Eating disorders

[Data Day]

I would be grateful if someone could advise me. My husband has suffered from Diabetes type 2 for about 20 years now.

He is overweight and knows what he should and shouldn't eat but he loses two or three stone and then puts it back on again.

I have sat in so many Doctor/Consultant surgeries and heard them advising him to see a dietician ( he did about fifteen years ago) and what foods to eat/not eat. Today after hearing a consultant run through the whole thing, with my husband nodding agreement, I asked whether he could advise how to get advice on eating disorders. He could only suggest seeing a GP.

Our local GP advocates diet and exercise but my husband had an unsuccessful back operation some years ago and finds walking difficult.

He has times when he just gets desperate to eat at all costs and at any time of the day. Midnight is not unusual.

Has anybody been prescribed appetite suppressants that have worked?

He will eat anything in the fridge or store cupboard and if there nothing substantial available will eat pickled onions out of a jar, baked beans out of a can, raw mushrooms etc., and nothing I say will stop him.

Please do not tell me this is just greed, he does seem to be absolutely unable to control this craving for food. Can anyone help - I have read these forums so many times and try to help him with low carb. food etc., but unless we can stop this binge eating I don't think I can do any more to help - or can I?

Please be gentle with your replies - I am feeling a little weary with the worry at the moment.!

 

[Ralph-YK]

So, is it the quantity your husband eats (that he must just eat)? Or is it the sort of food he eats as well?

 

[Amigo]

I would be grateful if someone could advise me. My husband has suffered from Diabetes type 2 for about 20 years now.

He is overweight and knows what he should and shouldn't eat but he loses two or three stone and then puts it back on again.

I have sat in so many Doctor/Consultant surgeries and heard them advising him to see a dietician ( he did about fifteen years ago) and what foods to eat/not eat. Today after hearing a consultant run through the whole thing, with my husband nodding agreement, I asked whether he could advise how to get advice on eating disorders. He could only suggest seeing a GP.

Our local GP advocates diet and exercise but my husband had an unsuccessful back operation some years ago and finds walking difficult.

He has times when he just gets desperate to eat at all costs and at any time of the day. Midnight is not unusual.

Has anybody been prescribed appetite suppressants that have worked?

He will eat anything in the fridge or store cupboard and if there nothing substantial available will eat pickled onions out of a jar, baked beans out of a can, raw mushrooms etc., and nothing I say will stop him.

Please do not tell me this is just greed, he does seem to be absolutely unable to control this craving for food. Can anyone help - I have read these forums so many times and try to help him with low carb. food etc., but unless we can stop this binge eating I don't think I can do any more to help - or can I?

Please be gentle with your replies - I am feeling a little weary with the worry at the moment.!

This must be so difficult for you Data Day because you're concerned about him. It doesn't sound like a classic eating disorder but that doesn't mean there isn't a psychological element to it. Food cravings and an unhealthy relationship with food can be about so much more than greed. In my experience a dietician can only advise on good food choices and nutritional balance and if he periodically loses weight, it's clear he knows what to do but simply gets fed up with restrictions.

Is he having enough to fill him at tea-time without resorting to heavy carbs? Could you schedule set snack times so he has something to look forward to instead of random 'raiding'. Even the thought of a cracker and cheese before bed might help. He's obviously a grazer. He hasn't given up smoking has he because often smokers find this difficult and use food as an alternative pleasure.

I know this sounds dramatic but would he consider hypnosis?

In truth so many of us can identify with this. There's times food gives pleasure and solace even though we know we shouldn't have it.

Hope you can sort something. Make sure there's low carb snacks in the fridge because raw mushrooms and pickled onions etc. won't do a lot of harm (apart from indigestion!). Best wishes.

 

[Lucy Honeychurch]

Hi and welcome 🙂
Sorry to hear you're having such a tough time supporting your husband, beat eating disorders have a good website and advice on binge eating disorder, so check them out. Good luck.

 

[Radders]

I have suffered on and off with an overeating disorder and found cognitive behavioural therapy helpful, but does your husband recognise that he has a problem as this would be a very necessary first step?

