Binge Eating Disorder

[Spagger]

Hi,

Not sure if this is the right place to post this - I’m new around here. Sorry if it isn’t.

i was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes last year and started medication in November. I also have binge eating disorder. I cannot monitor my blood sugar regularly with the home testing finger prick kits because I have cerebral palsy which effects my hands.

i am in a recovery group for BED, and having private counselling/therapy but currently I seem to have lost all control of my food intake. I’m compulsively eating sugary foods and lots of them. I know my sugar levels must be sky high and I’m gaining weight. I’m scared that I’m heading for complications with my diabetes, and thos will further impact my mobility already impaired through CP.

im not sure what I’m asking for. I s’pose general support and/or advice?? Does anyone else have BED and how do you cope with the compulsions while managing your diabetes?

thank you

 

[SB2015]

Hi @Spagger and welcome to the forum.

Sorry to hear of the difficulties you are experiencing at present, but pleased that you have the support of a counsellor through this difficult time. You are clearly dealing with a lot of issues will all be interlinked.

I think any difficulties that people have are exacerbated by the lockdown, and I know that many on here have said that their Diabetes is not behaving sensibly sometimes.

I do not have any experience of BED but just want to assure you of general support on here.
Keep in touch.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Sorry to hear about the problems you are facing @Spagger

It sounds like a very difficult situation. But it is a great step to have posted here, which suggests that your really want to try to work through this.

Great that you are getting support for your eating disorder. If you think seeing the effect of eating on your BG would be a helpful part of the puzzle, you could try a few Libre sensors? They aren’t cheap, but would give you 14 days worth of BG information from each sensor with no need for fiddly BG strip handling.

Are there practical things you can do to reduce your opportunity for binge eating, like not having sugary foods in the house?

 

[AndBreathe]

Hi,

Not sure if this is the right place to post this - I’m new around here. Sorry if it isn’t.

i was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes last year and started medication in November. I also have binge eating disorder. I cannot monitor my blood sugar regularly with the home testing finger prick kits because I have cerebral palsy which effects my hands.

i am in a recovery group for BED, and having private counselling/therapy but currently I seem to have lost all control of my food intake. I’m compulsively eating sugary foods and lots of them. I know my sugar levels must be sky high and I’m gaining weight. I’m scared that I’m heading for complications with my diabetes, and thos will further impact my mobility already impaired through CP.

im not sure what I’m asking for. I s’pose general support and/or advice?? Does anyone else have BED and how do you cope with the compulsions while managing your diabetes?

thank you

Hi there, @Spagger - do you eat because you feel boredom, because you're hungry, or can you not identify where the triggers kick from?

I don't, nor have I ever had a binge eating disorder, but I did have anorexia for a number of years, many years ago. I learned a lot about myself during those years.

I know these days, if I have an "I need to eat, and eat now" moment, it's often because I haven't quite eaten properly over the preceding days. To be fair, we eat very well in this house, but sometimes, living with another person, it can be that it's a little while since I had maybe some of my favourites, or more likely the things my OH (who is the main cook here) isn't quite so keen on.

On that basis, I try to ensure I "scratch that itch" regularly. Sometimes it'll be when my OH plays golf, I might indulge myself at lunch, when he is out, or if he's away from a couple of days playing golf (remember those days or travel at will?), I'll just have what I want.

I still try to make those days a bit sensible, but sometime knowing I have x, y or z to look forward to is enough to stop me being bored and maybe inclined to go snacking?

I do hope you cab find a way forward. Would your BED be able to "see" you virtually, by Zoom/Teams or whatever? Whilst not ideal, they can be great stop-gaps.

 

[Spagger]

Thank you all for responding. I’m still struggling but trying to find a way forward. i Had to leave the recovery group, but I’m working through the materials with another who used to attend the group. We left before covid due to access issues. We work via phone twice a week.

