What Are Some Eating Disorders?

And how about you Alexis is there a time that you've completely forgotten about your problems and what was that day like? What were you doing? Were you out with the kids? With family a lot of family grown ups when I'm hanging out with just kids it's kind of like it's a little bit stressful and plus I don't like other people to see me do it, so that probably helps.

Why do you care if other people see you do it? Because they think it's weird and they start asking questions and they start having a conversation I don't really feel like having and What happens comes in with me now because I think it's weird. I don't think you should be manifesting or dealing with the emotional changes and challenges you face in your life by eating chalk and baby powder.

I know you have no blood cells in your body anymore, I know your bones are like chalk maybe because you are eating chalk. I think you got enough good reasons to start to push back on the idea that it's not what people accept, but it's Okay for me and I need you to feel that deep inside of you otherwise the kinds of things Dr.

Wayne[sp?] was talking about don't make sense because you are not going to apply them. Does that click at all? Yes, it does. So I want to do something if I can, I want to introduce you to somebody who's been down this road before, Elena is joining us, she broke her addiction to cigarette ashes eight years ago.

Elena thanks for joining us. Thanks you're welcome. Talk to if you could to our two guests, about how difficult it is to recover from having a pica disorder. Well, for me once I was extremely iron deficient. And once I started getting iron put back into my body, that helped break the physical craving and the physical need, and I can certainly understand and for me shame was really a big thing, and that's what helped me get help eventually.

I was literally, I don't smoke. But here I am, eating these ashes constantly, and even at work I would follow the smokers outside with their little ash trays and ask them and when I, I'm going to cry. When I had to sit down and practically beg somebody, I need your ashes, I need your ashes.

And they're looking at me like, what's wrong with you? I don't know what's wrong with me, I have to have it. It is, I have to. I had no choice. Does that sound familiar? Yes. So, share with our two guests what you think it's going to lie in store for them in the road ahead. Some patience, and the ability to, and you're doing the best thing right now is taking about it because, people who have shame, I hid it for a long time and when it got to the point that I could not hide it anymore, I had to seek help.

So, talking about it, and finding those things that will take the place of whatever you're ingesting. I'm so proud of you I can't tell you, you dealt with the underlying problem that you were facing which is not the cigarette ashes, it was what made you want to have the cigarette ashes.

And what I'm asking both of you to do, if you think deep in your heart that you can make a change can I help you? Yes. Then here's is what we're going to do, we've found two therapists who live in your neighborhoods, name where you come from. Sue Bates, who is a co-founder of the International Eating Disorder Institute in Seattle, is going to help, and Kia[sp?] Carpenter, who is a practitioner here in New York is going to help.

What we are going to do is put you in touch with them after the show. I don't want to force you, but I care about you guys. I think we all care about you. We want this to happen for you because we're proud of what you could achieve like Elaine has if you make this happen, does that make sense? Alright.

Thank you so much for sharing you stories. I want to thank Shanika and Alexis, Elaine, all three of you thank you very much Dr. [UNKNOWN] as always for your valuable contribution to this discussion, we'll be right back.