happycamper

I had this listed in "eating disorders" forum, but the more I think about it and have been reading about it today, I'm thinking that there are probably (hopefully) other alcoholics that have had to deal with this.

Help! My sugar intake is out of control.

Hi everybody. Well, I've been in recovery for a little over 16 months and am coming up on my one year anniversary of continuous sobriety next month.

I have a serious problem with sugar. I'm just coming off of a three plus day binge of eating nothing but junk. I'm not a big overeater, but instead skip meals to eat sweets. I found myself yesterday feeding the kids early, making a plate for dh and eating a huge bowl of ice cream with chocolate sauce for myself before dh came home from work. I used to do things like this (although drinking, not eating ice cream lol) when I was drinking. It's not even a consious thing. But I saw myself doing it yesterday. And this was after having a plate of lemon squares (one at a time of course) for lunch. I even said to myself when there were 4 left that I'd better just finish them off, then I'd be able to start my eating well diet tomorrow.

I'm a dry drunk on these binges -- restless, irritable, discontent and sometimes downright mean. My mood swings are horrendous. I don't want to live like this!!!!

This morning I did a little research and have at least decided to implement more protein and water. I know this is about powerlessness. When these binges start I'm literally powerless and I just watch myself eat nothing but sweets (and an occasional salty junk food) for a day or sometimes 2 or 3 days at a time!

HELP!!!! I know that the sugar is making me all out of whack -- my depression, headaches is right around the corner -- like a sugar hangover. I wish someone would just give me an exact diet to follow. Maybe then I could do it -- I dunno -- I'm just rambling at this point.

The prospect of taking refined sugar and white breads etc., out of my diet almost completely is frightening to say the least. And yet I can't imagine going on like this either. My behavior toward my 2 toddlers is almost as bad as if I were drinking -- I'm so irritable and isolating! I guess I'm at the "jumping off" spot.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. One good thing, I'm sitting here eating a hardboiled egg and a glass of water. And instead of doing what I want to do which is plan out my diet for the rest of my life (lol), I've decided to have tuna for lunch. I'm really trying to stay in today. Still, I need help. I really want to break this cycle and I need help to do it.

Thanks,

KEEGANSDAD

Hi Magie,

I used to eat like that also and I went into a diabetic Coma " DKA" , for 5 days,

Please see a doctor and check for Diabites and or Low blood sugar
alot of your symptoms scare me also.

Remember Salad is a Freebie, and Protien is your friend !

Morgan :shades: :shades:

DesertEyes

I have hypoglycemia, and it is nasty. I agree with Morgan, get thee to a MD very quickly and find out if you have hypo or diabetes. Either one of these will cause you serious damage very quickly if you don't take care of it.

Mike :-)

Anna

Hi Maggie,

I have low blood-sugar too and I craved sugary foods all my life. I didn't start drinking till I was 45 but I always had to have a sugar fix. I had no idea how much it affected my moods and I had no idea how I could so easily make the jump to alcohol, another source of sugar.

I have made some changes. I love carbs too and wouldn't ever give them up. But, I use whole wheat bread, brown rice, whole wheat pasta - all these are much lower in sugar than their refined flour equivalent. There are lots of carbs that are low in sugar and good to eat, like oatmeal for instance. Check with your dr and there are lots of web sites that give you info about the glucose level in foods. The main thing is that even small changes help!

Love, Anna

Chy

In my studies of hypoglycemia in alcoholism I find yeast infestation or overgrowth to be a very plausabile reason for this disorder. You describe much of the symptomatic behavior resulting from this phenomenon. If you can get to the bookstore look for the book "The Yeast Connection" it's truly enlightening and may offer you some help.

happycamper

Hi all -- and THANKS!!!!

Thank you so much for all your kind words and advice on this. I made an appointment with my Dr (why am I always the last one to think to call my Dr? lol) and went this morning. They took about 3 gallons of blood and will run all kinds of tests on it. I'll let you know how it all turns out.

Thanks again!

wastedtime4me

WOW!!!!!!!!!! I could have wrote this myself!!!! I thought it was just chalked up to an eating disorder!!! I will be good for a little while but then i find myself there again~Lately i have been taking a medication that really curbs my appetite so i havent really been fighting with it for a while...However if i were to stop taking it ..I would bet it wouldnt be long before i would be right back at it~I have no desire for food ,I just seem to crave sweets all the time~I have cystic acne that i know is also caused from this~I will anxiously be watching this post for your updates...It never even occured to me that i could go into a diabetic coma ..I guess i sometimes think its just never gonna happen to me~~I will be aware from now on after reading this post~