Dr. Joe the Therapist
"THIS is your marathon right now." - Dr. Joe
My neighbor and good friend recently said to me "M., your relationship with Dr. Joe is a little like Lindsay Lohan being counseled by Paris Hilton." And in many ways, she is correct. When Dr. Joe told me to cut my weekly training and exercise time down from 15 hours a week to 10 hours a week, I knew I had found a therapist I could work with.
Most other eating disorder therapists will tell their patients to omit excessive physical activity. Marathon training? I don't think so. Competitive swimming? Game over.
Not Dr. Joe. He has zoned in on the fact that I get sports and uses training, competition, and running often as metaphors for challenges I face in recovery. As long as I eat, I get to train. That's the rule.
Dr. Joe is a phenomenal therapist who really, truly knows me best. He'll be making regular appearances in my blog posts, as I'm often inspired by his motivational one-liners and calmed down by his pacified demeanor.
He also will not give me the name of a very inexpensive sports massage therapist or any advice on how to train for an ultramarathon (his specialty) until I get better. So he provides me with incentives to get back on track.
The uber-competitive person in me kind of digs that.
LA, Registered Dietitian
"For god's sake, don't let that medical assistant show you your weight ever again!"- LA
I met LA through a referral from Dr. Joe in the very beginning. She's my nutritionist, and the mastermind behind the meal plans I love to hate. It's fun to watch her get all excited when I do something crazy like put some peanut butter on a piece of whole grain toast or really throw caution to the wind and eat at an actual (gasp!) restaurant.
LA and I get each other. Another athlete on my therapy team, she also runs, bikes, swims...all that. I attract these folk, apparently.
I respect LA because she is a tough cookie, but has that mothering, supportive way about her. She respects me for the knowledge I already have about nutrition and fitness (I'm a certified personal trainer...yes, with a raging eating disorder...don't judge) and speaks to me on a scientific level that I love.
(I think she secretly loves working with a client who actually knows what "glycogen" is...but that's beside the point).
One of LA's recent emails to me said "You know and I know why you are feeling weak today."
She knows I know. She doesn't feel the need to lecture...only to "gently" remind.
Dr. K, Sports Physician
"I'm so glad to hear you say you feel...good." -Dr. K
Dr. K was the last to be added to my team; another referral from Dr. Joe. She's the doctor calling the medical shots in my recovery. She hauls me in for bloodwork, bone scans, weigh-ins and other acts of physical torture.
Dr. K is a sports physician, so my appointments with her usually involve time spent in the waiting room surrounded by injured, hormonal high school and college athletes and their overbearing parents and coaches. Dr. K's waiting room always produces amusing stories.
After I had dropped an ungodly amount of weight in about a two-week timeframe, Dr. Kerr arranged a nice vacation at the hospital for me (that comment is laced with sober sarcasm, obviously). But she truly saved my life by doing so.
Dr. K has always said "Call in. I will see you the same day. Anything you need."
I've taken her up on that offer a few times. And I have never regretted that I did. She's another amazing support to me in this battle.
Mama K
"You don't have to be PERFECT!"
Mama K...not a doctor. But an important member of my treatment team nonetheless. My former trainer, my close friend, my mentor, a stand-in for family on many occasions. She's usually the first call, with good news or bad.
One night in March 2010, she started asking questions. I finally confided in her that I had be going to the extreme, purging to rid myself of what little food I'd been actually eating. It made her cry. I could tell in her eyes how much it hurt her that I was hurting myself. She knows it all. Every gruesome detail.
And she is still by my side. She's my biggest cheerleader in recovery. We now live states apart, but we touch base in some way every single day. Sometimes her advice is, well, wine-induced. But makes me laugh and inspires me anyhow.
I keep promising her there will be more good times than bad coming soon. And she holds me to that.
JN, Nutritionist #2/ Yoga Teacher
"Sure, you can say you are fat if you want to feel awesome and avoid real issues :)"
JN is Nutritionist #2 not because she is second best, but only because she arrived in my life, well, second. A friend and former colleague of LA's, JN was connected to me after my eating and weight was restored to "normal" and LA had released me from her care. JN, while also dietitian, helps girls like me overcome their body dysmorphia, learn to love our bodies, and embrace our recovered selves through yoga.
JN is my polar opposite...calm, peaceful, yogic. While my overactive brain runs off like an Olympic sprinter, JN is continually persuading me to get in touch with my feelings, find a sense of balance, and seek out peace with myself, food, emotions, and body. For me, therapy with her is like a giant glass of wine; It just kind of mellows me out.
