:?:hi guys a quick one that others may have asked before.

does certian medication some times help with addiction, why i ask is i have recently been put onto a very mild sleeping tablet, and i am finding that i am not craving my comfort foods at all.

my trigger foods have alwas been crisps and all savory type snacks:o

Thanks for this~Really interesting. I'm having some difficulty translating some of the OA/AA model to my situation with food and this is helpful. That said, the online OA meeting last week helped me a lot to get my focus back on healthy eating. The more tools the better.

Wow, that's fantastic! What type of yoga is it? I was a beginner with Iyengar yoga and loved it. I'm inspired to get back to it--thanks. :yoga:

Glad we could be of help :) Good luck to you!

This is interesting.....I haven't read anything specific that says sleeping medication helps with addiction. You could try and google your medication or ask the provider who prescribed it. Since sleeping medication exerts its effect on the brain and addiction is seated in the brain, it isn't surprising that one would affect the other. How great would that be? :) On the other hand, it could be that getting more sleep is helping with craving those foods. I have a much harder time with craving when I am sleep-deprived.

Hi luckymommy!:wave:

Hi mars735:hug:

Valmorel, I'm also glad that reading through our struggles was an eye opener for you with regards to your own situation. It didn't offend me at all...it actually made me laugh (which I hope doesn't offend you) because it was a little bit like, "hey, I'm so glad I don't have your disease! yippeee!" I'm only kidding and I know you didn't mean it that way at all. I just have a bit of a wicked sense of humor sometimes. :devil:

papercut, I do know there are some meds that target drug addiction (like methedone for heroine addicts) and there are certainly meds that cut food cravings (phentermine), so it's plausible that taking a sleeping pill could have some kind of an appetite suppressing impact on your brain. If you're taking it anyway, and it works for you, then that is a great side effect to have!

I've actually been having terrible anxiety issues for the last 3 weeks or so and have been considering going on meds, even though I'm not a big fan of meds since they usually only give me the negative side effects (I have chronic daily migraines...for the last 7 years... and have tried about 8 different drugs and never had any pain relief...only the side effects :() so I'm a bit hesitant. However, if this anxiety doesn't improve soon, I'll probably go see someone and I've heard that one drug helps with anxiety and depression and one of the side effects is weight loss....I don't care that much about the weight loss but I just don't want a drug that will increase my appetite...I had that with one of the migraine meds and it was a nightmare for me (a long time ago).

Sorry this got so long everyone. I wish you all a splendid day. :hug:

Tonight will be my 5th meeting in my 90 meetings in 90 days goal. I'm loving OA and am super happy to have been directed there by y'all. It's really helping!!

I'm remaining binge free (2 weeks and 4 days-- today will be 5 days!). I'm frustrated by my scale, but my measurements are changing and I'm liking myself again. I WILL overcome this food addiction! I actually believe that now!

You all reminded me I wanted to try one of the online meetings. Couldn't hurt.

Papercut and lucky, I have been dealing with anxiety that started with teeth clenching and then jitters and insomnia after a car accident. I got a short prescription for Xanax and it gave me zero happy feeling (high) but took away the teeth clenching, jitters and food cravings all in one swoop. It did not help the insomnia but I was amazed. Unfortunately, the stuff I read online about the drug and its addicting/withdrawal issues made me scared to take it anymore, not that my doctor would Rx it again for me anyway. Even if I had continued to take it, I think our bodies adapt and the urge to eat would have returned.

My teeth clenching is back in full force right now and i'm not sure what to do. The dentist gave me a night-guard that I don't want to use (it's awful). 1/2 unisom helps sometimes.

Hi Everyone, Having problems with irritated eyes and have to curtail computer until it calms down. Nothing serious.

Lucky, Hope you're getting some relief from the anxiety...sometimes finding the right med takes a while. Finding a good med prescriber might also take some trial & error. Hang in there!

Just in case you aren't familiar with it, mindfulness meditation can help, though not overnight. Thich Nhat Hanh and Jon Kabat Zinn have some great audio & books. I learned how at a silent retreat. Guidance or instruction really helps.

BamaGalRN, yay for you & OA! My in-person meeting is next week.

I'll be back in a few days after some TLC to my eyeballs! Have a great rest of the week :)

Good luck on that eye rest, Mars! :)

Lucky, I suffer from anxiety, too. I'm hoping that yoga will help with it as well. I currently take medication for it, which helps it not be at a fever-pitch all the time, which is a blessing. But, I know how awful it is to deal with all the time. :(

Good evening ladies!
BamaGalRN! I'm SO excited for you about your meetings! Also, you look absolutely adorable in your avatar! :)

mars735, I hope you get the eye situation under control asap. I tried a Mindful Meditation seminar and it didn't help me with the migraines, although I didn't have anxiety at the time. Thanks for reminding me about it...I just really don't like meditation even if it's guided...unless it's by someone who has a very good, soft voice...a female voice.

CoolMom75, have you tried Valerian Root for the anxiety? I need to get some and try it. The best is the liquid kind and then you can make your own capsules by buying your own. I can't try it yet because I'm out of town with my son right now, but I plan to give it a try when I get back. My mom told me that her mom used to use it all the time and that it really works. I'm so sorry you're struggling with anxiety so bad. I also suffer from insomnia and it is so rough.

