New to the Group - would love friends!
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ChronicOptimist
Posts: 558 Member
Hi everyone - hope it's okay to start this discussion.
My name is Annie (but in MFP-land I usually go by Chronic). I'm 29 years old, I live in East Tennessee, and am currently a 3rd year medical student. I'm excited to find this group - I was formerly in a different one, but it wasn't very active. This one looks a little chattier!
I feel like my ED history is pretty typical. Anorexic as a young teen (and maybe even earlier) due to an aggressive mom who forced a lot of her issues with her own weight onto me. I think I've either been on a diet, or guilty about cheating on a diet, since I was 8 or even younger. My general issues with eating started slowly shifting toward BED when I was 23 or 24, and as far as I can tell, I had full blown BED by the time I was 26.
I didn't seek treatment until I started medical school, because I'm poor and have terrible health insurance, haha. Luckily, my school provides free counseling services to medical students. When I started med school I did about a year of therapy alone for my eating issues, then started Topiramate which helped for a while, but I didn't love, and now I take Adderall which I like a lot more. It seems to help a lot with the binge urges, and I continue therapy so hopefully one day I can beat this sucker medication-free. If anyone has any questions about either of these medications, I'd be happy to share my experience without the judge-y nonsense that happens in the general forums, haha.
Anyway, I'm excited to be here and to meet all of you! I know this is going to be a struggle I deal with my whole life, but I know having a supportive community here will make it a little easier. Thanks for reading!
My name is Annie (but in MFP-land I usually go by Chronic). I'm 29 years old, I live in East Tennessee, and am currently a 3rd year medical student. I'm excited to find this group - I was formerly in a different one, but it wasn't very active. This one looks a little chattier!
I feel like my ED history is pretty typical. Anorexic as a young teen (and maybe even earlier) due to an aggressive mom who forced a lot of her issues with her own weight onto me. I think I've either been on a diet, or guilty about cheating on a diet, since I was 8 or even younger. My general issues with eating started slowly shifting toward BED when I was 23 or 24, and as far as I can tell, I had full blown BED by the time I was 26.
I didn't seek treatment until I started medical school, because I'm poor and have terrible health insurance, haha. Luckily, my school provides free counseling services to medical students. When I started med school I did about a year of therapy alone for my eating issues, then started Topiramate which helped for a while, but I didn't love, and now I take Adderall which I like a lot more. It seems to help a lot with the binge urges, and I continue therapy so hopefully one day I can beat this sucker medication-free. If anyone has any questions about either of these medications, I'd be happy to share my experience without the judge-y nonsense that happens in the general forums, haha.
Anyway, I'm excited to be here and to meet all of you! I know this is going to be a struggle I deal with my whole life, but I know having a supportive community here will make it a little easier. Thanks for reading!
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Hey it is great to meet you! I am on topiramate for migraines and noticed it helped with my binges for the first year or so that I was on it but now it no longer works. I have been trying to find a counselor who is accepting new patients and also can take someone in the evenings as I am a teacher to help with my BED but so far no luck! Best of luck on your journey!0
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Am sending friend request
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prettimandi wrote: »Hey it is great to meet you! I am on topiramate for migraines and noticed it helped with my binges for the first year or so that I was on it but now it no longer works. I have been trying to find a counselor who is accepting new patients and also can take someone in the evenings as I am a teacher to help with my BED but so far no luck! Best of luck on your journey!
That is the downside of Topiramate, it doesn't last forever! Good luck finding a counselor. I'm so lucky that my school provides one for us. It's made such a difference for me in addressing the reasons for my ED and in learning mindfulness to work towards resisting binges.
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