Binge Eating... A Disorder?

als797
als797 Posts: 6 Member
edited November 18 in Health and Weight Loss
I recently was diagnosed with binge eating disorder by a non-surgical bariatric doctor who is also an endocrinologist. I have heard of belemia and anorexia, but not binge as a disorder. I thought everyone binge eats, just some of us more than others. I thought it was something I could control on my own but actually never had success doing so.

I'm on medication and it seems to be helping. It will be temporary, as well as my treatment plan, but I'm still trying to deal with this being a disorder. Any thoughts or input is greatly appreciated​. Thanks!

Side Note: In case anyone is wondering, I personally refuse to get bariatric surgery. I know it helps some people and I don't think anything bad of someone who chooses to do it. For me, I know I have to change my relationship with food, and I refuse to go under the knife and "force" myself to lose weight in, what I think would be for me, an unhealthy way. If I don't change my relationship with food, I know I would gain the weight back after the surgery. I've known people who have had surgery and it happened to them.

Replies

  • zyxst
    zyxst Posts: 9,149 Member
    https://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/binge-eating-disorder

    There are several people on MFP that have BED.
  • als797
    als797 Posts: 6 Member
    Yes! I actually never thought of it, but you are right! I've binged in anything and not just a bag of cookies... but those have been on the list! Thank you for the input. It's almost like an out of body experience when I binge. No cares. No nausea. No nothing. I'm aware of eating and everything else, but I don't think about what I ate until days later.
  • als797
    als797 Posts: 6 Member
    Thank you. I just joined MFP per my doctor's suggestion to track my food.
  • als797
    als797 Posts: 6 Member
    Thank you for the link! I browsed through it and SO MUCH is me!!!
  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
    zyxst wrote: »
    https://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/binge-eating-disorder

    There are several people on MFP that have BED.

    I don't have BED, but I met those criteria too (as in, the descripion matches how I used to eat, for long periods). A diagnosis must be based on thorough testing.
  • vegmebuff
    vegmebuff Posts: 31,389 Member
    Yes you will need to reestablish your relationship with food AND your relationship to your self. You will need support/therapy/skills to manage unpleasant emotions such as stress, depression, loneliness, fear, and anxiety.

    Any eating disorder are bio-psycho-social diseases-- not fads, phases or lifestyle choices.

    Hope you get the support you will need. You can do this! Good luck
    Hugs <3
  • zyxst
    zyxst Posts: 9,149 Member
    kommodevaran wrote: »
    zyxst wrote: »
    https://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/binge-eating-disorder

    There are several people on MFP that have BED.

    I don't have BED, but I met those criteria too (as in, the descripion matches how I used to eat, for long periods). A diagnosis must be based on thorough testing.

    I know that. OP came across as disbelieving her type of eating patterns were a disorder. I felt info from the eating disorder website would be "yes, binge eating is a disorder" type of thing. Apologies for trying to answer a question.
  • MsHarryWinston
    MsHarryWinston Posts: 1,027 Member
    Yes binge eating can be a disorder, it's one that I've suffered from and still struggle with. Well not as much lately but it's a battle. I went from Bulemia to Binge Eating to mostly recovered with BED tendencies. I'm also an emotional eater so that can trigger a binge if I'm not very careful.

    But all of that is MUCH different from the every day guy or girl that curls up to watch Netflix and works their way through a whole box of Oreos one night on a one off.
  • Fuzzipeg
    Fuzzipeg Posts: 2,301 Member
    Relationships with food can be so very complicated. The decision you have taken, not to have surgury shows inseight into your own situation. You seem to be in the capable hands of someone who knows their subject and will support you with good advice and medication. The changes you want to make will take time and more time for you to realy feel comfortable with. All the very best as you progress.
  • Fuzzipeg
    Fuzzipeg Posts: 2,301 Member
    I'm wondering, now that the role of microbes in our digestive health is being better understood and the research indicates these microbes can influence our mental health as well, if only a proportion of us, if supplementing with digestive microbes might help some. From personal experience yeasts will induce one to consume more sugar than one might prefer when you are in a yeast overgrowth situation, yeasts need sugars like fish need water. This is only a thought and due diligence and all that, helping ourselves is probably the best many of us can do.
  • Geocitiesuser
    Geocitiesuser Posts: 1,429 Member
    Fuzzipeg wrote: »
    I'm wondering, now that the role of microbes in our digestive health is being better understood and the research indicates these microbes can influence our mental health as well, if only a proportion of us, if supplementing with digestive microbes might help some. From personal experience yeasts will induce one to consume more sugar than one might prefer when you are in a yeast overgrowth situation, yeasts need sugars like fish need water. This is only a thought and due diligence and all that, helping ourselves is probably the best many of us can do.

    I wouldn't be surprised if our relationship with the microbes in our bodies is more symbiotic than our current understanding. If I'm getting what you're saying, your hypothesis is that if there's an over abundance (or shortage) of a microbe, there is a mechanism to tell the brain to seek out foods to feed that microbe.

    The year 2017, when we are no longer understood as a collection of cells, but a collection of organisms instead.
  • richardgavel
    richardgavel Posts: 1,001 Member
    Do I believe their is a pyschological disorder for binge eating disorder, yes. Do I believe that all binge eating qualifies for diagnosis as such, no.
  • Old_Cat_Lady
    Old_Cat_Lady Posts: 1,193 Member
    There is an MFP support group for that: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/726-binge-eating-support-group
  • Fuzzipeg
    Fuzzipeg Posts: 2,301 Member
    Geocitesuser.

    From the things I'm reading, its not even necessary for our brains to be involved for the yeasts to prompt the need for sugar. I can't think of the Medics at the moment. Many people who do not have experience of the extremes in symptoms an increasing number of us are experiencing, think this is unthinkable. Would that it were.

    Once, listening to a natural world programme, I heard, the cells which line our lungs come from a microbe in the mould or mildew family, which extracts oxygen for its own use in the natural world or used to till it was included into our bodies. (we have come some way from the "pea soup"!) My issue with salicylate was probably because many plants, fruits and veg use salicylate to protect them from moulds and mildews and it was that response which was getting my lungs for one of the symptoms.

    Getting best part well again has taken sorting my thyroid/autoimmune system, toxin elimination systems, not forgetting vit b 12., its complicated. The best part is my doctor will not have any of it! I've had to work with the private system not the NHS.
  • WyldHaggis
    WyldHaggis Posts: 17 Member
    @als797
    It's definitely a disorder, but a lot of people will say 'binge eating' when what they actually mean is 'I eat too much in general' or 'sometimes I polish off a pack of biscuits'. I've been through both and I can tell the difference now. Not that I enjoyed the experience.

    So eating too much =/= binge eating. BED is shame and guilt and finding yourself literally crying in your food at times because you still cannot stop eating. Or keeping on eating even after you feel nauseous from inhaling food. Or seriously considering taking leftovers out of the garbage bin because that's the only thing you haven't eaten yet in the house. (Aye I know it sounds disgusting, and I doubt a lot of people would keep using 'binge eating' if they knew what it really entitled. :()
  • BarneyRubbleMD
    BarneyRubbleMD Posts: 1,092 Member
    I was diagnosed with BED about 2 years ago & feel I'm finally getting it resolved (I haven't had a binge episode since May 7, 2017) but I'll keep my fingers crossed on that until I'm binge free for at least 3 months. Prior to that I would binge eat anywhere from 1 to 3 times a week to as often as maybe twice a day and when I binge, I don't get full & can sometimes consume over 10,000 calories in a single day & wiping out my dieting efforts for a whole week!
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