely deficient area, and muscle injuries. Also got the spend out thousands of dollars on Bone Scan and Bone Density Scans. They showed normal so that is good but to spend all that money because of something that he is doing to himself just adds insult to injury.  So we are taking vitamin D, Calcium, and Zinc. We are going to PT 2-3 times a week. 

Some days are great, he comes home right after work to have dinner with us, he helps parent, and is present. Just about the time I started to believe this was going to be everyday and I didn't have to ask everyday he changes things again. So back to not knowing what is happening next.  I hate the person I am becoming.....I feel like all I do is B**CH about things, I am depressed, and as an added bonus I have started having panic attacks.  I lived most of my life in a state of panic but swore that as an adult I wouldn't. I spent a lot of time in therapy working on this and now in the last few months that has gone right out the door.  I told my husband that I won't have them in front of our children, that is NO way for a child to live, watching their parent lose it, I know that existence and I don't want it for them. They see enough.  I tell him what I need, and he compulsion to work out/exercise beats me every time. His running/exercise wins out ahead of everything and everyone.  NOTHING stops him from it. 

We take 3 steps forward, 5 steps back on a pretty consistant basis and I am not sure how much longer I can live like this. I want to leave, well maybe runaway from this. I am weak, I know I am. My children deserve to have a mother who is strong enough to do what is right for them, but they are stuck with me. Sunday we had a nasty exchange of words and I am heart broken. The things he says and does scare me and cause me such pain.  Everytime something happens the apology comes and it is to a point that the apology means nothing because Sorry means you aren't going to do it again. 

I resent having to explain to my children he isn't coming home, why he doesn't eat, why he is angry, ect.  The anorexia is still controling our lives and there doesn't seem to be an end in sight. No matter how much I pray and beg, the anorexia/orthorexia wins and controls our lives. Not just his but all of ours.

Can this get better? Can I stay in this long enough to see him well? Can life ever be back to normal? I deserve to be happy. I deserve to be loved, I deserve to be #1.

Love Never Promised Tomorrow

I am a HUGE fan of the tv show Nashville and that is a line from the song Casino. I love the music from this show so much! I have almost all of it on my Ipod!  But that line really struck home especially given our situation.

There seems to be progress being made in our journey by all involved.  My husband is eating different foods and having a desire for food outside of his safe foods.  He is running the same but he is putting food in. Friday night we went to Sam's Club to shop, by the time we were done I was hungry so I asked him if he would share a pretzel with me. He said "I won't eat half of it or anything but I will have a little piece or 2." Cool! So I got me a pretzel.....so we ate it on the way home and he ate about half of it! I was so happy to see it! We used to enjoy those things together. Also when I get Cousin's subs with their awesome Broccoli Cheese soup he will have a couple spoonfuls and its great. He always says "sorry I am eating your food" and I always say if I didn't want to share I would tell you NO and let me tell ya I would. LOL

In regards to progress we had another family movie night with all of us and He and I sat together on the couch to watch with our kids. We have a deal that there is no electronics, books, ect to detract from our time. We watched Shrek and it was such a great sound to hear us all laugh.  We are planning on watching the whole series of Shrek. We watched the Men in Black series last week! My husband and I are trying to spend more time together on the couch or in our bed at night next to one another, cuddling......so I had stopped going to church as a family because of many things but Sunday I decided I would go with for my husband and trying on my side to do something he does. I can't run and I can honestly say even if I could, I was never one who enjoyed running anymore than absolutely necessary in life. Me not going with has always been a point of contention for us and it felt good to go with him and be there as a family. Our oldest stayed home but our younger two went and it was a nice feeling. After we got home our middle daughter told me she really liked me being there.....so we will have to see............

I believe there was only one day he went straight to the gym and it was nice.  He ate dinner with us and it was nice to have help with parenting and the house stuff.....

So here it is.........praying that the progress continues, starting to see the light at the end, now just hoping it doesn't burn out.

Do you love me?

