How do I overcome bulimia without any treatment?
15 ‘good’ days is a milestone! Don’t expect it to change overnight :). Be proud, this is good.First of all: bulimia is serious. It’s a way of coping with emotional distress, that’s the main issue. It also has to do with not trusting your body. I’d suggest you do find someone to talk to, someone you trust and doesn’t judge. A psychologist is possible, but it could also be a personal coach or whatever suits you. My suggestion is: don’t ask friends or family; they might be too close to understand.Mindfulness, meditation and yoga are good starting points to ‘listen’ to your body and experience whatever it is that triggers the behaviour. Try to find out what it is in your life you actually don’t feel comfortable with. Maybe there are some issues from the past you need to process. Visualise daily what you would like your life to be (check youtube for some great meditations, listen to them when you go to sleep or when you feel triggered).When you do have a ‘bad’ day, reflect on it: what triggered you? Don’t be harsh on yourself. Don’t make yourself feel worse by overly criticising. Talk to someone about your feelings and experiences, but my main advice: don’t focus on ‘food’ in these conversations. Many eating disorder therapies tend to focus too much on eating patterns, basically only the consequences not the causes. An eating disorder is hardly about food, it’s about self worth, selftrust, selfconfidence. It’s about regaining the healthy relationship with your body (image).
How did you overcome years of being bulimic?
How did you overcome years of being bulimic?Several years of intense therapy to uncover the root cause of my bulimia. Bulimia is just a symptom of a deeper rooted problem that manifests itself as an eating disorder. I suffered from Anorexia, Bulimia and Non Purging Bulimia (compulsive overeating) for over twenty years.Years of therapy helped me uncover the reasons why I starved myself for days and at other times binged and purged or compulsively ate. Once I faced those ‘demons’ head on and confronted them I was able to conquer them and overcome. Was it painful and challenging? Very; at times it was excruciating and I wanted to quit therapy. But I pressed through the pain and got to the other side. The Caterpillar must die before it becomes a butterfly.I had a few relapses along the way and was hospitalized in a Psychiatric hospital and then partial hospitalization and outpatient therapy, etc. One of the exercises we had to do during therapy was list five things we liked about ourself physically and five things we liked about ourself personality wise. Talk about a challenge! I just stared at the blank piece of paper. The Therapist told me to write at least one in each category even if I didn’t agree with it 100%. So I did. Eventually I found five things in each category.One Key thing we learned was to stop comparing ourselves to magazine cover models and other people. The cover girl photos were usually air brushed (Photoshopped) any way and many underweight models probably had some sort of eating disorder. When you compare yourself to others you never win. There will always be something about them you wish you had, a flatter stomach, longer legs, bigger breasts, younger looking skin, etc. Once I mastered not comparing myself to others I was able to list more than five things on that piece of paper.As I progressed and conquered more underlying issues I began to love myself and accept myself for who I was. I have been free from eating disorder behavior for over fifteen years now. I still love myself, even more than I did back then, and I even like myself! I enjoy my own company and I do nice things for myself. I am no longer my own worst enemy but I am my own best friend.DISCLAIMER: I am not a medical doctor or a Mental Health worker nor am I trying to treat anybody, offer medical advice or practice medicine. I am simply sharing my experience, strength and hope with other people in the hopes that it will encourage them.
I have been bulimic since middle school. How do I overcome the urge to throw up after everything I eat?
1-800-931-2237 This is the National Eating Disorders Association helpline. Call it. If they are not available, call a therapist or psychiatrist in your area, even if this is not their area of expertise. If they can't help, they will be able to point you to someone who can.Bulimia is a serious (sometimes fatal) illness, and it is very frequently impossible for sufferers to deal with on their own. Call that number. Today. Right now. Bulimia is associated with all sorts of health risks, including depression and suicide. Do NOT take this lightly. Please get help as soon as you can. The hotline will probably refer you to a therapist in your area. Make an appointment. Do not worry about paying for it, if you are financially unable to do so. Your health is your number one priority, and it is in jeopardy. Eating disorders can be very embarrassing for the sufferer, but you should not feel embarrassed at all. You did not ask for this. Would you be embarrassed if you got cancer or diabetes? What about if you were in a bad car accident? These things happen to people - they are not a source of shame. You are a valuable and good person. You didn't do anything wrong, and you are not bad or shameful in any way. You have a disease and you deserve compassion and love from those around you, not shame. Your therapist will hopefully help you to know that this is true and to feel that you are worthy of that compassion and love.Please get help. You do not have to suffer any more. You do not have to be embarrassed or ashamed. You do not have to feel guilt or depression or isolation any more. But if you do nothing, these feelings will almost certainly persist, and you might get very sick or die. This would be a loss for everyone - you, your family and friends, and the whole world. We have a lot of challenges on this planet, and we need everyone working together to solve them. We need you!1-800-931-2237
Former bulimics: how did you recover?
