This story is my attempt to bring understanding to this painful, desperate and all too common experience in the life of a bulimic woman. It could be triggering. But I wrote this because articulating the extent of a bulimic episode in detail can help a woman know she can be understood and accepted. If she can feel known in her darkest hours, she may experience a new sense of hope and reach for her recovery.

Sexual Encounters as Part of Bulimic Episode

Day 7 p.m. You are out the door. With firm, fast steps you head for your car. blood surging through your veins, heart pounding, stomach vibrating, electrical energy pouring out of your cells, you can almost hear your body humming. You get in the car, turn the ignition and love hearing and feeling the engine roar.

Developing a healthy respect for your body is part of eating disorder recovery. The words are rather directive and cold, don't you think?

But the meaning is anything but. I got a big reminder of this yesterday when I looked at the close-up of the X-rays of my lungs taken using the most up-to-date technology with a pulmonary specialist.

Portia de Rossi is helping countless people gain a more accurate perspective on the agonies of living with anorexia. People is running an article describing part of an interview with her. In it, she raises the important issue of secrets.

Anorexia to obesity to anorexia again becomes a life of spinning like a carnival wheel. It makes you dizzy. It makes life a blur. It looks like a lot of action but gets you nowhere. This is a true story, written in her own words, of a woman getting off that wheel and finding wisdom.

by Kym, guest writer

My first bout of anorexia came when I was 30.

I grew up being underweight. I believe I didn't get enough nutritional food, but it had more to do with my parents' income than emotional or compulsive behaviors.

Starting at the age of 22, gaining weight hasn't been a problem. Having food available and never having had to learn to restrain my eating, I found myself moving up and up the scale until I reached the “obese” level by the age of 25.