A question I ask pretty frequently, even before "Steve" showed up. My husband has always had something as an addiction......when we met we were both smokers........he quit almost 8 yrs ago.....after that he made the slow journey to being an alcoholic, during this time the running was starting to increase and become consistent.  After we got a handle on the drinking the running/exercise/Anorexia came on the scene.  It was a slow progression and well not one I really kept an eye on because he knew what he was doing.......he was always talking about healthy eating and portion control......then all of a sudden certain foods I made he would no longer eat stating he never really liked eating them......then his tongue started to have issues so then we couldn't other foods because they burned his tongue........but when I started to see it and bring it up it was a huge fight.....I was wrong and that was it.......I decided it wasn't fair for our kids to live like that with the fighting.........and eventually I just stopped fighting.........When my parents went through their rough patch my Dad said something that I never understood until recently..." Beth, I stopped fighting with your mom. I decided it wasn't worth the fight anymore." I found that incredibly sad and said I can't imagine that, everyone argues, its part of life.......and then it hit me with my husband........I have no fight left in me.  I still feel that way......

My husband is keeping a blog of sorts for his views of "Steve" and he has shared it with me, so I check on it every so often......I get upset usually when I read it because the things he says truly hurts me and makes me feel like what I am trying to do to help means nothing..........today's entry says: "Everyone tells me they love me, that they care about what is happening.  I don't know what the truth is about any of this." This just kills me......I tell him all the time I love him, show him I love him and he NEVER believes it. I know a lot of this stems with childhood and never feeling worthy of love but in the 19 yrs we have been together I have never walked away no matter what........It breaks me to read this kind of statement when I know I am showing love the best way I can.......I am STILL here.  I have apologized to my children many times since November that I am not strong enough to do what is probably best for them. The thing is I don't feel walking out on 19 yrs of love is the answer, we need each other.....they need their Dad and I need my husband.......Just don't know When Love just isn't enough.  One of my oldest and dearest friends is 44 yrs old and her husband 38 yrs old.....have a 12 yr old. My friend woke up one morning and her healthy, 38 yr old husband had died in his sleep.....no warning, nothing...........it truly put things in perspective that it can happen to anyone......my heart breaks for her, this was the love of her life......they were perfect for each other.  I am scared everyday I will wake up and my husband won't be breathing.....I wake up 2-3 times a night to make sure.......this was before my friend lost her husband, now its at the forefront of my mind. How do you get through that?  Her husband wasn't doing anything to make himself sick or unhealthy........my husband is playing with fire. Playing with his life and I am thankful everyday that we still have him. 

I don't really know how to break through this and help him. Its so different from the male perspective. There is a dynamic there that I can't understand but I pray to be able to. I wish I had the magic words or the instructions on how to make this better but I don't. 

In the spirit of transparency on my part, I have not shared this blog with anyone including my husband. I am not hiding it but I am not advertising it to others right now........ 

Selfishness and Avoiding

Selfishness seems to be an epidemic in our household.....we had always contended with it with our children in some way, shape, or form but my husband and I truly tried to be examples of selflessness. We also tried to up front and deal with issues head on, not avoid them or let them go. As we live in this world of Anorexia/Orthorexia ,selfishness and avoidance have become the norm for ALL of us, myself included.  I am always becoming an expert as avoiding issues and important things that need my attention because I am so emotionally drained from all the things going on around us. Its not right but hey, here we are. 

As I sit here and type I am disappointed in myself that I have succumbed to the selfishness and avoidance around me........that I am not being a better example for my children and my husband. I know that prior to this we all had things we were selfish about but it is truly an epidemic in our daily life.  Its almost like if I don't think about me and my needs, no one else will.  So much of our lives has had to center around my husband's exercise/running schedule and work.  With 24 hours in a day you would think there would be time to do so many things but with the schedule we HAVE to keep its ugly.........we eat dinner around 3pm, he leaves to run between 4 and 5 pm, comes back 1.5 hours later and then we go to the store or the gas station or where ever we need to.  We come home and then its time for him to eat his snack and get on the computer. Also time for our children to start winding down, getting ready for bed.  On a Saturday, sleep in until 9 or so......eat around 11am....head out to shop BY 1:30pm so that we again are home for 2pm-3pm dinner time, and then running time again...........our time to be together or do other things gets smaller and smaller.  We actually had a movie night last Sunday. For the first time in a VERY LONG time we sat down as a family and watched Hotel Transylvania. Awesome movie........my husband and I sat on the couch together rather than he on the computer, me with my nose in a book, and held hands and sat together.....such a good feeling.....the kids were sprawled out all over the living room and it was a good night........our 11 year old son wants to do it again this weekend and we are planning on it. 