I started reading about it. I wrote a list on all negative effects accompanied with a picture of rotten bulimia-teeth to look at every time I felt the need to binge and purge. The list looked something like this:CONS:Rotten teethBloated face and stomachBad skin, nails and hairLong term damage on organs and bodyHole in throat, gumsDeathThen one one night I was on this crazy binge. Eating and purging over and over. I ate so much I could and drowned it with 2 liters of salted medium warm water (so I would get sick and purge). And when I was about to raise my self up from the bed I couldn't manage to stand straight up. My stomach was so full of food and water at that point that when I tried to stand up straight, I felt my insides stretching and almost like it was starting to rip. I got so scared. Rushing to the bathroom bent over backwards. Purged.I googled “bulimia death” on Google and found this picture. This girl died after a purge because her stomach ripped. Her parents found her like this.That made me REALLY realize that I was sick and that I really needed help. That could have been me on any occasion after bingeing and purging like that. I had been sick for 3 years more or less.I sought help. Talked to my friends. Started eating 20 mg Prozac and decided to get well. Today, three years later, I can say that I'm pretty much well. I had some realapses a couple of times but nothing close to what had been. I started working out and eating healthy and be aware of triggers. I'm still thin today and I feel better than I have ever done before.Please get well. Don't harm yourself because you can do irreversible damage to yourself. If you want to talk, please send me PM.
Can a person really ever recover from bulimia?
Yes absolutely! I am a therapist and have helped many people develop a healthy relationship with food and themselves and put bulimia behind them. I have also personally overcome bulimia. Bulimia is a symptom of a deeper issue, the bingeing and purging meets a need that is not being met in a healthy is a learned coping mechanism, so once you understand your stressors you can start to learn healthier coping strategies that don't involve food.There are many ways to overcome bulimia however the approaches need to be individualized to you. There is no one size fits all.Here a few tips to get you started:Understand and write down your triggers to binge and purge (e.g., lonely, over eat, bad news, stress, being tired etc).Write a list of things you love to do and things that are healthy for you to do that don’t involve food (e.g. call a friend, watch a movie, go for a walk, have a hot bath with candles, have a cup of tea, exercise, paint, research a new hobby to take up on you tube, join a new group on meet up.com).When you notice you’ve been triggered try to do something from your list above- each time you break the cycle of wanting to binge and purge you have strengthened a positive neural pathway in your brain to be healthier.Stop dieting/restricting foods (this was a big one for me, I used to think foods were either bad or good, now food is just delicious and gives me nutrients), clean eating, paleo diet any type of diet where you restrict can feed bulimia because when you deprive yourself of something that is all you think about and eventually you just give in because it gets too loud. Basically allow yourself to eat what you want.Learn mindful eating- this isn't just about slowing down when you eat but being able to listen to your body. Your body naturally tells you when you are hungry and full and also what type of food/nutrient your body wants.Understand the underlying issue (remember bulimia is just a symptom, a coping mechanism). For me bulimia was a way for me to control something because I felt so out of control with anxiety and depression. Once I started to work on those to issues and develop healthy coping strategies the bulimia gradually stopped.I hope that helps! If you have any questions let me know. :)
Bad breath from Bulimia. Please help me.?
I've been bulimic for almost 2 years now. I'm working on it really hard with my boyfriend for the last 6 months & have really approved, but there are some days where I break down & relapse & it feels like I have to start all over again. Especially with my breath situation. For the last 8 months my breath has just REAKED. Especially in the morning. I'm a very clean person. Brush, floss & scrape my tongue twice a day every day, etc. I even carry & use half a pack of gum to cover up my breathe during the day. But I'm getting fed up with this. I went to a nose, ear & throat doctor a couple months ago & told her about my bulimia & bad breath & she gave me stomach neutralizers that I should take in he morning & before I go to sleep, but I take lots of vitamins & the vitamins + the stomach neutralizers make me dizzy & send me running the the bathroom to vomit more. (obviously not purposely) I want to know will this heal over time? (a period of not throwing up, obviously) & how much time do you think? Or will this never go away? I'm pretty sure its a stomach acid problem, thats what my doctor told me. I REALLY don't want to go to another doctor because the last doctor I went to made me feel so awkward & wasn't very nice to me about the situation. Long answers are welcome, I really really appreciate everything. Thanks.
How does one recover from an eating disorder such as bulimia?
