ED Ptsd and anorexia

[blueangel371115]

I have an issue with food. I'll go days without eating and when I do eat, it's not much. I'm scared. I was wondering if this is common. My therapist thinks this a substitute for my drinking. That I'm grabbing for control in my life.

 

[allitherapy]

While they are not directly related, a lot of psychological issues tend to go hand in hand. I developed an eating disorder as a child as a way to control the very out of control environment I lived in. It is not clear from your post if you are purposely not eating or if this is more of an appetite issue. Are you making a conscious effort to not eat, count calories, obsess over weight, etc. or do you find that you are just not hungry? A lot of times depression will cause increases or decreases in appetite. I think it's important to figure out if you're not eating as a control mechanism or as a depressive symptom. This is an important distinction to make, as managing each issue would be very different. I don't necessarily think of substance abuse as a way to control your life, but more as a way to "numb the pain", but only you would know your motives for drinking. I hope you are able to figure out why you're not eating and that will help you and your therapist to best approach the situation. Also, as hard as it may be, please try to eat a little something each day. It's very hard to heal your mind if it's not properly nourished. I know how hard this can be from my own experience, but please do try. I hope you feel better soon.

 

[Srain]

I know that for me, eating disorders have always been apart of my PTSD, although I have not always been conscious of it so it's taken a lot of work to really 'see' this. I didn't just take one person's word for it. I would probably be doing a lot of reading up on eating disorders and how they relate to PTSD and what the symptoms are. Has your tdoc given you literature to read about Eating Disorders? Have you stopped eating like this before? Do you see a pattern?

These are all things that would be important to look into and take a good honest look at. I looked back and saw that even as a teen I was bulimic and had bouts of anorexia. I hadn't thought much about it until one stretch when I went 4 days without eating a single thing and mentioned it to my tdoc. My ex husband had done something that tore me up and I just could not eat, didn't want to, wasn't going to, felt in control in a powerful way and I didn't want to lose that feeling. He was shocked to watch me start to loss weight so quickly which only served to make me feel stronger!! It was the most incredible feeling to see him so helpless to stop it. What I wasn't noticing that while I was so pumped up I was actually hurting myself, I didn't get that, I didn't understand because, for me, that is the 'high' of anorexia. While it tears away at your body feeding on itself, you are filled with a sense of invincibility. Four days turned to nine and as I was falling apart physically, I started to fall apart mentally and emotionally. I didn't sleep at all, I became completely obsessed with the scale and what not to eat, my body, nothing else matter, it became my whole life, keeping complete control was everything. My hair started to fall out, my kidneys ached, my stomach knotted up, etc. All side effects of starving the body.

I don't know what your tdoc and you have discussed or what is going on but if you have questions it's always good to get as much information as you can. It sounds like you know the answer about the control issue with it. It's good that you are looking at that part of it because it could fit. Please take care of yourself.
Hope this is somewhat helpful.

Peace

Rain

 

[blueangel371115]

you're right and I appologize. I left out an important part. I do get hungry but I won't eat. Especially when stressed. But I like losing weight, even though I have a BMI of 20 and I am at the low end of normal for my height. My life was out of control for so long it seemed like the only thing I could control (or do right) was eat. It didn't help that I had a flare up of acid reflux 3 years ago and dropped 16 pounds ( 128 to 112). I'm going to see a therapist and I was wondering if it was revelant to mention all of this.

 

[allitherapy]

It is absolutely relevant to bring all of this up because it's obviously an issue for you. I hope you are able to figure out what is really causing your eating behaviors through therapy. Good luck.

 

[brokenchild]

For me, the anorexia and the PTSD were one in the same. I did eat because it triggered flashbacks. The less I ate, the less I was able to eat before I got flashbacks. It became this vicious cycle that I got caught up in. It took being in an eating disorder locked unit for 5 weeks for me to stop starving myself. Now I'm finally working on the real issues and eating no longer causes flashbacks.

 

[anthony]

There is no direct correlation between PTSD producing bulimia, though there are studies showing higher prevalence of PTSD in those who suffer bulimia nervosa / eating disorders. I believe it is more that first, if trauma exists prior, then it can impact on disorders such as bulimia nervosa occurring, though such disorders themselves can absolutely create PTSD, because the brain interprets the real threat of death, thus absolutely fits the criterion for PTSD.

Studies are in abundance on trauma, PTSD & eating disorders:

[DLMURL]http://www.psychiatrictimes.com/clinical-scales/display/article/10168/1158976[/DLMURL]
[DLMURL]http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/reprint/161/12/2215.pdf[/DLMURL]
[DLMURL]http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/reprint/163/4/689.pdf[/DLMURL]
[DLMURL]http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/reprint/159/12/2112-a.pdf[/DLMURL]

I believe, from memory, bulimia is psychosomatic, thus psycho educational based treatment really is warranted, especially if PTSD is present, before or after, as your life is in heightened threat with it in combination with PTSD, ie. you are likelier to die due to bulimia vs. PTSD.

 

[blueangel371115]

interesting, thanks Anthony.

 

[jesse]

I watched this really interesting documantary on netflix last winter (can't think of the title at the moment) about a eating disorder clinic in Stockholm where they completely rebuke all accepted psych theories about anorexia (my memory sucks but I'm pretty sure bulimia was included). This Doctor claims that once people (mostly women) start to starve they then develop the neurotic behaviors and her approach to treatment is revolutionary and according to the film has one of the highest success rates in the world at treating eating disorders. She bases a lot of her theory on a study done in the US on healthy male college students (this was back in the 50's) who volunteered to starve themselves and overexercise to see what the psychological effects would be. All of them developed anorexia but once their body weight stabilized the sypmtoms for the most part resolved. Like I said I saw it a year ago so please don't get mad if the exact facts are jumbled but it was really interesting. She believed that anorexia is not a psych disorder in itself but a result of starvation. If you guys are interested I will try to find the title (I'm not sure if I can post it anyway?). I am a scientist myself and always love being open minded and objective to new theories.

 

[Grace11]

Jesse, I would be interested in the title if you run across it. I am a learning junkie.

 

[jesse]

OK I found it but I don't think it's on netflix anymore it is called "The Stockholm Solution" pretty interesting stuff.

 

[seeking serenity]

I am in recovery for about 4 years from a severe eating disorder that I thought was going to kill me. I did a lot of work and got to the place where it seems like a bad nightmare. Recently I have been struggling with my PTSD symptoms and depression.I too have been sober from alcohol and I lost my appetite and have been struggling to eat. I talked to my Dr.s and Therapist once I realized that it had been going on for some time and I lost about 10 pounds and was starting to have problems with my body.

I was not concerned at first because it wasn't coming from the obsessive/compulsive place. I was just not hungry. What I realized is the old coping mechanisms were starting to resurface because I was struggling and not numb like I was used to.