Its these activities that give me hope........they give me that glimpse of the man I married, the man I know that is in there.  Our baby steps of progress are wonderful, its just hard to be patient with some things and I have to deal with that.........I have to give him space to do better, make better choices, be a better person rather than constantly point out the faults and failures.......I hate that I do it, I say things or type an email and then after I "calm" down I have no idea why I let the emotions take me...at the time it was soooo important but later, its not......I go over it in my head how I could have been more positive, more supportive, less selfish, less self absorbed. I have no idea how we are going to cure the epidemic in our home but I pray that it will happen. I want nothing more that to keep our family intact and come out the other side of this a happier, stronger family. 

Peppermint Whipped Cream

Yes Peppermint Whipped Cream. Husband and I were walking through Pick N Save and I needed to get milk. So as we were walking past the dairy coolers I happened to look over and see Peppermint Whipped Cream......never seen it before.....so instantly I look at Husband and say " Look, its Peppermint Whipped Cream, that would be cool." He smiles at me with one of those smiles that says he really doesn't want me to say the next thing I am going to say but of course I did, " Peppermint Whipped Cream, now that could be TONS OF FUN!!" And Silence...........

Intimacy has taken a hiatus since "Steve" moved in completely.  We have not been intimate for over 7 months and before that it was 4 months and before that 3 months and so on.  When we did blood work for his evaluation for services thru Aurora Psych we had to get blood work done so I asked them if they could test his testosterone levels.  I do not know what the levels were but the PCP stated all of his tests came back normal. So it must be normal....but there is nothing normal about our sex life or intimacy in our marriage. 

A few years ago I read the book, "The 5 Love Languages" By Gary Chapman and discovered my love language was Physical Touch.....I knew it was but you know what I mean......husband doesn't put any stock in those kinds of books so he didn't read it or do the quiz and that's OK. This discovery truly gave me a bigger insight to why I feel the way I do about certain things.........so you can imagine that with our intimacy not happening how much that throws me. Also because well, I definitely didn't agree to give it up. I am 38 yrs old and I have made choices and have given up things but this was NOT one of them.  I am not very comfortable talking about these things so its a hard topic for me to bring to my husband but I have many times. When I do he gets upset and tells me that the pressure is part of it.........so I try not to bring it up but its in the forefront of my mind and thoughts.......I miss the intimacy......the touching, kissing, love, and fun.  I thrive on physical contact and TRY to make sure that I am enjoying the intimacy he is trying to give but MAN............I know I am not very eloquent with my words but this is the point we are at.  I don't know how much longer I can go like this.....

I work very hard to meet everyone's needs in this house at the exact moment they want them met. I am not always able to but I do work hard to try. My needs aren't anyone's priority right now. It is amazing how selfishness and self centeredness has taking up residence in our home....It is amazing to see how quickly the kids started doing it because my husband is.......I have lived with alcoholism growing up and my husband was an alcoholic for a while and I know how selfish alcoholics can be and I have to say with this Anorexia/Orthorexia its right up there........NOTHING stops his running. If I am sick he will stay home from work but goes running......my back is out he goes running......I had a hysterectomy and he still went running, leaving our children here with me to referee. He is trying harder and I am proud of him for it. Its just hard.........

Scared

Scared........an emotion that has become part of my daily life.  Throughout my life I never felt 100% safe due to different experience I have had but once I met my husband, I always felt safe.......that peace.  But since this all started I feel anything but safe.  I am scared for him, scared of him, and scared of what will happen.


