It’s Never Too Late
September 29th, 2007
I had an interesting e-mail from a woman last week who was 51 years old and was wondering if it was too late to get into recovery!! I responded immediately and told her that it’s never, ever too late to become a whole, thriving, creative woman. The eating disordered behaviors are merely the tip of the iceberg. They are simply representative of the stress and illness that is going on underneath. I was personally 47 years old when I got into recovery for many things, not the least of which was the eating disorder. Wow — I look back and am amazed that I was so lucky! I had become so tired of being sick and tired. I literally became willing to do anything my therapist at that time asked me to do. I made sure that I did something every single day towards my recovery. It took a lot of hard work and a lot of time! I finally figured that I didn’t have anything better to do. 
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After a few years I realized that I needed to spend the rest of my life helping women who were struggling. Again, it’s never too late!! My oldest client at Mirasol was a lovely woman was 68 years old, diabetic, overweight, and had high cholesterol and blood pressure (a real typical american!). She admitted to Mirasol and worked right along with all of our younger clients. She was fabulous. She was truly “one of the girls” and made some lifelong friends while in treatment. She eventually was able to become insulin free, have a decrease in blood pressure, and lose some weight so she could attain metabolic health. And she started to write! When the eating behaviors had gone into remission and her physical condition had improved greatly, she had this tremendous burst of creativity and she started to write! She wrote not only her memoirs but also some wonderful short stories.
Let’s never forget that there is plenty of time for all of us to make our dreams come true!
Jeanne,
I have been looking for any type of support group, online or otherwise, for older women with ed’s, but have not had much success. Do you know of any? I used to think that ed’s were diseases of the young, but I have now seen so many older people suffering with them that I know that’s just not true.I think some of the issues are different for older women and feel that it would be helpful for some to be able to communicate with people who are at a similar stage in life.
kc
Hi, KC!
I would try going to Overeaters Anonymous. They have a strong online presence. Also go to the National Eating Disorders Association website — they’ll have lots of suggestions for you thee! There are also Mirasol’s discussion boards as well. We could start one for women over 35 (?) if you’d like??