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Justine
December 8th, 1996

My name is Justine, and I was anorexic for three years. I know that it is hard to actually say that you have a problem, but you have to realize that there are always people that care about you, and would never want you out of their lives. I remember how it felt to look at myself in the mirror vow not to eat for two days. I also remember what it was like to faint in school all the time, and get headaches that would never go away. The thing I remeber the most is waking up in a hospital with IVs in my arms, being force fed through tubes. That was when I realized that I needed help. The reason I realized this is that I noticed how so many people had tears in their eyes when they told me that my heart had stopped beating, and I almost died. I was 12. When I got out of the hospital 2 weeks later they told me that I had to go through therapy. At first I was hesitant, but then I remembered how my mother looked when I woke up in the hospital, and I decided to try for her.

When you read this, I don't want you to think that it's a sad thing that I went through. I went through a rough time, and at the end I realized that I can be a strong, beautiful person. When you suffer from this disorder, it's not easy to admit it. If you are a survivor of this disorder, I commend you for your courage to want to live. If you are still suffering from it, get help. You don't have to go to your parents, call a hotline, come to this website, do anything, just don't keep it to yourself. I don't want you to have to wake up in a hosptial with tubes in your arms, or worse yet, not wake up at all. Please, please talk to someone. Help is just a word away.

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