bulimia to anorexia?

[louise123]

hi everyone,
i know in general there's a lot of animosity for people who aren't already established anorexics talking to people who are anorexic about the disorder.

however, i already have an eating disorder, and honestly i feel like bulimia is so much more dangerous than anorexia.. so as bad as anorexia is i'd so much rather be able to use that as a method of control and coping with my issues than bulimia..

so i was just wondering if there's anyone out there who used to be bulimic but was able to stop the binges or eating all together?

i am mostly interested in avoidinig binges, but i feel like it's kind of all or nothing for me.. if i start to eat at all i binge.. so i'd rather just avoid eating all together.

so i was wondering and wanted to ask all of you.. how do you do it? because you're obviously going to have to eat something eventually otherwise you'd die, so how do you decide when you're going to eat, and what, and how do you stop yourself from eating more than that?

i just don't want to gain weight because i honestly coudn't deal with how awful that makes me feel (as i'm sure many of you can relate to) but i know purging is so bad for me and i don't want to do it anymore..

[louise123]

also i really really hope nothing in this post offends anyone.. that is not my intention at all, i just need help and i was hoping some people here could help me..

[ghosts]

you can't choose your eating disorder.

[Short&sweet]

^^true. And no tips on here btw... But if you start eating enough nutritious food on a regular basis you won't feel the urge to binge as much and ur weight will plateau to what is healthy for your body, but that's a lot easier said than done. Also, people do die from anorexia...often...

[cyber_sam]

so i was just wondering if there's anyone out there who used to be bulimic but was able to stop the binges or eating all together?

i am mostly interested in avoidinig binges, but i feel like it's kind of all or nothing for me.. if i start to eat at all i binge.. so i'd rather just avoid eating all together.

I did this. The bulimia was getting out of control, every food that I ate triggered a session, so I thought "hey great idea, I'll just not eat anything and then there'll be zero temptation!"

It worked for the first month or so.

After that I became obsessed with losing weight, weighing myself all the time, I lost my period, I couldn't concentrate, my relationship with my parents went to shit, and guess what? About 2 months later I went back to bulimia and it was worse than before. Oh and throw in depression too.

I decided to "stop eating" last May and I can safely say it is the worse decision I have made in all my life. I have been through so much shit because of it and I never even thought my eating disorder could get any worse.

Yes bulimia CAN be the worse of the two evils, because purging takes an awful toll on your body, but the anorexia only aggravates it even more. I would have been much better off if I'd have tried a "healthy" eating plan, to train my body into getting used to normal eating. Instead I trained my body into eating nothing or eating everything. There is no middle ground, and I honestly don't know when I'll ever get back to normal.

So, don't even think about it.

[Clarice_Starling]

To me an ED is an ED... they are both dangerous...depending on one or the other, one may kill you quicker but that depends on a persons body. I went from Anorexia to Bulimia because I found, just being anorexic alone made me just plateu. So, I went to being bulimic, and lost more weight but I've always "binged" when I ate...even when I was anorexic. I was eating healthy foods too when I was anorexic and I had to eat...that didn't help my binges...not only that, but I was really struggling with money because healthy food is so expensive. I think being bulimic puts you in a completely different mind set. At least, that's what I've noticed.

[contranym]

Well darling,
Technically anorexia is the more fatal of the two. It is, in fact, the MOST fatal mental disorder. But why?
I do understand what you mean - bulimia feels more... violent. It's an active punishment of the body, while anorexia is somewhat passive. Not eating hurts, but it gnaws where bulimia rips and burns. The thing is, anorexia has a much more rigorous medical definition. The weight that someone must maintain to be technically anorexic is actually more dangerous than daily purges (not that the two are mutually exclusive).
That being said, as someone who has been diagnosed with both eating disorders at one time or another, they both suck. Rather than investing the enormous amount of energy it takes to swing from bulimia to anorexia, why don't you put those efforts to recovery?

I'm not being trite. You have enough willpower to force your food back out the way it came. You can be healthy, thin, strong. You can be anything you want.

[KoH.]

The only time i haven't been bulimia for a long while was when i got sad and didn't eat much. It was an awful experience and my heart goes to all the people that deal with that every day.

As what contranym says, the best thing to do is to do all you can to recover. To avoid binges, you're gonna have to eat right. Your body needs energy and if it's not getting that energy regularly, it will just end up binging and you'll find you've lost total control.

When you're trying to recover, expect binges, and do your very best to not punish yourself for it. It will stop eventually and you'll hopefully begin to trust your appetite again.

[LightsTurnOff]

My main diagnosis is anorexia, but I still purge. Maybe not as regularly as someone who is bulimic but it still has consequences. I don't think you can really just swap one for the other because atleast to me they don't serve the same purpose. I agree you should probably concentrate your energy into lessening your current behaviour. I think anyone has the power to recover if they want it enough.