This isn't to start a debate - I just want to hear opinions from those with anorexia nervosa or a history of having anorexia nervosa.

Some of us "recover" which is great. Does that mean the ED is gone?

I ask because I feel like I will need to manage my ED for the rest of my life. I'm not being a victim. I've just been dealing with it for 20 years.

I liken it to bipolar disorder which currently has no cure. I manage it daily and its "for life" until medical science advances.

I don't know really but I feel like my ED has been so deeply psychologically entrenched.

Maybe I've been dealing with it for much longer than 20 years. When I was 8 years old, my mother (BPD and narcissist) would get mad for who knows why - and scream at me, pull out the hallway scale, make me step on it, and degrade me about my "big butt and round weight."

I needed to vent. I have turned this ED into a tool as an adult for self-management and, well, it's complicated. My mom died long ago so that's no issue.

Just wondering if this ED can be cured or is it a life management thing? I think it is life management and that actually relieves me because the thought of total recovery is not something I can fathom or have ever read.

I hope this post is in keeping with this forum's community guidelines. I've been a member here for a long time but I've always avoided this forum because ... I'm scared.

I welcome PM's if anyone wants to send to me. I am totally not in a life-crisis state. Sadly, my BMI is normal currently and its a daily existence of despising myself in ... being this size.

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