My husband is so thin that you can see every rib in his chest and every bone in his spinal column.  I can wrap my thumb and forefinger around his wrists, and his upper arms are like sticks.  He typically has a yellowish tint to his skin but now its dark spots from the top of his cheek bones and up. He fears almost all foods except the few he will eat. We go through about 18-20 lbs of baby carrots a week. Our children won't talk to him about any of this because they are afraid of his reaction so they talk to me. They tell me how this isn't their dad and ask if he is going to get better. What do you say? I tell them that he loves them and wants them to talk to him. That I believe he can get better but he has to WANT to.

I am very thankful that with this situation my husband tries hard to be transparent about everything he can. When he weighs himself, he shows me. When he puts in his calories and activity online he lets me see it or tells me what it says.  This past week he ran 117 miles in 6 days.......he is averaging 19-20 miles a DAY.  This is not acceptable.....in order to run that much he is out of the house then so his time is spent: gym, work, gym, home, store, home, and bed , to start all over again.....He is a runner and I am so proud of the running he does. He has participated in 4 half marathons and we love to be able to cheer him on.  Watching him run makes me so proud, just one more thing I am proud of him for. But we are having trouble balancing the running with the food.

A Really Cool Response

This morning I had a surprise in my email. Barbara Kent Lawrence, the author of The Hungry i: A Workbook for Partners of Men With Eating Disorder, emailed me a response to a post I left on her website: http://www.barbaralawrence.com/index.html  I had left a post thanking her for writing this workbook and what it has done for me so far in my journey.  Barbara asked me to post this comment on my blog:

Beth - thank you for mentioning my book, "The Hungry i: a workbook for partners of men with eating disorders."  It means a great deal to me that it is useful to you and your husband.  I wrote my first book, "Bitter Ice: a memoir of love, food and obsession," as a way of understanding my now former husband's struggles with eating disorders and ways my own vulnerabilities made me an enabler.  It was very painful for me to write that book because it forced me to try to understand my own behavior.  I'm sorry our struggle ended in divorce, and I respect your effort to keep your family intact.  Writing The Hungry i" helped me understand the illness itself by putting on my 'research' hat.  Perhaps most startling was realizing that eating disordered behavior gives people an endorphin high, so it becomes addictive.

I wish I had some magic dust to throw over all the men and their families who suffer from the destructive illness of eating disorders, but of course, I don't.  I do, however, believe that we must raise awareness that men and boys are vulnerable to eating disorders.  One statistic - since 1998 when "Bitter Ice" was published, and 2010 when "The Hungry i" was published, the ratio of men to women who are eating disordered in the US rose from one in 20 to one in four. Surely,  we can do more to help these men and boys.

I feel so blessed to have gotten a response back from Barbara Kent Lawrence. Gives me hope especially on days like these when I don't have much hope that we will make it through this.

She Can't Save Him

She Can't Save Him is the title of a song and its one that goes through my head many times a day. I can't save him. I can't wave my magic wand and make "Steve" leave our family. I go through so many emotions in a day that I am tired.  I love him so much, it hurts. In the workbook I am reading called "The Hungry I: Workbook for partners of men with Eating Disorders" By Barbara Ken Lawrence has been my light in this storm. One of the few resources out there for our situations, has activities in it to do, one of them is to journal so that is what I am going to try to do with this blog....use it as my journal through this. I highly recommend this for anyone dealing with this.  I have a few other resources to share down the road......I share this book with my husband and so far he has been receptive to it. I am a reader......everything I learn I do it by reading. As I educate myself I pray I can be helpful to my husband and my children.

    From the first time we met, I knew he was the one. We have been together half of my life at this point. I have always admired him and who he is. Regardless of what life gave him, he has always been a wonderful man.  I always felt safe with him, taken care of, and loved. He has been through the wringer with me and I am so thankful for everything. I have been a nightmare to live with...I know that. We have dealt with our share of stuff including unemployment, infidelity, alcoholism, debt, secrets, fighting, ect........In the beginning of our relationship I said I would never stay with some who.......but I found out very quickly that its not that simple....that you don't know how much you will handle and put up with until you are there staring it in the face. So much is compromised in life for love. I do NOT regret US, I believe he and I make a choice everyday to be here in this marriage, this family. We have choices and we choose us.

