Content warning: This post deals with mental health and eating disorders.

"I don’t recall how it started, but the advent of my eating disorder came on the heels of crippling anxiety." (Image: Supplied)

, an eating disorder was brewing. It wouldn’t rear its tenacious head until many years later, but it stuck the landing when it did.

. The kind you have to ride out as your body is possessed, stiff in bed, as goose bumps spring out along your skin, as you shake and cry and retch and try to be as still as possible as the tsunami overtakes you and you think you might actually die. The kind that makes you hide, that flips into action at a hair trigger. Most especially, the kind you can never ever reveal to anyone else because you fear an exorcism of sorts.

"Food was not safe to me, but an avenue to sickness." (Image: Supplied)

"'Restrictive eating disorder' is what my psychologist called it." (Image: iStock)

"Hold tight to the people around you who are determined to set you free and who love nothing more than to uplift you." (Image: Supplied)

This story wason The Mighty , aforhealth challenges to share their stories and connect.

If you or someone you know is struggling with their mental health, please seek help from a GP or reach out to Beyond Blue.