 

[Data Day]

Thank you for the reply Ralph-YK

I try to keep him on the straight and narrow during the day and keep carbs. down. A normal breakfast would be two eggs, one slice of toast and possibly baked beans.

Tends to be soup for lunch with possibly another slice of bread, but not always. His preference would be for an individual meat pie but I try to keep him away from them.

A main meal in the evening, which is not enormous. Problem areas are between lunch and dinner, if I am not around he will raid the breadbin and make cheese on toast or something similar. Again overnight is probably the worst time, when he will eat what is available.

I think that somebody who is active could manage the extra food, but he isn't active so he can't afford to overeat.

 

[Data Day]

Hi and welcome 🙂
Sorry to hear you're having such a tough time supporting your husband, beat eating disorders have a good website and advice on binge eating disorder, so check them out. Good luck.

Thank you Lucy, I will check the website out.

 

[Data Day]

I have suffered on and off with an overeating disorder and found cognitive behavioural therapy helpful, but does your husband recognise that he has a problem as this would be a very necessary first step?

He recognises he has a problem but he doesn't seem able to face it head on Radders, I think this is what I find so difficult. I think you are correct and cognitive behavioural therapy could help him, but I doubt that I could get him there. I think I will try to have a word with his diabetic nurse and ask her to discuss therapy with him. Thank you

 

[Lucy Honeychurch]

He recognises he has a problem but he doesn't seem able to face it head on Radders, I think this is what I find so difficult. I think you are correct and cognitive behavioural therapy could help him, but I doubt that I could get him there. I think I will try to have a word with his diabetic nurse and ask her to discuss therapy with him. Thank you

This is the hard bit, actually acknowledging and confronting it. There is help available if he asks, as @Radders mentioned CBT. My hospital offer psychological support to diabetics if its needed so definitely ask his DSN.

 

[Data Day]

This must be so difficult for you Data Day because you're concerned about him. It doesn't sound like a classic eating disorder but that doesn't mean there isn't a psychological element to it. Food cravings and an unhealthy relationship with food can be about so much more than greed. In my experience a dietician can only advise on good food choices and nutritional balance and if he periodically loses weight, it's clear he knows what to do but simply gets fed up with restrictions.

Is he having enough to fill him at tea-time without resorting to heavy carbs? Could you schedule set snack times so he has something to look forward to instead of random 'raiding'. Even the thought of a cracker and cheese before bed might help. He's obviously a grazer. He hasn't given up smoking has he because often smokers find this difficult and use food as an alternative pleasure.

I know this sounds dramatic but would he consider hypnosis?

In truth so many of us can identify with this. There's times food gives pleasure and solace even though we know we shouldn't have it.

Hope you can sort something. Make sure there's low carb snacks in the fridge because raw mushrooms and pickled onions etc. won't do a lot of harm (apart from indigestion!). Best wishes.

Thank you Amigo.
You are correct about the grazing! He did try hypnosis some years ago and it did seem to help, he just seems to have given up on looking for help at the moment. He had a bad experience in hospital in January which didn't help. We were discussing some things he could snack on earlier, so I will definitely pursue this. He has never smoked.

Everyone has been so helpful that I think my batteries have been re-charged and hopefully we can sort something out. Thanks again.

 

[Data Day]

This is the hard bit, actually acknowledging and confronting it. There is help available if he asks, as @Radders mentioned CBT. My hospital offer psychological support to diabetics if its needed so definitely ask his DSN.

I will speak to her Lucy. I have looked at the website you mentioned. A lot of information they have there seems very relevant. There is an online discussion about binge eating later today so I will get back to it then.

Thanks again, just being able to discuss things has made me feel better and things don't feel so hopeless!

 

[Lucy Honeychurch]

I will speak to her Lucy. I have looked at the website you mentioned. A lot of information they have there seems very relevant. There is an online discussion about binge eating later today so I will get back to it then.

Thanks again, just being able to discuss things has made me feel better and things don't feel so hopeless!

Good, that's what we're here for, to help and support each other 🙂

 

[HOBIE]

I eat quite a bit of celery not sticky buns. Have you tried that ? Good luck 🙂