[Groovy chick]

I am currently a recovering bulimic, and although I have managed to reduce my bingeing and purging to around 1-2 times a week (from around 10 times a week), I feel as though I am stuck here.

I have been a dietary vegetarian for 8 years, and a vegan for 3 months. I have found that cutting out a lot of my previous "binge" food has helped, as well as eliminating sugar from my diet, but I still purge after eating foods such as nuts (high in fat).

I desperately want to stop vomiting, but at the moment it is my "safety net", as it allows me to maintain a steady weight. I am currently 128lb and 5ft 6in tall.

Any suggestions as to what I could do?

 

[Lothar M Kirsch]

I'm not familiar with feet and pounds, but I guess your BMI is araound 21/22. That's perfectly OK. As long as you're using vomiting as your safety net you're not over with bulimia. You arranged yourself with it and even might be feeling better, but the spectre is lurking in the dark. Did you consider to get professional help or join a support group?

Support on the internet is good but not as good as a group IRL.

 

[neurotic_me]

I used to be bulimic as well, so I understand.

When I stopped purging, I didn't really gain any weight. So keep in mind, that you might not gain much, or any at all.

Try to think of all of the things that you still want to accomplish/do in life. Remember that bulimia is stopping you from doing all of that.

I'm always here if you ever wanna talk.

 

[stellar26]

You need to seek out help. You need to speak with a doctor, find a support group in your area- do something and anything to get this under control. A lot of hard work on your own can bring your symptoms under control, but the emotional and physical problems that bulimia brings on and sustains will not and cannot go away without without help from the outside.

I am a 'recovered' bulimic. I say 'recovered', because I don't believe that any person with any eating disorder can ever fully recover. I no longer purge and haven't done so in about a year (and that time was a slip-up. If you disregard that one, then it's been over two years.). I did manage to do this all by myself by learning more about my disease and understanding my 'need' for it. I started taking yoga classes to gain a better understanding of my mind and body- that helped greatly. I learned to appreciate my body (on some level) for what it was, realized that I didnt' want to be sick anymore, and the rest is history. I had an overwhelming need and want to look, feel, and be healthy.

I am still personally dealing with the emotional stuff. I still look in the mirror and don't like what I see, but it's gotten better. I truely believe that if I would have sought out help through a psychologist when I was having problems, then I would have been able to at least get this stuff under control. I didn't, and now I'm worried that I'd look like a complete fool for going in when I no longer fit the criteria for bulimia. This is why I stress how important it is that you seek out help.

If you really, truely want to get better then you can do it. Wanting to get better is half of the battle. Now you just need to take the steps to do so. It's not going to be pretty and it's not going to be easy. You'll need to accept the fact that you may gain some weight during your recovery (I gained almost 10 pounds) , and you'll need to be okay with it entirely.

I wish you all of the luck in the world.

 

[Libellula]

i am a recovered anorexic and i stress,the same as stellar has, that you need to find professional help. i didn't, and when i was far enough into recovery that i no longer fit the criteria, i felt i couldn't go ask for help. i gained about 12 pounds during recovery and am maintaining at a healthy weight for me..

but i stress asking for help.. support makes recovery easier rather than harder.

 

[Kenickie]

professional help is always a good place to go, but you are already doing so much to help yourself! it takes alot to admit you have a problem, and coming her e is a good safe place to start, as there are many people who have struggled with it as well. pmmeifyouwanttotalk.

 

[Cissy]

I'm another ED recoverer. I've dealt with anorexia, and bulimia to some extent. It's really important to get help. Personally, I get a lot more help from my dietician than I do my psychologist, but that varies a lot. My dietician has a background in psychology to some extent, and specializes in eating disorders. But I've also seen a lot of bad therapists and bad dieticians. Or at least ones that didn't work out for me. If one therapist or dietician doesn't work, try to find another.

One of the hardest things to do is to stop restricting. Restriction leads to binging, and binging often leads to purging. It is SO hard to resist the urge to either purge or restrict after a binge.

 

[GhostUser]

i want to ask a question to the people here with eating disorders... just to be clear, I am honestly interested and mean NO offence whatsoever. I don't personally know people with ED's, other than some of the women at the gym, so i don't know who to ask.

does it trigger you at all to be on VB where the primary discussion is food?

 

[MZCsmpsns]

Quote:

Originally Posted by purrpelle

i want to ask a question to the people here with eating disorders... just to be clear, I am honestly interested and mean NO offence whatsoever. I don't personally know people with ED's, other than some of the women at the gym, so i don't know who to ask.

does it trigger you at all to be on VB where the primary discussion is food?

My 2 cents- As a "recovering" bulimic/anorexic, I'm 98% of the time not triggered by VB, it actually personally helps me w/some food issues I have because mostly on here it's good discussions about foods which for me makes me more comfortable about food (i.e- talking about good health w/foods, and yummy healthy recipes)... I avoid threads such as the ED recovery threads because I don't wanna be triggered, I do sometimes get triggered when stats are mentioned, even when I know the thread is ED related... I personally think w/ED related threads stats should be banned because they can be VERY triggering, or at least a warning that stats are mentioned. maybe that's just me though. Yes I do read some ED threads, so it's kind of an "enter at your own risk" thing, but a stat warning would be nice. No offence to anyone who mentions stats.

 

[GhostUser]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MZCsmpsns

My 2 cents- As a "recovering" bulimic/anorexic, I'm 98% of the time not triggered by VB, it actually personally helps me w/some food issues I have because mostly on here it's good discussions about foods which for me makes me more comfortable about food (i.e- talking about good health w/foods, and yummy healthy recipes)... I avoid threads such as the ED recovery threads because I don't wanna be triggered, I do sometimes get triggered when stats are mentioned, even when I know the thread is ED related... I personally think w/ED related threads stats should be banned because they can be VERY triggering, or at least a warning that stats are mentioned. maybe that's just me though. Yes I do read some ED threads, so it's kind of an "enter at your own risk" thing, but a stat warning would be nice. No offence to anyone who mentions stats.

thanks for your answer. I just want to understand how the disease works.

 

[Libellula]

i used to have an ED, but VB didn't trigger me at all...

 

[Groovy chick]

VB has definately not become a trigger for me.

I joined it because I wanted information in regards to how I could make my current vegan diet healthier.

 

[Keelin]

VB isn't a trigger for me at all, either. In fact, it really helps to be able to come and look at ways that I can eat healthfully, and to remind me how much food I *should* be eating.

That being said, ED stats and - much more so - STARVATION posts in 'what did you eat today?' are insanely triggering. To the point where I rarely, if ever, enter those threads anymore. There's a 50-50 chance that the last poster will have subsisted on undressed lettuce and celery sticks, and I don't want to know. >.>

 

[Libellula]

or the last post was me, who eats like a college student who has no time to sit down.