  The counselor told me right from the start that this isn't my husband, its the disease.....but its my husband.....this is who he is right now. I wish I had the magic words but I don't. I see in him the man I married......but right now he is someone different. I knew for 2 years he is Anorexic but when I tried to talk to him it ended in screaming. I could no long expose myself or our children to this environment....lesser of two evils I suppose.  Everyone in his life, except me, kept rewarding him for this. Heck his job pays him a bonus of 400.00/year for being thin. His yearly bonus I lovingly refer to as his "Anorexia Money". I stopped talking to him about it......I just went with it because he wasn't going to hear me.  Everyone in his life while they were congratulating him and rewarding him would look at me and ask "Why are you letting him do this?" "Why aren't you making him eat?" Its amazing how much of this falls on me...the joke is I feel the same way......why aren't I making him? How could I let it get this far? I know I did NOT cause this but I also know that this isn't about being thin, its about something all together different but until he deals with it here we are. I have told him and the counselor I have NO delusions.....I know I have a hand in this...we all do.....you can't live with someone and not have an affect on their lives. I am trying to hard to change what needs to be changed here.....he spends more time out of the house than in our home. Our children are lost.....all 3 of them ask me the same questions everyday and I have no new answers.  He is trying, I see it.....but is it enough? I am so scared to lose him completely.......I wake up 3-4 times a night to make sure he is still breathing........I do not know what to do......Its hard to have no one to talk to about it who can really give insight. I do not have much in way of a support system.....He and I have always been the support system for one another.

 I am 38 years old and my husband is 45. I am disabled and have been for 8.5 years. I have always been a very independent woman, working and doing for myself w/out asking for help. My husband and I have had little help from anyone else outside of one another from the start of our married lives so we have depended solely on one another. We never had help w/ our kids outside a select few friends so our focus has always been our children. Everything we have done is with/for them. They had to come with us for everything. If we had a babysitter it was so we could go to something for one of the kids. We have neglected ourselves and our marriage. We have 2 special needs children: our 14 yr old has ADHD, ODD, and Sensory Integration Issues and our 11 yr old has Asperger's, ADD, and Sensory Integration Issues so we have had some challenges. We have never had help when it came to them, we again depended on ourselves and medical professionals. We are trying so hard to get back to our marriage but our children have little respect for our privacy or our marriage......but how can they when we haven't shown them to have respect for our marriage. We have a 16 yr old, 14 yr old and 11 yr old and its not easy on them either......they come to me and I try to have answers but I don't. Our 11 yr old tries to talk to him about it but its hard to our 11 yr old to express himself.......So we push on......we keep going......I pray everyday and hope God is hearing me.

What I Hope

Our situation is unique because we are dealing with Male Anorexia/Orthorexia. As I found out quickly not much information out there and the people around us who are the "specialists" had no idea where I should start. The bulk of information out there pertains to teenagers and women and those who this situation understand that info geared toward teenagers and women is not going to give me any REAL insight to my husband's situation. My husband sent me this article about male anorexia and so I decided to search the title and see if maybe other info would come up......it did and as I weeded through all the information, somewhere in the middle there were recommendations of books and such. I hit the jackpot. I am a reader, I can do anything but I need to read it.....can't have someone just talk to me about it or whatever.  So I got my start! As I post on here I will definitely share the info I have found.  Thankfully these articles gave names,book titles,web addresses......ect. With that said, the information out there is limited but what I have found has been helpful.

So that is the main reason for doing this. To hopefully be able to help other women in my situation to find what they are looking for.  I am hoping to be able to find others in our situation to connect with.  My biggest hope is to be able to show support and walk hand in hand with my husband through this. So please bear with me. 

So it begins...............

So it begins for me, to blog some of what we are going through and learning in My families journey through Male Anorexia/Orthorexia or as I affectionately call it "Steve".  Toward the end of November my husband of 17 years was officially diagnosed with Anorexia/Orthorexia.  We know what anorexia is but Orthorexia?

The definition of Orthorexia is: an obsession with avoiding foods perceived to be unhealthy, being "solely concerned with the quality of the food they put in their bodies, refining and restricting their diets according to their personal understanding of which foods are truly 'pure'.