What to do if you suspect you have an eating disorder.

Something I have most recently discovered is that not all eating disorders fit neatly in the 'big' categories. That 'eating disorder otherwise not defined' is a real thing.

So, don't tell yourself that you must be ok because you're not anorexic, or bulimic, or binge eating. It's just not that simple.

Stuffs that falls into other specified feeding or eating disorder (what we often call OSFED) is also not necessarily trivial. Some of these are more serious than the "big" disorders, depending.

And then there's remission.

I haven't had a binge eating episode in, well, a long time. I still have the disorder, and still struggle with the pathology of it. That's just how it is. Anorexia, too, lasts long past any food restriction.

The fingerprints and after-images remain even in the absence of behavior. It really isn't that simple, and that is why it's so hard to find peace and treatment, some times.

Bumping this post. It was and is very helpful for me.

Hi Donna. Wondering if you know of any residential treatment centers that focus on BED as a primary disorder, but not anorexia or bulimia? If not that, are there any treatment centers you would recommend? Thanks.

I was first diagnosed with anorexia when I was 24. (I still remember the ER doctor taking my parents aside and telling them they suspected that I was anorexic. "She can't be!" my mom exclaimed. "She's fat!".) They wouldn't let me get treatment for it, so I had to fight to overcome it myself. Then a year or so later, I discovered bulimia. That, too, never got treated. Later, after the breakdown of my abusive marriage, I developed BED. That was more difficult to fight.

I was completely open about my eating disorders with the PDoc during my pre op assessment. She warned me that any of them could come back after surgery, and that they would be happy to accept me as a patient if that happened. I'm seriously thinking about it. I'm four weeks post op, and I don't want to start binging again, or to relapse with the anorexia or bulimia. And it would be so easy.

Thank you for the book recommendations and words of advice, Donna L.

Good post but be careful with acronyms and abbreviations. I know that CBT is cognitive behavioral therapy because I am a speech pathologist working in the schools. I would have liked to see the DS guy eat 2 pizzas in 20 minutes. RNY here and now I'd be lucky to eat a whole, single piece of pizza and pre-surgery, I used to be able to eat a half gallon of ice cream in a sitting and I could eat just about a whole pizza in a sitting but certainly not 2. I think I had a BED and probably still do, I just can't eat much. I probably need therapy but I live no where close to a therapist.

Wish we had someway to tag a thread so we could come back and find it...

For the umpteenth time, thank you for this post and for your presence on this board, Donna.

Ann

I actually haven't been around much, sadly. I had hernia repair surgery a few weeks ago, and some other life stuff has been going on and off for a bit. I've been trying to spend more time offline than on whilst laid up to get through my reading backlog. I'm glad the post may have kept helping people, though :)

I have suffered from eating disorders for nearly 25 years. I started out with anorexia (I fainted at work because I was only allowing myself to eat once every three days. The doctor at the ED pulled my parents aside to talk to them, and I heard the doctor say "we believe your daughter is anorexic." My mom's reply? "she can't be! She's fat!" I never got treatment).

Later on, I became bulimic when pregnant. That never got treated, either. Then after a rape, I developed binge eating disorder. Again, no treatment. My family believed that mental illness was a disgrace to the family, so it wasn't an option.

Last night, I watched a documentary about anorexia, and I found myself being jealous of the people being interviewed because of their condition. These were people on the verge of death from not eating, and I realized that I wanted to be like that as well. They were so slim! They were wearing clothes that wouldn't even go over my thigh, or my arm. They weren't happy, but hey! I'm not happy either.

I have an appointment to see my therapist next week. I'm going to talk to her about this. I've been awake for four hours and all I've had was coffee. I haven't been able to make myself eat yet. I don't have a problem eating, I just don't want to. I've only lost 30 lbs since my surgery in the middle of December, and I'm terrified that I am going to be a WLS failure.

I'm scared.