I'm afraid to eat, because I don't want to purge after

[ClarissaS13]

Lately, I've been trying not to purge as often because I've been having some health problems as a result, but it's been very challenging. I'm afraid that if I eat, I will. There is so much junk food at my house, and when I start eating I lose control. Do you guys have any tips that might help me stop purging? Thanks!

[Sophie1234x]

Glad you want to get better. Personally I don’t have experience with purging but I do know that the ongoing act of purging can cause oesophageal varices, bleeding, or rupturing of the oesophagus, which can potentially be fatal.

If you let go of complete restriction you might experience extreme hunger and feel like you’ll never be able to stop eating but it only lasts for a weeks to a few months and the only way to stop it is to keep eating so the body knows it won’t be starved again X

[crazycrossstitcher]

Firstly purging is extremely damaging to health - at the simplest end tooth enamel damage - but as below - long term damage internally - as well as leading to deficits in minerals and electrolytes. Suggest if you are not getting specialist ED support you visit your GP and tell them the situation as request help - you could also visit ABC helpline and chat confidentially to them. As to short term help - I can only offer from my experience - I tried to limit the number of "junk food" items in my house - only buying small amounts and not numerous different eg packets of biscuits. I also made sure I either ate with someone and remained with them for a while after eating - or I went out/phoned someone so that the urge to purge passed. Lastly I constructed a meal plan in association with a dietician and latterly a friend - and I referred to this whenever I felt the urge to eat to excess and purge - and that also helped. Wish you good luck with recovery.

[ClarissaS13 in reply to crazycrossstitcher]

Thank you!