Eating disordered during extreme stress.

[MissChief]

I'm actively looking for some support, as I am suffering presently. I am legal guardian of a 13 year old (shes been with me since she was 5) presently she is on an adolescent psyc ward for suicidal ideation, to top it off my husband and I are going through some crap because we disagree on how to further help. As a result, I've been feeling somewhat suicidal, feel like injuring myself, but understand these are not legit outlets (well cutting is, but it's close to summer, and I don't want the questions), so I've been overeating and purging.

In your experience, has times of extreme stress brought up old eating habits of a way to cope?

What do you do to overcome this pattern?

[ThicknPretty]

I’ve never posted on this board before and I hope it’s okay…

I recently went through a brief period of bingeing and purging. It seemed to come out of the blue for me, but upon closer consideration, it was definitely stress related and rooted in some emotional issues I was dealing with. It was actually another 3FC member (Saef) who pointed this out to me. I was dealing with some sad personal stuff and hadn’t realized that the bingeing and purging started happening around the same time that those things had come to the surface.

It’s very likely that your disordered eating behaviors have been brought on or exacerbated by the stress you are dealing with in your life. And it sounds like you have quite a bit. I think for me, when I felt like my life was getting a little out of hand or I wasn’t being accepted, I began to cling fiercely to my ability to maintain my weight. And when I overate, the logical solution was to purge. I could not stand to think that, on top of everything else, I was going to gain. I would do anything to avoid a gain…except stop stuffing my face, of course. It was a scary cycle and one that I feared I would not be able to stop.

I did stop though. Because I’ve started talking about and being open about the stuff I’m dealing with and it’s relieved some of that pressure and turmoil I had going on inside. I didn’t just get over it and get happy overnight but I realized that binging and purging was only adding to my problems and endangering my health.

You are having a rough time…definitely. I can’t imagine how hard things are for you right now. You have to find those healthy outlets though. It can be hard, but it’s better to struggle to find a safe relief than to resort to harming yourself.

I hope things gets better.