I looked at the sensors for BG monitoring but they are (so say) out of my price range at the moment, although my food bill is rocketing each week. The number could work one way or the other, ie it might scare me into doing something or make me think whats the point. I do try not to have sugary foods in the house, but recently I can’t stop myself buying them, either online click and collect, or when I go to get essential foods like milk, bread, etc.

Before Christmas I went a few months of where I ate sensibly, (possibly too restrictively) but planned and looked forward to a ‘treat meal’ of anything I liked each week if I didnt binge. That worked for a while, but at the moment, just having a proper meal with some green involved is a real challenge. I live alone and just don’t have any incentive to prepare proper food.

Thanks everyone for your support. I will get through it, and bounce up again. its just difficult and very worrying right now.

Thanks again

 

[AndBreathe]

Thank you all for responding. I’m still struggling but trying to find a way forward. i Had to leave the recovery group, but I’m working through the materials with another who used to attend the group. We left before covid due to access issues. We work via phone twice a week.

I looked at the sensors for BG monitoring but they are (so say) out of my price range at the moment, although my food bill is rocketing each week. The number could work one way or the other, ie it might scare me into doing something or make me think whats the point. I do try not to have sugary foods in the house, but recently I can’t stop myself buying them, either online click and collect, or when I go to get essential foods like milk, bread, etc.

Before Christmas I went a few months of where I ate sensibly, (possibly too restrictively) but planned and looked forward to a ‘treat meal’ of anything I liked each week if I didnt binge. That worked for a while, but at the moment, just having a proper meal with some green involved is a real challenge. I live alone and just don’t have any incentive to prepare proper food.

Thanks everyone for your support. I will get through it, and bounce up again. its just difficult and very worrying right now.

Thanks again

OK. If the greenery is the issue, you could consider forgetting that for the time being.

There are a number of people, living good, so far healthy lives eating a carnivore diet. I tried it a year or so agon; not really as I wanted to give up veg (fortunately, I like veg), but because I wanted to fast for a very long haul flight when I knew food choices would be very challenging.

If you have bacon for breakfast, then meat, eggs or cheeses for other meals, it can be astonishing how full we can become, and quickly.

I know some recoil at carnivory, but for some it seems to work really well.

(Clearly, if you are veggie, then you may need to look at other protein sources.)

It needn't be forever, but it could deflect you from current habits, allowing you to plan a way forward again.

 

[Hardy]

I have had both BED and bulimia, since my early twenties. I was diagnosed with T2 early forties.
I am in recovery now, in my mid fifties, having had treatment from an eating disorders service.
My Hba1C over the years has varied considerably. Most medication was 4 x 500 metformin a day.
Receiving help for the eating disorder was key for me in terms of the diabetes, because my eating routine and structure has improved. My last Hba1C was 38 and I am off meds at the moment. Will have a review/blood test when able to check levels.
Trying to eat better for diabetes never worked for me, because of eating disordered thinking/behaviour - just made me hate myself more, made the ED worse, made the depression worse, because I was failing at another thing and harming myself.

I would say, focus on recovery behaviour and the diabetes management will follow.
BUT everyone is different and it has to work for you.
I'm not free of the ED yet, and I may never be - but I am in a better position and so is the

Best of luck to you - be kind to yourself. Hard but much better than self hate 🙂

 

[Spagger]

I have had both BED and bulimia, since my early twenties. I was diagnosed with T2 early forties.
I am in recovery now, in my mid fifties, having had treatment from an eating disorders service.
My Hba1C over the years has varied considerably. Most medication was 4 x 500 metformin a day.
Receiving help for the eating disorder was key for me in terms of the diabetes, because my eating routine and structure has improved. My last Hba1C was 38 and I am off meds at the moment. Will have a review/blood test when able to check levels.
Trying to eat better for diabetes never worked for me, because of eating disordered thinking/behaviour - just made me hate myself more, made the ED worse, made the depression worse, because I was failing at another thing and harming myself.

I would say, focus on recovery behaviour and the diabetes management will follow.
BUT everyone is different and it has to work for you.
I'm not free of the ED yet, and I may never be - but I am in a better position and so is the

Best of luck to you - be kind to yourself. Hard but much better than self hate 🙂

Thanks for posting. I’m losing hope right now, so reading this helped me see things can get better. Well done on your recovery so far!

