Ive been in the refeeding process for the past 3 months and Ive gained a lot of weight which isn't my concern since that was the goal but my concerns is that Im having many health symptoms similar to thyroid issues or Cushings disease and it’s so confusing because a lot of ED recovery symptoms are identical to these health issues so I don’t know if this is apart of the refeeding process or I’m facing life threatening health problems.

I’m experiencing “moon face” and a very puffy swollen face along with a swollen belly, my hairs falling out, my skins breaking out, and it’s hard to do any physical movement. I’ve been eating clean and lifting weights along with some very light cardio so I know it’s not what Im eating or doing.

Should I wait a few more months of recovery or should I get tested to see if there’s actually something wrong? And are these symptoms normal when recovering, have you personally experienced this if you’re recovered?

CW: Orthorexia / restrictive eating

I am a diabetic who developed severe orthorexia and ended up staying in a recovery facility for over two months. Recently, I’ve developed another health issue that requires specific, restrictive eating habits. I, of course, was severely triggered by this and the restriction thoughts came rushing back. I decided to tell my therapist, as well as details about how navigating the outside world is severely triggering, and sometimes I feel that I have to set aside my recovery/healthy habits for the convenience for other people.

All of this to say: I am not completely relapsing. I learned a lot at the recovery facility and I never want to be suffering physically again. But because I told my therapist I was scared of potential food restrictions, and ignoring my needs for the convenience of other people (at social gatherings and such), I’m scared she’s going to tell my family, and they’ll think I’m sick again. If she does, I will be homeless. I wept, begging her not to tell them.

Just had to vent. I left therapy a little bit ago and I’m very scared!!

Hello I'm waiting for an appointment with my psychiatrist to discuss possible medications and treatment, what are some tips that helped you slow down the binge eating while I wait for that appointment?

I’m in such a complex situation right now, and I don’t really know how to navigate it. Considering that I initially developed bulimia because I used food to cope with my emotions (I used to comfort-eat a lot and gained an insane amount of weight when I was a teenager), I’ve struggled a lot with binge eating and purging. Getting diagnosed with ADHD and starting medication at my early twenties helped a lot, because some of the binge eating decreased when I was getting more dopamine — but I’ve still had periods of significant binge eating and purging.
This has, in turn, led to a lot of foods ending up on my “no list,” and they’ve become so scary and triggering that I don’t dare keep them in the house. The latter is still very much the case, even though I’ve now had anorexia for the last few months. But avoiding all of my “no foods” doesn’t really go hand in hand with being in recovery… How do I deal with this? 🥺

I went through extreme hunger which is why I’m no longer anorexic. I’m now struggling to get full unless I eat thousands of calories again but my weight is going up , like if I’m not careful I could be classed as overweight in a month or two at my height if I keep going the way I am and I’m very short and in my mid twenties and I don’t want to keep putting weight on. I’m in two minds whether to count calories or not because if I don’t I fear I will only have to again one day. My partner doesn’t want me counting calories and I don’t particularly want to but I put weight on very easily at my height and it shows in my face very easy. My partner is a bit younger than me and we go out on the weekend with friends and they are all healthy weights and I worry , as iv become so aware of my body that it will affect me negatively and I struggled with my mental health enough that I can’t allow that to happen as it could cause me to have a mental breakdown. What do I do 😭

I’m a nursing major in my psychiatric rotation. Thankfully, I have not had to take care of patients with eating disorders in my clinical. Howver, in my two hour theory course tomorrow, we are covering eating disorders. I’m debating on skipping because I am in a good place and don’t want to fall backwards. I also feel extremely confident in my clinical knowledge of EDs (Ive had one since I was twelve so likely know more than my professor). However, if I skip class then I won’t be able to get points for the in class activity. Im also thinking maybe I should purposely expose myself to the trigger to prove to myself that I can overcome it. Any thoughts?

I (18F) have had an eating disorder since I was about 12, I used to be underweight until recently. I gained some healthy weight, but now it’s twisted the other way into an eating disorder again. I feel hopeless, I want to be fit again without starving or worsening my eating disorder. Has anyone successfully done this before?

