PLEXI50W

My wife has been sober for over a year. But I've noticed she's hiding lots of sweets, chips, crackers, cookies, red bull all over her closet. She hasn't put any weight back on since she stopped drinking.

She used to have a nice body. The booze started to ravage it, and made her very skinny. She may have added a pound or two, but that's it. I never really see her eat any "real food"

Her behavior has also changed from adult, to child. Sometimes she acts like a 16 year old, and she's 50.

So what's going on here. Is she eating this stuff to try and keep weight on. Is this a sign that she has some medical condition?

Crazed

Hey plexi- eating disorders and alcoholism go hand in hand. My EXAG has always struggled with body image issues. This often manifests itself in eating disorders. I believe in her 20s she would eat and then throw it up. For the past many years she would restrict (not eat enough). She always had candy, energy drinks, coffee loaded with flavored creamers, multiple diet cokes per day, etc. If lucky, maybe one real meal (a salad drenched in dressing).

She was recently "sentenced" to rehab for her 4th DUI. I was informed that she is actually housed in the eating disorder unit, not the chemical dependency unit. Apparently they are closely related.

Last year she got out of alcohol rehab looking very healthy. Within a few months she lost the weight she put on in there. Once the eating issue kicked in for her, it was not long before the drinking started.

PLEXI50W

Thanks. The thing with my wife is that she was always a good eater. After twelve years of hitting the bottle, her body started to shut down. I know this happens at some point. She really got skinny in the later throws, then went into rehab.

She's never had a disorder where she binged/purged. I'm just wondering why she's hiding all this stuff, and why just not eat real food. She's still very skinny.

LifeRecovery

Plexi50w-

A lot of people in recovery talk about craving sweets and other foods.

I got here because I had a loved one with the disease of alcoholism. I have lived with an eating disorder a big part of my life.

I attended a number of open AA groups for woman (because I learned a lot and they are great meetings).

Many of the woman there found that the alcohol was just one level of their coping...that there were others in their life. This included food for many.

Disordered eating takes many guises. Binging and purging is just one of them. Food disorders are similar to other addictions....they thrive on secrecy, hiding, deceit etc. I am not saying that she has an eating disorder just that for many recovery means that more then just alcohol needs to be looked at.

From an eating disorder standpoint research is showing that 30% of people with eating disorders have addictive problems....I have not seen data going the other way but suspect it is least as high (in my experience).

Finally physically as the disease impacts people actual malabsorption can occur.

I don't know if that is what you were asking.