I would like to tell you all that I just started reading a book my husband recommended...it's by Gary Taubes and I think it's called Why We Get Fat or something like it. Anyway, it explains a lot about the actual research and it's quite compelling. I'm still reading it but I've decided to cut down some of my carbs. That means instead of oatmeal every morning, I'm going to have eggs and cheese. I'll still have carbs, but I'll eat more meat and veggies. I'm not sure if that's a good idea or not, but this book seems very top notch, so I thought I'd mention it.

Hugs to you all!

Hi Everyone,
I definitely have food addictions, so I'm happy to join the group :-). My addictions are mainly chocolate, cheese, and "junk" food. I find that there are foods that I can eat when they are not in the typical processed form. For example, I actually have no problem eating a muffin if I make it myself from organic and mostly whole ingredients (whole wheat, raw sugar, etc) but if I buy the ready-made ones from white sugar, white flour, etc., then I over-indulge. I also find that I don't have an issue with carbs as long as they are whole grain, though I do have to be careful with fats.

At the beginning of this year, I decided to go vegan and concentrate on whole foods. I did quite well but then I had to move and it was the first time I was doing it all alone, so it was quite stressful. I fell back into bad eating habits, eating a lot of junk food. I have been trying to get back to a healthy eating for a few weeks now but with not much success so far. I'm starting tomorrow on another try, going back to what I was doing before (vegan foods, whole foods mostly but with some not-whole foods, no chocolate). Hopefully this group can be a great support for me and I can offer some support to others.

I've read that some people here talked about chronic migraines. I also have suffered from chronic migraines since I was in college. One thing that I found was that paying attention to my diet and cutting out certain foods really helps. For example, I noticed that caffeine really is a big trigger for me, so now I don't drink coffee (though I'm having a much harder time cutting out chocolate!) You can do a search for "migraine diet" and see the list of foods that can trigger migraines. I also found that cutting out dairy and eggs helped a lot (though this might be tough for some people). Also, doing daily breathing exercises for even just 10 minutes before I go to bed helps a lot.

Djuna

Welcome Djuna!

I'm still going strong with my OA meetings and LOVE the support I've found there. I'm actively looking for a sponsor, now.

I seem to have a weakness for high calorie drinks. Sweet tea and sod in particular. So... I avoid it. I stick to water and Crystal Light completely now. 'Cause 1 sip and I can easily indulge in about 1000 calories before I even think about it. I'm also crappy with junk foods and fast foods-- but luckily, those are foods I can avoid fairly easily.

For once, though... FINALLY!!! I feel like I have a handle on myself-- it isn't over, of course, but I'm not completely out of control now. Yay!

Lucky you Valmorel! I think it is great to realize how much worse it could be! Now let me swap bodies with you, okay? ;)

Someone asked about medications and their affect on food addictions. I have had to take alot of Benedryl recently (as part of medicating migraines) and I find that when I'm groggy I really really want to eat things... everything in fact. Sucks. Not enjoying this fact at all.

It is interesting how different we can all be. The only food that triggers my migraines is alcohol, and particularly red wine (which I loooove of course). Though I don't eat dairy and eggs (since I'm vegan), so for all I know those *would* trigger migraines if I ate them. Caffeine on the other hand is a lifesaver for me and actually HELPS my migraines. Go figure. :)

djunamod, I think it's great that you've been able to identify which foods are triggers for you...that's half the battle usually. Now that you've moved, hopefully you can get back to your whole foods lifestyle. As far as the migraine diet, it's the first place I started 7 years ago. Since then, I've tried countless other interventions to no avail. There are some people, unfortunately who just don't respond to any treatments (behavioral, nutritional, medical, alternative, etc.). It's not a fun way to live and people like me have a high incidence of suicide because it's just...not a fun way to live. But I'm trying to have fun anyway. I'm trying really hard every single day to have a positive attitude. I have a family that counts on me so I need to stay there and plus, I would never do anything to harm myself...aside from the binge eating....gosh, this is getting way too long.

Mrs Snark, I'm glad to see you post. I was wondering if you were doing alright. Sorry to hear about the Bendaryl and related cravings. That is so rough. I can relate...there was a migraine med I had to try that caused weight gain as a common side effect. For an addict like me, it was completely dreadful. I guess i"m lucky that it wasn't the one that would help.

Hang in there everyone. Together we're stronger than alone.

I'll have to find out where I can pick some up. It couldn't hurt to try it. Thank you!

Hi all & welcome new posters :wave:
Still giving my dry eyes :tired: a rest from computing, but couldn't resist lurking here. It's so interesting to read everyone's experiences with food addictions. We're at the dawn of time in understanding them, but that's better than being in the dark ages about it, lol!

Luckmommy Hope you are doing well :)

BamaGal You are rocking it! I'm going to give a live meeting a whirl this Thurs--newly forming group right down the road.

Mrs SnarkTotal bummer re benadryl making you so hungry. It will be so nice once you don't need it and don't have those hunger neurons firing all the time.

I've noticed lately that I do better if I'm not dieting--hunger can trigger all the other triggers. I have a thought process going on whereby I diet down to my goal on low carb, low fat, low cal, while all the while in the back of my mind, I'm looking forward to letting loose with the craved foods. So I not only want to have my cake and eat it too. And, I want to do all that guilt-free :D, as in "I deserve this" "I'm under goal, I need the calories" etc :devil:

Here's to a great week!