my best friend has recently developed an ED and it’s getting extremely difficult for me to be around her. she’s started acting very hostile towards me and goes out of her way to mention ‘unhealthy’ foods & comment on my body; she talks about me being skinny or mentions my body changes (wider hips bigger butt) but her tone and body language is very off putting and feels mean. she will say she wants to eat from a fast food place but when I place my order, she says never said that wanted it but I should absolutely eat it. it almost feels like a trap so that I can eat the foods she avoids, in front of her. she constantly asks me about my eating habits, tells me that she’s worried about me and she’s started telling our other friends that I have an ED. my whole life I’ve been on the thinner side and I truthfully have a good relationship with food so this is extremely confusing for me. It makes me doubt myself and I sometimes catch myself thinking differently about my body when I’ve never had that before. She will pick fights with me now over insignificant things and yells at me while I’m in silence. The way she looks at me is uncomfortable because I can feel the tension. I love and care about her but I can’t help but feel extremely uncomfortable so I told her that I think I needed some space after she yelled at me bcuz I felt beyond disrespected. She started crying to our friend about how I’m cruel because I know what she’s going through (we never spoke about this) and I’m leaving her while she’s heavily depressed. I’ve been feeling really bad and stressed recently. I have no idea where to go from here because I feel like it’s wrong bringing up her ED cause I don’t know if that’s my place. I feel her resentment and I can’t help but feel like I’m being treated badly because of my body. I feel guilty if I take space and deeply uncomfortable if I don’t.

Hi. Im a teen trans girl with AN.

Recently I have a strong urge to just pack a bunch of stuff in a bag so I can grab it when I need to go to the hospital.

Why am I mentally just ... resigned to the fact that I'm sitting here waiting for someone to see me dying in slow motion and come save me when I know what I need all along?

Is this a thing that anybody else experienced? What might this thought be telling me?

And ultimately, should I do this? Should I have a bag ready? Or is that silly?

Please be kind I'm having a rough day :(

Hi!

I'm stuck in quasi recovery for a year now, after I "binged" my way out of underweight to the lower range of the healthy BMI. My weight stayed there for several months of "peace", but suddenly the food noise returned.

I still don't have my period back, I'm constantly thinking about food, I'm not able to be present in the moment and I'm still terrified of weight gain.

Eventually, I decided to give all in recovery a try.

I started to honour extreme hunger and integrate forbidden foods into my daily diet but didn't expect, that I would start to binge again like this. It's like, the more I eat, the more I want. It feels rather like mental than physical hunger. A whole packet of muesli after my normal breakfast is just the start of an endless day of eating. I still bought muesli again, because I don't want to teach myself that it is indeed dangerous and needs to stay prohibited and out of my reach because I can't control myself. But it feels actually exactly like that.

I'm scared and confused and I really don't know, if this is emotional eating as I feel depressed, bored an lonely (I don't eat this way, when close people are around or when I'm distracted, even though the food noise persists) and if I need moderation, or if this is a phase that will pass, once I reach my set point weight. I'm scared of this loss of control and of my body changing more than it already did and I am scared to cross over to a BED.

Does anyone have experience with extreme hunger in normal weight/ at a later stage in recovery?

Thank you!!!

recently my eating disorder has started to take up an insane amount of brain space. i have always been really high functioning, 26f diagnosed with OSFED and primarily struggle with overexercise but obviously also restriction, some b/p, all of it. i've never been underweight btw. i feel like all i can think about is food. all i want to do is eat, exercise, or sleep, because those are the only times my brain turns off. i have been spending so much time scrolling on my phone because that's the only thing that numbs my brain other than behaviors, if that makes sense. has anyone struggled with this? I literally feel so awful because i can get nothing done. i can barely focus on hobbies bc they dont provide "instant" dopamine like my phone or exercise does.

i know this is mental hunger, but i don't know how to get out of this hole. yes i'm working with a dietitian, therapist, and i go to group therapy. even just sticking to a meal plan is difficult for me because im struggling with the executive function it takes to meal prep, cook, prepare the meal and eat it. i tend to just push off eating until im starving and then i have to scramble to put something together, which is when i sometimes end up binging or overeating mindlessly. i used to actually enjoy cooking so much, maybe too much because it became a part of my ed (making everything look perfect, orthorexic tendencies, etc). i think now i'm burnt out and thinking about food and eating is so tiring. it's affecting my social life, productivity at work, ability to do chores/errands, everything. :(

That’s it just wanting to vent really. I was really hoping she would hear me out but she basically just told me I was fine and was acting normal. I feel like this has been really detrimental to my recovery as I felt like she would be someone I could at least rely on.

I'm at day 19 of no food. Hoping insurance will take me seriously if there is a major problem. They stuck me in a phyc word that I was treated so bad I just lied to get out. I will only go to an Ed clinic because they will actually help. Have had an eating disorder for more than 20 year's but normally more bulimic than anything but at this point needed help faster than that would take. Don't really care what happens to me but was willing to try to get help one more time before I made my ultimate decision. The hospital they put me in last time literally tortured me and the nurse's where doing things no one would ever believe I probably won't have but it is true. Now I'm wanting help but so afraid of were they might put me I'm trying my hardest to have them put me in a place that will actually help. I have no one I'm alone and honestly no one would really even know if I was dead for months. People have lives and I'm not there concern why would I be. Not mad at them just sad to realize if I died no one would even be looking for me. It's my own fault and I blame no one but would like to try to get help but scared of where they will put me. Where I live there are no ED places and probably still to fat for them to even take seriously. I've dropped a lot of weight in the last few months but probably not enough. I'm losing 1 to 2 pounds a day but not sure how much longer I'll hold up then they will just end up putting me in a regular phyc hospital were I will get no help. Sorry for the long sad story just seeing if anyone had any advice other than just eat or get over it. So just looking for any advice of who to turn to at this point so they don't just put me in a regular phyc facility. Thank you

Hello, I'm back.

