Addiction Or Obsession?

One of the best things about being a writer is meeting new people. I have received wonderful cards and phone calls since writing a book thanking me for sharing my experience with my drug and alcohol addiction. Not all of the responses were from people with problems with drugs and alcohol but many have expressed how they have been affected by the relationship between addiction to drugs and alcohol there with their weight problems. I was amazed at how many responses I got.

One person described how their weight was a problem when they were very young. I really respect these people and their honesty because I know how difficult it is to share this information with others. They talk and explain how food becomes an obsession that they will hide because they feel everyone is watching what they eat all the time and every time they lose weight it becomes more intense. They not only hide the food but they wake up in the middle of the night when everyone is asleep and go through the closet looking for something to eat and as it grows, they even start passing through the trash.

Before they know that in some situations after a lifetime of overweight, they find themselves being entertained by their peers, who are away from social events and are being discussed. It hurts so deeply and when the injury becomes so painful a woman describes how she went to the extreme. He became very angry and disgusted with himself. He started looking for a way to stop eating. Diet pills, fad diets, and starvation are his main methods and when things don't work out, he concentrates on a large amount of laxity and then develops into a cleanser that causes him to vomit after eating anything.

He became so obsessed with it that he took over the emotion. Every hour of every day was consumed by the way he looked and when he looked into the mirror that was one of his greatest fears, he saw a different perception of himself than anyone else. After starving himself and abusing himself for some time, he lost weight and became a threat to his health. She described how she began to suffer from shortness of breath, heart palpitations, and many fatigue, but she still saw herself as fat and not fat. She felt like she had control over something for the first time. When she lost weight she didn't feel like she was in control and all the abuse she had taken from others and she now felt like she was in control of herself but now she was threatening her life.

This has been going on for years with her and it has not gotten any better. She feels strongly that she is not and is just as addicted to my alcohol as I am. Addiction is an addiction no matter what the obsession. Weight, gambling, drugs, alcohol, and even hygiene; they are all issues that affect different people in different ways but if left untreated can lead to life-threatening situations. My life has been about addiction to my whole family and no matter who is addicted to health or not, it can affect family function in many ways. It's hard to keep them all under control because everyone sees their addiction as playing a less affective role to other family members while in reality every addiction has affected each family member in different ways. We work on each issue every day and hope that others are prepared to work towards a healthier lifestyle but when it comes down to it, the responsibility falls on that particular individual.

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