I can tell you of my personal experience, which I dont intend to generalize.Seeking professional help is good idea in any case.Nevertheless, I recovered myself and my eating habits are fairly normal. I had anorexia, for which I was treated, and later bulimia that I did not tell anybody about and did not receive treatment from.Bulimia is binge behavior, its a coping mechanism for dealing with unpleasant feelings. Other people binge in alcohol, drugs, porn etc. The mechanism is the same. Its self medication. However, I found bulimia more approachable than the other variants. After all, you are at least not ingesting poison, just normal food.There is a chain reaction. You have the negative emotion first (anger, frustration, depression, shame, hopelessness…). You react to it by binge eating. Then fear of consequence (weight gain, loss of control) set in. You react to it by purging. Then guilt sets in (wasting the food, shame, loss of control etc.).What I did was experiment with this chain reaction and altered it. So, I would still allow myself to binge eat. But, I used resulting negative emotion, together with the original negative emotion for a different reaction. Instead of purging I would (I can probably still say “punish” myself by) exercise. (you have all the extra calories to do that). I dont say it universal remedy.But in my case this led to regaining the sense of control, and I even saw it as turning this whole negative event into positive outcome (i.e. increased fitness). Exercise tends to balance body and mind naturally. So the excesses diminished over time and eventually I did not feel need to binge eat anymore. Since then my eating habits are fairly in norm, even as I do not exercise much anymore.Regardless of that, bulimia is just a random coping mechanism aimed towards these negative feelings and experiences, so way to get rid of ANY such coping mechanisms for good is to address these negative feelings and their source, which may require psychological or psychiatric help.
Persuasive essay (Bulimia)?
hello im wrighting a persuasive essay on how bulimia is bad. Im having trouble because i personally want to write about "bulimia" since i suffer from it. My teacher told me to write it on my perspective giving the character a different name and how i would help the character which is "myself" by persuading myself to get help ( i havnt got help). anywho i need 3 body paragraphs, so far im going to write on how it affects you mentally, and physically but idk what my third body paragraph should be about? im thinking maybe how i should get help? or how it affects the people around you? my teacher suggested "and you aint fooling anyone" i didnt quit understand but maybe because i cant fool anyone?. im not sure if that can be my third paragaph.? & i need help on how i can actually MAKE IT a persuasive essay and not a personal emotional thing because it seems like im just focusing on that than persuading
I have bulimia... very unwanted bulimia?
When I was 12, i started throwing up occasionally. Then in junior high i did more and more frequently. Now I'm 15, and about 2 months ago I realised that I might have bulimia. By then I had been bingeing and throwing up at least once a day, 5 days a week. It sounds silly, but I just thought bulimia was way too serious to describe what I was doing. I never thought much of it. My parents found out I was throwing up a few times over the past few years, but they just got mad. I've been trying for almost 2 months to rid myself of the habit, but it seems impossible and now I usually throw up more than once a day unless I don't eat at all. My plan right now has been to get skinny so I'll have confidence and not want to puke all the time. Right now I weigh 129 lbs, which I know is statistically normal since I'm 5'5 tall but I have felt like a total fatass since I was very young. I was a chubby kid lol :) Well even if my parents did realize it's not my fault, which honestly i don't think it is, there isn't any kind of therapist or psychologist in the area and we can't afford to drive to see one. I have a friend who majored in psychology and she used to have bulimia for 3 years so I'm thinking about talking to her. But yeah, any tips on how i can stop doing this??? its so hard :'(
How can I recover from bulimia without professional help?
I'm 20 years old, and I've been suffering from bulimia for almost 3 years now, ever since August of 2007. It started when I wanted to lose weight due to being in a relationship where I was mentally abused, my boyfriend (now ex, he is not in my life anymore) would say I was fat and call me names. As it progressed it became not only about weight but dealing with emotions. I was molested from when I was 9 years old to 13 by my father. Recently I've gotten back in touch with my sister, who moved away 4 years ago, and I hadn't talked to her since. We have been talking about our past, and I've realized both my siblings, younger brother and older sister, were molested as well. All of this has been overwhelming to me, and I've stopped exercising months ago, so I've gained a little weight, making my self esteem drop even lower. I have an amazing boyfriend now who makes me happy, we were best friends for 4 years, and now lovers... he makes me happy and he's aware of my eating disorder, and wants to help me. The problem is, I'm not sure how to do this. I've tried to self-recover many, many times, but I can't think of a time I actually went a whole month without purging. I've ranged from (when I first started this) 6-7 times daily, down to twice daily, then eventually just twice a week. In the past 3 days I have purged maybe 5 times. I've just confessed to my boyfriend, and I feel horrible about this. I can't tell my parents, as it's much too shameful. I've told them once, but I never got any help. My sister asked me if I was still doing it, but I said no. Both she and my boyfriend want to help, but I'm not sure where to even start... I don't think I can get a therapist. Is there anything I can do for myself?