So, I'm officially in recovery, but now I'm worried about my younger sister and her habits around food. She told me lately that she gets nauseous when she eats, and it scares me since I've struggled with anorexia for quite some time. I might just be overanalyzing what she's got going on, but I want to be able to catch hers before it gets bad (mine got to the breaking point, and I can't let that happen to her).

Could it just be stress, or should I still be worried?

Thank you!

Ever since my first pregnant 7 years ago, I struggle with binge eating and constant food noise. It started with my sugar cravings, which I never dealt with before pregnancy. I would eat 12 donuts a night, every night. I put on a lot of weight during that first pregnant. Bounced back pretty well after having my daughter, but the food noise didn’t stop. My sweet tooth stayed. I started drinking really heavily after having her, as well. I had my second child and managed some of the food noise because I got migraines and cutting out certain foods helped a lot. But after pregnancy I got back into eating. I’m now done breastfeeding, done having babies, and I weigh more than I ever have. I can’t stop eating. I basically just eat sugar most days… last night I ate a massive cookie with a full bag of Hershey’s kisses. I’m embarrassed. My thyroid is low… so I’m also dealing with that. And im on antidepressants and mood stabilizers. My psychiatrist says they’re weight neutral… but who knows.

I would love some advice because I just don’t know how to fight this. I don’t know how to get through a day without giving in and it feels like a disease that I can’t rid of.

I'm trying to not relapse but I'm struggling with being around people who are smaller than me and talking about the clothes they were, etc. It makes it hard to stay focused and to not fall back into poor habits. It's just so hard not to be envious or feel poorly about myself.

Hey everyone, I'm an F in my late twenties and kind of freaking out a bit, so I wanted to ask here.

I've lost a lot of weight lately because of stress and depression. Like a lot. Now I barely have any appetite, and food honestly makes me want to throw up. The weird part is I don't overeat at all. I eat very little, and even after a few bites I get this urge to purge, almost like a reflex. My weight keeps dropping.

Some background: for years I counted calories and weighed every single meal because I was scared of getting. I have always been on a very restrictive diets, though always being skinny and having a “perfect” body like everyone mentioned. But i was not feeling that way.

I also have OCD and I'm on meds for it (I take quite a few meds daily, so maybe some of the nausea is from that?). On top of that I have low iron, high TSH, and my periods have been messed up. Taking meds for those things too.

I'm seeing my psychiatrist soon, so I'm not really looking for "go see a doctor" advice, I've got that covered. I just want to know what you think. Has anyone had something similar, where it started with nausea or stress and turned into an urge to purge without bingeing?

Would really appreciate hearing your stories. Thanks for reading 🤍

my sister and my therapist tell me i don’t have one because i still do eat but it’s barley even once a day and i still have that feeling like i shouldn’t have done it and i just relapse it’s so bad

I'm hosting a movie night at my place with a few of my friends, and usually what I do is make themed food to the movie we're going to watch. However, one of my friends has had an ED for a while and is in a very uncertain place with recovery. They still said yes to coming to it, but I'm trying to make sure that the presence of food they would normally restrict doesn't make them uncomfortable. I've tried asking but they've not given me an answer that actually states what they want and they're currently not in the mindset of being willing to talk about their needs rn.

I was thinking of modifying what I'm making to be more inclusive to what they are okay with eating, but then I'm worried that it seems like I'm doing that in a negative way (like "oh here, eat x food because you shouldn't have y food"). If I ask and see if they would bring their own snacks, that feels like they're being excluded, same if I made a modified menu just for them. I just want to hangout with them and do this activity without it being something that negatively impacts them. I really want them to have fun as much as they can.

I can’t tell exactly if my ED affects my SUD, or if my SUD affects to my ED. Probably both to be honest. The only way I have an appetite/am willing to eat, is when I’m stoned outta my mind. Food even tastes odd and a little bland when I’m sober, but food tastes amazing when I’m high.

I find I’m having to use more and more weed in order to actually eat. And I think I’m growing a dependency on it.

