is it true ?

iVillage Member
Registered: 02-29-2004
is it true ?
9
Thu, 06-03-2004 - 10:07am
Read somewhere that you dont have to throw up what you eat to be bulimic . Excessive exercising is another way to purge ? Is that correct ?
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-25-2003
In reply to: pp44
Thu, 06-03-2004 - 7:07pm
Yes, that is definitely a form of bulimia. Of course it's a little harder to diagnose depending on your level of exercise. Do you feel that you exercise excessively?

Love & hugs, Kristina


The opinions I have expressed here are from my own experience and are not intended as medical advice or to take the place of your own physician's advice.

Love & hugs, Kristina

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-08-2003
In reply to: pp44
Sat, 06-05-2004 - 3:04pm
O MY GOD, O MY GOD, O MY GOD etc etc etc, (i would use stronger words but i dont know if its allowed on here)...anyway O MY GOD!!!!!

i am completely panicing, upset...distraught would be the right word...i cant believe it!! i thought i had got over the whole bulimic thing. i dont make myself throw up...havent done so for about six months i think (though i ate rather a lot yesterday as im on holiday from school...but i didnt! iwas really happy that i didnt but then i went on my excercise bike...and now it turns out that is another form of bulimia...O MY GOD!!!!!! I really thought i was over it (i mean, i thought i was just anorexic...but im not...im still both...suppose i always will be...

actually that's a lie....i know i always will be...when i think about eating and not working off those calories straight away after, i feel ill, physically ill...

im screwed up...im a hopeless case...

lauren x x x

~crying, feeling stupid, pathetic and worthless~ (i am stupid, pathetic and worthless...this is all my fault!! i cant ever get over it; even if i actually truly wanted to...
iVillage Member
Registered: 05-01-2003
In reply to: pp44
Sat, 06-05-2004 - 5:08pm
Lauren,

Calm down! All you've done is to give your behavior a name. You're no better or worse than yesterday... you're just being more realistic. If you panic everytime you think about eating food and not exercising it off, it shouldn't be too much of a surprise that what you're doing isn't healthy, and that is the important thing.

Why is it so important to you to be "over the bulimia thing" and "just anorexic?" Anorexia gets glamourized, and bulimia is often shamed. It sounds like you are subscribing to those beliefs. Anorexia and bulimia both suck, and they often go hand in hand and in cycles. You know this. So who cares what your behavior is called? It's unhealthy. If you're goal is really to be healthy, you need to quit glamorizing the anorexia and work on real stuff. It's only true that you'll always have these disorders if you choose never to work on getting better.

Take care of yourself,

Starfish

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-25-2003
In reply to: pp44
Sun, 06-06-2004 - 9:19am

Hi Lauren,


I totally agree with Starfish - awesome feedback and advice.


"I really thought i was over it (i mean, i thought i was just anorexic...but im not...im still both...suppose i

Love & hugs, Kristina

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-08-2003
In reply to: pp44
Mon, 06-07-2004 - 8:52am
hi

thanx to every1 who replied...i just read my post and i know it sounds stupid...just wanted to clear something up though - i wasnt 'glamourising' my anorexic thing, its just i thought i only had one of them, turns out i still have two eds, combined...sounds a bit stupid...thought i had progressed coz i only had one ed! what a joke...

anyway, i was really upset bout things in general when i wrote that post so i really overreacted, i know it doesnt really make any difference, its just the idea that i still have 2 is a bit depressing, thats all...

and i know both are as bad as each other, but having one is better than having two...so when you think you have one and you acually have 2, like i sed, its a bit depressing...makes no difference to my eating behaviour, its just the idea...

just wanted to clear that up

am feeling better today...sorry i was a bit hysterical in my post...had a load of things on my mind, am revising for exams (i have one in about 10mins, so i better go..)

thanx for caring...and listening...i dont really talk to the person that knows anymore, not about the ed anyway, dunno y...dont want her to feel she shood eat less coz i am...shes started to eat breaks sometimes, sometimes even lunch...

anyway, i now have an hour and a half long maths exam to enjoy...

talk to you later or tomorrow, or something..

lauren x x x

thanx

~hugs~
iVillage Member
Registered: 05-01-2003
In reply to: pp44
Mon, 06-07-2004 - 6:15pm
Hey Lauren,

You don't need to apologize for anything; it's okay to be upset and to need to vent. Are you feeling any better about things?

I want to re-emphasize: Anorexia and bulimia are just LABELS. In my opinion, you have and always have had only ONE eating disorder. It may include symptoms of both anorexia and bulimia (and other things, perhaps), but it's one problem. It is very common to have an eating disorder with symptoms of both. If it makes you feel any better, your one eating disorder had one name: ED-NOS (Eating disorder not otherwise specified). But for anyone with an eating disorder, there are multiple causes and underlying problems. And *that* stuff is the real problem. If you had a bacterial infection that needed antibiotics, it could be more painful to have both an ear infection and a sinus infection at the same time. But for one problem or both, the solution is the same: you get the antibiotics and kill off the infection. A lame analogy because eating disorders are usually more complicated to treat, but you get the idea. There are problems, and there are symptoms of problems. Symptoms can help us figure out what's going on, but it's the problems behind them that ultimately make a difference. Real progress is not measured in symptoms.

I agree that you should not talk to the other girl who has an ED. It's too messy for both of you. In my experience, it's tempting to rely on someone who "understands," but you need to talk to a professional or someone who can get you to real help for the emotional, physiological, psychological, etc. causes of your eating problems.

