[Laina M.]

I'm in recovery now, although it's a loooong process and I fight disordered thoughts every day. But I have a lot of negative effects left from my days of actively purging and restricting, and I was wondering if anyone else has experience with them?

I have a lot of stomach problems now, like frequent acid reflux especially if I don't eat regularly, and sometimes it gets so bad that I vomit acid or I'm in so much pain I can't move until my stomach medication kicks in. I guess in a way it's a blessing, because I can't restrict anymore without being in too much pain, so it's probably forced me into recovery more than if I didn't have this problem, but I'm still hoping it'll go away. Does anyone have experience with stomach problems like this? Is it going to last for the rest of my life?

I was also told I had a heart murmur, but now it's gone, so hopefully that means my heart is okay for the future.

I guess at least this can be a warning for other people out there struggling with eating disorders. I know how hard it is, but if you don't get help you could be left with medical problems in the future. Anyone else still dealing with physical aftereffects of their EDs?

[whoswho]

Hi,

When I stopped binging and purging I had some problems too. I was in a lot of pain. Of course there was the acid reflux, which was horrible. Sometimes I'd even start gagging after meals, like my body was so trained to throw-up everything. For about 2-3 months I had really bad cramping after eating as well, very painful.

However, after some time, these side effects began to become less severe and even disappeared. My blood pressure is consistently normal, no acid reflux or stomach cramping these days... I would keep your treatment team informed about everything you are experiencing, but it is also not unrealistic to expect things to improve significantly with time (a few months). I was lucky not to have permanent damage, but you'll be surprised how much better you'll begin to feel... just seems like you start feeling worse before you feel better.

Hang in there!

[eskielover]

I just deal with the restricting....no purging other than when I used laxitives for awhile.

Most of my restricting is related to stress as the trigger & it still happens when major stress situations hit.....the problem I have when I start eating again & I start back slowly.....I end up with horrible diarrhea right after I eat.....seems like it hardly has time to digest, but I know there.

The other problem I have is that I really don't have the hunger pains that tell me I want to eat.....so if I'm busy doing other things & living alone, I totally forget to eat.....my life now has no schedule.

During the stress & the not eating periods, I end up getting horrible cramps in my feet, legs, & hands.....the feet & legs is usually when I to go bed, the cramps in my hands & fingers usually come when I'm trying to write or wash dishes or anything O want to do with my hands.

It took several years & lots of good conditioner for my hair to stop looking like straw since it's naturally curley in the first place after the major trauma & the medical hospitalization I had for anorexia back in 2004/5.......& the wrinkles that made me look like I was 100 years old I'm still dealing with.

My teeth have always been bad because when I was growing up, I had major illnesses & the antibiotics are said to have caused the enamel to not form on my teeth when they were developing......but all my teeth have broken off & I'm dealing with having to have them all pulled & get dentures.....a major project for me with no dental insurance. I think that the anorexia didn't help with that however. They really started breaking off after this last time I struggled with the trauma & the anorexia......& that was at the age of 54......so one is never so old that the struggle doesn't happen.

Just really glad that I haven't had other more serious lasting effects from the times I have struggled with the anorexia starting at the age of 43

[Victoria'smom]

I have absolutely no metabolism at all. The dr. told my husband it's because of how bad my drinking problem is and he really needs to keep me away from alcohol. He refused to believe my husband that I do not drink. My hips and legs ache to the point that I'll wake up at night. I've been told I have pre-osteoporosis. My teeth are so horrible that I refuse to go to the dentist. I'm unable to take medication that have helped because I have a history of ED. I had to have my gallbladder removed with all the "fun" complications of that due to restricting.

I'm 29.

[spondiferous]

I find that most times after eating I feel dizzy, nauseated, acidy, lightheaded, or some combination of the four. I have had a bunch of testing done. Nothing came back positive. I've been symptom free for a couple of months now and it still happens. Seriously, almost every time. And it's not related to any specific foods/groups. So my ED doctor at the new program I'm in has ordered some more bloodwork and testing to rule out things that may be causing it. I might have something but I suspect it's from 20 years of purging and 25 of binging.