doudou,
I had a gyn tell me once that they are happy if you have a period at least twice a year. I went on BC pills to regulate my hormones which gave me a regular period and it actually helped me lose weight. You just have to look into the type of BC pills. Some are prone to weight gain while others aren't.
I saw your post and just read through the thread and a few things came to mind. You mentioned seeing a doctor and also a counselor at school. I am assuming that the doctor is a medical doctor? If so, I would be a bit suprised that tests were not ordered or even a referral to another phsysician. I agree with the other posters that you need to see a physician andhave some testing done. I would like to offer a few suggestions:
Please call a physician and set up an appt. I am sure you know how crazy the wait can be sometimes for an appt. I would describe the situation (physical aspect) on the phone telling them you have recently had an abrupt and significant weight gain and are concerned there may be something phsyically wrong and would like an appt. as soon as possible. I don't mean for my post to scare you but this way you are bound to get an appt. sooner than if you were to not say anything. Also, the very first thing a therapist would have you do is set up an appt. with a physician to rule out any physical factor.....so this way you will have a jump-start on things.
As for the counselor at school, I am wondering if maybe there was not a therapist available within walking distance. I think that given your circumstances, you may benefit from an outreach worker. An outreach worker is a therapist that comes to you! so that you don't have to go to the clinic. There are many people that don't have a means of getting to the clinic (for many many reasons) and the outreach worker will go to your home or school. They are much more readily available nowadays then they once were (particularly from mental health clinics). When you go back to your counselor ask or specify about an outreach worker. THe other thing that you could do is call a nearby health clinic and make a self referall. You just call and say your situation and that you would like an outreach worker, also you can specify gender if you want. For example, if you feel more comfortable with a female, you could tell them that. If your not up to doing this on your own, your not alone, often times a referall comes from another source. I am hoping your counselor can give you a hand with this.
It must be difficult and maybe feel overwhelming right now to think about and do these things, with your finals and all else that is going on. I think that if you can take a little time to first set up an appt. etc. with the doc (I know these things are never fun) but do you think that just getting the appt. in place will ease your mind a bit? and perhaps make it a bit easier to focus on your school work, etc.?
In the meantime, hmmmm, how about drawing up a list? A list of things that you can do when you feel like bingeing. Just an idea, but the first thing on the list could be psychological, something like, "every time I get a negative thought or say to myself that I cannot do it, I will immediately replace that thought with a positive one like "I CAN DO IT' . You could even make up positive type poster things and tape them to your fridge.
You can then add concrete things to the list,,,, for example: grab a large glass of ice-water to sip on, put on my sneakers and go for a walk, call someone close and supportive to me to talk, grab the crunch raw veggies in my fridge (brocolli, carrots, etc.) to munch on. These are just some ideas, add as many to the list as you can think of and then when you feel those feelings (of binging, loneliness, etc.) start creeping up, look at your list and pick one or more of those things to do along with reminding yourself of your number one on the list.
I hope I was of some help, I am glad that you reached out here and continue to do so, this place is super! Good luck on your exams sweety and keep us posted, ok? : )
Thank you so much FullSteamAhead for your suggestions. i feel that i definitely need to consult another physician. And most importantly get help to stop the binge eating because it is destroying me. One thing that i forgot to add is that i have had blood tests few months ago to see why i have been suffering from fatigue and low in energy most of the time and it turned out that i am anemic. I am currently taking Iron caplets since the Fe level is low and have noticed some improvement.
As for the calories consumed during a binge, it could get well around 3000-4000 calories which is a lot.
Dou - I am struggling right now too - Hang in there - and listen to all the great advice here - I will be thinking of you and I am glad you are going to see a doctor about the weight gain....Good Luck and try to keep looking to a better future!!!!
OK, this is so not my business, nor is it anyone else's. Please forgive me for asking this but:
You say you're not on the pill, you haven't had a period in 3 or 4 months, you've gained quite a few pounds in the last few weeks, and you are incredibly hungry and tired all the time. Is there a possibility that you could be pregnant? You don't have to answer this if you don't want to...
I don't mean to give you more to worry about, especially with your finals coming up. But, if there is this possibility, I'm sure this thought has crossed your mind... If not, than disreguard the question..
glad to hear your taking the iron supplements : ) As for the rest, doc, doc, doc! lol you must hate me! but see what i mean? It will save you a lot of greif! go for it girl! ONce you rule out all the physical components, you are scott free. It will help ease your mind. If you get stuck along the way, dont hesitate to write okay?