Hope you're doing better. Keep checking up with us.

Starfish

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-08-2003
In reply to: pp44
Tue, 06-08-2004 - 8:33am
hi

i think your advice is good...i just feel a bit sad that i wont talk to her any more about my ed...she'll prob ask me about "how things are going" etc as soon as we have a lesson together and are able to write notes without anyone else seeing...i'll prob say things have been "absolutely terrible" etc, just so that she wont feel her "crappy" weekend is really so bad; she eats at home coz her parents watch her...she feels happy there...i think if she just stayed at home the whole time and didnt have to face the people at school, or in public, she would be fine, care free...lucky her...

anyway, i'll do that, i'll try to make my weekend and weeek and half term holiday sound really awful, like i pigged out totally and sat around revising the whole time...see if she then doesnt feel like she's such a 'failure' coz i 'failed' 2...when we used to talk about it, if i had messed up my evening and she had a good one, i used to get really jealous and then try twice as hard that evening, but i never used to tell her...maybe that's how she feels...

so, thanx for the advice about the professional help...you know what i'm going to say though...that involves telling someone, and the one person who knows, i now wont talk to...im sure you know how i feel...i just cant tell my parents, we are not that close, and i cant tell anyt other 'responsible' adult, again, im not that close with any adults that i could tell this to, and i would tell my other frend, but she has enough problems of her own and a whole lot of other people too. i cant tell my other frends coz ive heard them talking about her (the one with the ed...its common knowledge round school...ive kept my secret, and i think its a good thing...) and they dont understand...they dont really even try, though they do want to help...

so, im stuck...the only place i can 'say' what i think about all this, is here, so dont be at all surprised if i start answering more posts, and starting more discussions...

lauren x x x

~hugs~

p.s. thanx for the info on the name of the ed...i know you'ra right about there being one prob, 2 symptoms, always have knows, it was just the idea...anyway, thanx.
iVillage Member
Registered: 05-01-2003
In reply to: pp44
Tue, 06-08-2004 - 10:49am
So, if you eat and/ or study, you're a weak failure, but if you manage to starve yourself all weekend, that is so admirable, takes so much control and grace.

Do you really buy that?

I hope not. My point in advising that you avoid talking to this girl about food issues is that it creates just this sort of thinking. You imagine what it's like to be her. You imagine she never gets hungry. You imagine she wouldn't eat if her parents weren't making her. You imagine that you're helping her by letting her "win" and pretending you're the loser, the eater. Whatever you tell her about your weekend, if it revolves around food and eating-related behaviors, you're just reinforcing that value system: "My weekend was terrible because I ate x, y, and z..." It isn't normal to evaluate your life in terms of eating behaviors. And I'm afraid you have a history with this girl that is too entangled in that right now. For her sake and your own, I think it's best not to talk about ED stuff or even hint at it. If she asks "how things are going," find something else to talk about. It won't be easy, but you can fake it well enough, right? "I saw the dumbest movie this weekend." "I saw the cutest guy at the mall." "My parents are driving me crazy." "I am so sick of studying for exams!" If she presses you for food/ weight talk, weasel out gracefully. My best strategy is to find something else--quick!-- to focus on. I sometimes pretend to have just remembered something. If a friend says, "Oh my gosh, I can't believe how much I just ate. I'm such a pig..." I might respond with, "You need fuel for studying and exams! Oh my gosh, have you even started looking at the history stuff? There is SO much material to cover!"

You might be thinking, "That is so fake. She won't buy it." So what? She'll get the idea, eventually, that you don't want to talk about food stuff. And she may even be grateful for it. Don't pressure youself into false "honesty." There is nothing deceitful about dodging questions that should not get asked in the first place.

What about talking to someone about other stuff, not ED? Is there any adult you trust enough to talk about other things that are going on in your life? Are you stressed about school? Friends? If I were you, I wouldn't divulge anything to friends if you don't think they'll keep it confidential. That's just another big obstacle. You could always "test the waters" with an adult by talking about some other issue and seeing how they respond. In fact, letting off some steam often helps with ED stuff even if you never touch the ED. Of course, we want you to stay in touch around here, too.

I hope you're doing okay today. Write when you feel up to it.

Love,

Starfish

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-08-2003
In reply to: pp44
Thu, 06-10-2004 - 1:41pm
hi

well that is a really good point...i never thought about not talking about weekend in terms of eating etc...talk about missing what's staring you in the face...!! she showed me sum poems today, that she wrote obviously...they were all about not wanting to be who she is, wanting to run away etc and i know how she feels, but i didnt know how to respond...she was going to write notes to me (during revision time) so i just pretended not to see the notebook and frowned at my biology folder...every now and then i would look up, see the notebook and write one-word answers or comments like if she put "what do u think bout the poems?" i just put "great" after a while, i think she got the message coz she stopped riting and started revisin 2...it made me feel awful, but its for both our sakes i think...

and about the talking to an adult thing...i cant...i get on with my parents ok, but i dont really talk to them and i dont trust any of the teachers at school, i dont like many of them, and the ones i do like are a bit dappy or silly...i trust my friends, i just dont want them to have anything else to worry bout...they all have their own issues ie self-harm/parents that always put them down/generally thinking they're not good enuf etc they're happy on the outside, but i dont think they are on the inside most of the time...kind of like me really...

thanx 4 the advice bout my frend...makes me sad, but i know its the rite thing 2 do...

and thanx 4 being so gr8...im not having the best time at the moment and youve been really nice to me for sum unknown reason, i really appreciate it...

thanx

lauren x x x