Has anyone ever had more than one eating disorder or switched?

[bluebird]

I've had one eating disorder or another since I was 10..and I'm going to be 23 in a month. I started out overeating and then when I was 12 I became anorexic and at 14 I became bulimic. Since then I've bounced between the 3.

Right now I overeat..and have for a few years now. I don't know why I do it...binge that is.. I don't even care to eat unless I can binge and never in public.

I try to cut down..lose the weight..but it seems I always have a tendency to go back to being anorexic or bulimic and then struggle with that for a while.

It seems like the only time food didn't consume my life was when I was on drugs (more than pot) and I lost weight like crazy b/c I didn't eat.

Just wondering how many other people tend to jump around with eating disorders like I do?

Katie

[ladyamalthea]

Katie,

I don't "jump around" like that, but when I was a teenager I did struggle with anorexia. Come to think of it, I pretty much went straight from anorexia to compulsive binge eating. But I have never gone back.

I wish I had more advice for you, but one thing I can say with certainty is that I have recently began going to online OA meetings, and they seem to be very helpful. Maybe you could try OA? Just a thought...

My heart is with you. I know this disease is no fun; but, we can overcome it!

*hugs and prayers*

[Nina Kay]

Hi Bluebird,
I just want to say Welcome !!! I hope that you'll keep coming back here to read posts and to post again yourself. I also suggest that you read and search the Stickys at the top of this page. There is alot of really helpful information there, no matter what your eating disorder is. That is also where you will find the OA online meetings that Ladya is talking about.

It doesn't sound that farfetched to me for someone to experience all of the different eating disorders during their dealings with addictive personality and eating disorders in particular. The reason that I say that is because they are each just different extremes of the same disease and different extreme ways of our dealing with our obsessions of food, self-esteem, weight and appearance. We've probably all bordered on each of these eating disorders at one time or another, but maybe some of us haven't completely dabbled in each one deep enough to progress in that direction and we take another route or eating disorder, to deal with our problems. We can all understand one another completely and we all have alot in common that we're dealing with. Of course, this is just my humble opinion, so I really hope that you'll keep coming back so that you can hear others sharing their own experience, strength & hope. Again, Welcome !!

[simplysober]

i have done both - you arent the only one- started as a teen anorexia, soon went to bulimia. anorexia came back 2 yrs ago, then came bulimia again
like a see saw. just not as fun


hugs
maria

[Done-With-It]

Yea, I've switched from A to B pretty much my whole life. I haven't been throwing up in almost two years now though so I'm doing well on that. But it's common for people to jump around between the disorders.

Welcome to SR!

[daydream]

I don't know what possessed me to come over to this board. I've had my head in the sand for awhile now. My eating disorders started when i was about 12 initially just with distorted thinking about food thanks to my mother telling me i would be a fat cow if i ate more than she thought i should. It was mostly food obsession but not bingeing. By 14 I was starving myself. In college I started compulsive eating, but still not serious. My 20's were lots of yo-yo diets, always restricting excessively and over-exercising, feeling guilty if I ate more than 800 calories in a day, then eventually I would gain it all back. In 2002 it all took a dramatic turn for the worse. I started another diet and this time the obsession with weight and food restriction kicked in with a vengeance. I learned to purge too that year. From the first time I purged, I was purging every day, unless I didn't eat at all, and did go 2-4 days at a time without eating. I lost 135 pounds in just over a year. I was very sick and scared. For a long time I didn't want any help at all, even though people were scared for me and tried to get me to see the light. When I finally did want to stop (or really just to control it) I couldn't. After about a year of trying to stop purging, I did stop for a few months in 2005, but continued bingeing and gained a bunch of weight. Until about January this year I kept alternating between binge/purge and just bingeing. Finally this year I've leveled out. Not bingeing, not purging......but still eating junk food and not losing the weight. Just not ready to work on it. I really don't think I'm capable of attempting weight loss without starving or purging.

[Nina Kay]

Wow daydream,
Thanks so much for sharing. I also want to Welcome you to the Eating Disorders Forum. Please come back as often as you can.

[bluebellgirl]

me too.. i started binging at age 12 , was bulimic at 14, ana at 17 and been struggling ever since.. im 10 stone 1 at the moment and back to restricting.. i'm so tired of my ed

[mamashell]

I started out anorexic, not eating for 14 days at a time. Then I'd eat 200 calories & start again. Then I became bulimic & threw up those 200 calories I ate.
Now I switch between fasting & binging. I HATE it! I hate food. It makes me feel filthy inside.
I feel like I am caught in hell.

[vicoprincess93]

most anorexics i know became bulimic. Its seems like addicts always substitute something for something. Ya gotta fill the hole. But for me, quitting pills widened the hole. I substitued food and so many things for pills. Sometimes i wonder if its worth it