Thank you so much FullSteamAhead for your suggestions. i feel that i definitely need to consult another physician. And most importantly get help to stop the binge eating because it is destroying me. One thing that i forgot to add is that i have had blood tests few months ago to see why i have been suffering from fatigue and low in energy most of the time and it turned out that i am anemic. I am currently taking Iron caplets since the Fe level is low and have noticed some improvement.
As for the calories consumed during a binge, it could get well around 3000-4000 calories which is a lot.
You DO sound depressed (been there/done that & went back for two more rounds!) - and if you are anemic, that explains a good deal of your problem.
You say when you binge it could get to the 3000-4000 calorie mark? Let's logically pick this apart.
1) 3500 calories = 1 pound
So to gain 22 pounds, you would have to over-eat by 77,000 calories. Do you think that's possible to do withint a 3-week period?
2) Are you bloaty? Upset stomach? Feel like barfing? (Do you throw up/make yourself throw up, etc.?)
3) You say you're very attracted to cheese & bread. That usually is one of the 1st things you should ditch during diet time. And if you CAN'T ditch it, then stop bringing it into your apt (or dorm room, or car, class, library, wherever).
4) You sound VERY stressed out. That seems to go hand in hand with depression, at least it has whenever I've suffered from it. Of course, school can naturally do that to you, too.
5) I agree with the others who insist you go to a different doctor. Your health - not just about fat & so forth - but your HEALTH may depend on getting this problem under control.
Please just DON'T give up. Keep coming here! Tell us how it's going... talk it out. If nothing else, you'll make some cool cyber friends.
Do NOT DIET... I cant stress this enough. Diets lead me to an awful eating dsorder.
Make small changes in your diet. Eat more veggies, more fruits and dairy (some people say fat free, something I will start doing soon).
Eat your protein, and exercise, but please DO NOT DIET, Diets do not work.
Eat healthy, and be active. Do it for life. That works!
Beach Patrol, here's the deal, i don't have food at home, but after a long day at school (with all the stress and the frustration that comes along with it) i get back home and feel miserable and lonely... it's the lonely part that's killing me. As soon as i put my backpack down, i rush to the store nearby and grab whatever seems appealing to me (mostly cold cereal, bread and cheese). Here's the thing, after i over stuff myself, i wake up the next day even more miserable and decide to start the atkins diet (but only consuming around 1000-1200 cals max). Then after a day or 2 on the diet, i give up. this is how those 3 weeks have been. It's a binge for a day or 2 and then a diet for a day or 2. something along that line. I have been on the atkins diet before and managed to drop around 20lbs. When it comes to exercising i don't ... I'd rather starve myself than run on a treadmill .. I used to play basketball a lot but since there's no one to play with around here, i gave that up.
Anyway thanks for your help
Sounds like you know what your pattern is. So, how do you break that pattern? Can you vary the time that you get home? Can you keep some food at home, that you buy earlier in the day, say, on a weekend, and have on hand already for when you get home? That way you won't be rushing out to grab anything off the store shelf. You can make a deal with yourself to eat what you have, and you can make sure it is healthy food. Also, you could have some breakfast foods on hand so that is taken care of as well for the next morning.
You seem to be swinging between wanting to be really strict and eating whatever you can lay hands on. You have to find a middle ground here--I'm sure this is not news to you. Have you made the appointment yet that people were encouraging you to make?
Hello Jay,
i always try to talk myself into not binge eating, yet i also find myself saying" who cares? life is short you might as well enjoy the things u like most (eating)". Also it's really hard to cope with the fact that i gained so much in so little time. It's hard to realize that a few weeks ago, i was very comfortable in these new pair of jeans that i bought and that now, i can't even pull them up to my waist. So i look at myself in the mirror and say "i lost it, u can never be skinny again, pple will go back to teasing you about ur weight" and so much more goes on in my head.
As for seeing a doctor, today i went and talked to a physician about my period, she said it's mainly because of all the stress and prescribed some pills which i'm supposed to take for like 10 days and they should induce my period afterwards if not i should check back with her. Tomorrow first thing in the morning, i will go and schedule and appointment with a counselor and see if he/she can refer to someone close by.
Thanks for checking with me again
Yeah, life can be short, but it can also be long! Lot of my friends are waking up and going--like--Hey! What happened? I'm still here and what have I been doing?
The semester will be over soon--and you can start to depressurize--I'm glad you saw a dr. and that you are going to look into the counseling appt. You're a grad student, right? It can be a hard time even under the best of circumstances. Gosh, right now with current events, just being at a school seems stressful!
