How my friends reacted when I developed anorexia

Another great question that I have been asked that I though would make a good post topic is about how my friends reacted when I developed anorexia. Even though I know some of my friends struggled to understand what was happening to me, fortunately none of them were unsupportive. They all visited me in hospital and regularly text me to see how I was doing.

I think that my friends were quite shocked when I let them know I had been admitted into the hospital as the last time they had seen me, I looked relatively normal. I think if I had of lost lots of weight over a long period of time and had become severely underweight they would not have been surprised by my diagnosis however they were shocked when I told them why I hadn't been at school, as I didn't really look anorexic.

My friends had all obviously noticed that I had stopped eating anything 'unhealthy' and had also noticed that I had started walking to school and home from school every single day unlike all of the other boarding students who caught the bus. So I guess they knew that I wanted to lose weight but they did not know I had been making myself sick and since there had not been a drastic change in my weight, they weren't overly concerned.

While my friends were supportive of me, we still did unfortunately grow a part. This however was not their doing, but mine. I am the one who avoided social situations whenever I could and I was the one who failed to make an effot to see my friends after I left the hospital. In fact since I left the hospital in 2012, I have only seen two of my old school friends again. What has made matters worse is that we have all ended up on opposite ends of the state/country so it is hard to catch up with one another.

I am really sad that I have grown a part from some of my college friends and that my anorexia prevented me from being social over the last few years but I thin that my friends handled things as well as they possibely could have. If I have any advice for anyone out there who is suffering from an eating disorder as is worried about how their friends may react (or how they are reacting), I suggest that you are honest and open with them. If they are good friends, they will want to support you and they will want to try and understand however they may just not know how to do these things.

Even if you print some information off the internest for them to read. This will not only help them to understand what you are going through, but will also allow them t be the best friend they can possibly be to you, whilst you are unwell. It may seem strange giving your friend information on your illness or even advice about how to deal with it but I honestly thing that a true friend would really appreciate it. I know if I was in that type of a situation and my friend had just been diagnosed with an illness I knew very little about,  I would want to learn about it and to know how to help my friend.