Im trying to focus on recovery as I know that when I’m in recovery and in more control, my bg will automatically stabilise. I’m trying to use diabetic complications as another motivation to try and do better.

Please may I ask,what helped your recovery? Any particular book or video or podcast? I’m doing a spiritual program, (based on AA 12 steps) but feel I need to do something practical as well. Seems like I’m going round in circles. Things help/behaviour changes for a few weeks - couple of months, then go back, and, as you say everything, the ED, the self hate, depression, etc gets worse each time you feel like you failed.

Thanks for understanding.

 

[Hardy]

Please don't lose hope, Spagger. Things can get better, but that's so hard to believe in the midst of ED thoughts and behaviour. You have been successful for periods of time, but maintaining that is extremely hard. But it shows changes can be made. You've done it before and can do it again. At least that's what I say to myself.

On a practical level.....
Part of the treatment was to eat 3 meals a day and 2 or 3 snacks. The idea is that your nutrition needs are met and less likely to binge.

Any binges then, are the result of emotional dysregulation. I kept a food diary, which I've attached - helps you identify feelings/thoughts etc;

Also to include foods that you normally binge on, but a "normal" portion. So I would have a KitKat say or ice cream lolly - binges would be 2 large bags of chocolate and a tub of ice cream plus other stuff.

Your diabetes head will be saying "no, don't et that, my sugars will go up, I'll have complications....." but I've found, as I said earlier, that my levels have dropped since having treatment (thiugh I do expect a bit of an increase at my next Hba1c test)

Therapist also had 5 check ins - nutrition, hydration, sleep, connection to self, connection to others. At times of wanting to binge -are you low in any of these, what can you do to re-charge where you are low?

The therapist advised reading Overcoming Binge Eating by Dr Christopher Fairburn, and the treatment included many elements from the book.

I had to give up on the idea of losing weight whilst in treatment. Radical acceptance. Not sure I have accepted it. But something that did help was using the word preference. I am overweight. My preference would be not to be overweight. I accept that at the moment I am overweight.

All of this is really hard and it is an ongoing struggle. But know that you are not alone.

BEAT (Beat Eating Disorders Charity) offer online support groups too.

 

[SueEK]

Hi @Spagger and welcome. What great advice from @Hardy - it never fails to amaze me at the wealth of experience and diversity there is on this forum. Just wanted to say hello and well done for joining us. Certainly sounds like you have a battle on your hands, but more importantly one that you want to win - one step at a time. I don't have an eating disorder but struggle with my food in that I hate veg, which I know I should have for the sake of my diabetes, and I love carbs which I struggle with daily. I am a very very fussy eater and am limited in what I can have which means I get hungry and then dive into a carb and then feel guilty. However we all have our challenges and yours seems a tough one but from what you say you are a determined person and with the advice you have been given I hope it will help you to overcome your disorder albeit bit by bit. Do keep in touch and let us know how you are getting on and even if we can only support you by encouragement we are happy to be here and help. Sue x

 

[trophywench]

This specific charity is still in operation - no idea whether it would help or not - but I well remember Jacquie J starting it and why.

DWED: Diabetics with Eating Disorders

dwed.org.uk

 

[AndBreathe]

This specific charity is still in operation - no idea whether it would help or not - but I well remember Jacquie J starting it and why.

DWED: Diabetics with Eating Disorders

dwed.org.uk

As I understand it, trophywench, DWED only deal with T1s with eating disorders. I don't believe they offer support to those living with T2, which is rather sad.

 

[trophywench]

Well yes, 20 years ago when JJ started it, they did. But since things change in that length of time, for all I know they may cover a wider audience by now.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

You could try b-eat, not a diabetes specific charity, but one which provides support for anyone affected by an eating disorder

Beat

Beat is a UK charity supporting anyone affected by eating disorders.

www.t1resources.uk