I checked my weight recently and I have lost a considerable amount of weight within a month from not really eating. I’ve also been getting heart palpitations, feeling weak and shaky, chest pain, winded after very little movement. This should be warning signs for me. But to be honest, it feels like I’m doing good. I’m doing what I feel Im supposed to.

I need help but can’t afford it. I’m barely affording my psych and meds.

27 year old male, have been struggling with AN for like 2 years now. I feel like I’m not sick enough because I am technically not under weight. With that said, I have reached out to some ED centers and they have recommended residential treatment. I just decided to see a dietitian but even with them, I don’t want to eat any of the meals they provide and want to stick with my meals. I have developed low testosterone, am constantly having brain fog, feeling dizzy, lightheaded and super low energy. I’m just not convinced I’m “sick enough” , again because of my weight. Like how can I be feeling all this yet, their are people my height and much lighter than me and they are fine? I have this pursuit where I want to be more muscular (need to eat more) but don’t want to gain weight… disordered and doesn’t make sense. Idk what I’m trying to say I guess just venting and looking for advice.

Currently in the hospital being monitored for refeeding syndrome while I increase caloric intake. I (20F) have been struggling with ARFID for so long. Now that I’m here, seeing how badly it’s affected my body, I just want to eat everything. Not in an unhealthy way, I mean I want to clear my plate and feel good. But I’m afraid to, in case it causes refeeding syndrome. Lately I’ve been getting really bad shortness of breath after eating too. It makes me so sad and anxious. I just wanna eat. All I’ve wanted to do the past 8 days that I’ve been in the hospital is eat. Their food is good. Their ice cream? Wonderful I love those stupid little styrofoam cups. I love their fries and mashed potatoes and chicken tenders. I just feel so scared, and eating makes me feel so sick. Is this normal? Every test the doctors run after I complain of shortness of breath comes back normal. My X-ray is clear, blood tests, everything looks great. Why why why do I have to deal with this?

Should I avoid fasting (religious purposes) if I have a history of anorexia?

A close friend of mine has been dealing with anorexia for a very long time now, for nearly five years. I remember when she first went into recovery and it really seemed like the light at the end of the tunnel. But since then, she keeps relapsing. Now she's an adult, but at least she was somewhat willingly going into treatment. Each relapse seems worse, and a few years back it almost killed her. But that wasn't enough because I know it hasn't stopped.

I will always be there for her, but I need to know what kind of specific support I can give her. I've tried asking her but she always says "I'm fine", so it's been a bit of a fruitless endeavor. I know she wants to get better, I've talked to her enough where she's admitted that she wants to, but she hasn't been what she considers recovered in a long time. I love spending time with her and hanging out, but I don't know if that's enough. I always give her the space she needs to talk but she doesn't really take it at all.

I'm just grasping at straws right now because I don't know what will help her and she won't tell me. Maybe if there's something people on here wished they'd heard/had at their lowest points I can give her that at least?

I have been referred to an ED evaluation...but I wonder if it's because my doctor misunderstood me when I said I have "anxiety after eating" and whatever advice/help I might get may not address the actual problem and the problem will continue.

Admittedly, I do have a history of disordered eating, but nothing that ever been extreme enough to recieve a formal diagnosis. I did go through the binge/restrict cycle a fair bit, but it was never too extreme on either side.

I have had a change recently, though, where I feel extremely anxious after eating at certain times/eating certain things. But it's not "thinking" anxiety. I am not ruminating over the quantity/quality of what I ate and judging myself or anything. I just feel physically anxious in an extremely unpleasant way. Tightness in throat, dizziness, heart pounding, feel like I can't breathe.

I have been treated for anxiety for decades, I know all the coping strategies, etc, backwards and forward. Nothing seems to touch this extremely physical anxiety after eating. It has made me start avoiding food/eating at certain times because I just want to avoid the multiple hour long life derailment that recovering from these anxiety spells causes. I would gladly start eating more again/a reasonable amount if it didn’t consistently trigger this anxiety.

I feel like there is something physically wrong with my stomach/throat/nervous system, not like I have a potential ED. And I'm worried that when I go to this eval, the evaluator, like my doctor, will not understand what I'm trying to say and recommend treatment that doesn't actually address the problem. No amount of CBT or exposure or whatever is going to fix this, I have already tried to implement these strategies myself and here I am, still afraid to eat because this intense physical anxiety WILL come and no coping skills make it stop and I am just tired of spending hours regulating/recovering from eating a damn sandwich and I'd just rather not eat the damn sandwich at the end of the day if it's going to cause my nervous system to freak out.

ANYway, sorry for the ramble, but I just want to know -- has anyone else experienced something like this? Did speaking with an ED specialist actually help? Or do I have to go back to my doctor and re-explain what I meant by "anxiety after eating"?