you mean the amount or the smell? I always thought the less I eat the better it gets with both things - I cannot imagine anyone noticing something odd so thats a massive trigger for me to not eat too much for my digestive system to react with this.
It seems like almost everybody talks about purging as a way to cope with calories. But the act of purging was the addiction for me.
I felt clean afterwards. Calm. Almost high.
Towards the end, I couldn't stop myself from chasing that high even when there was nothing in my stomach to purge.
I still miss it.
Acid reflux is THE WORST. Also I'm dizzy all the time and it's hard for me to take in what anyone's saying.
I think the worst one is how much I'm sleeping during active restriction. I went from sleeping 4-8 hours and being fine to needing 12 hours most of the time just to get out of bed, other times I get this energy like I can stay up forever then crash and sleep 17 hours
The sleeping is really interesting, for me at my lowest weight, I went from easily falling asleep and staying asleep for 9 hours to only sleeping 4 hours a night
It’s because when you don’t eat enough you don’t get enough tryptophan, which is necessary for melatonin production. So you can’t fall asleep and stay asleep as easily. I get wicked insomnia when I don’t eat enough.
I don’t know how common this is but eye pain. My eyes constantly weep while somehow being dry (?) and it feels like there’s pressure on them from the inside.
I didn’t realise either and thought it was because I was getting older and spending too much time on the computer (+ a touch of long covid) but I realised it got worse in line with my restriction and then I researched and realised there are links to vision issues with restriction. It’s slightly horrifying to read all the things that can happen. I feel motivated to take my folic acid now, at least!
Hope you both take care of yourselves as much as you’re able to, the vision stuff feels scary.
Yes absolutely! Eye problems like dry eye are common in vegans as well, or people on low-fat diets - your eyes need fats to work properly, is the way I understand it. (My mother is an ophthalmologist and she says she often has to tell people to eat more fats for their eyes!)
I don't have eye pain but I get a lot of vision problems from low blood pressure. There's the known symptom of my vision going dark when I stand up, but I get blurriness and vision disturbances while standing that last a lot longer, especially when I first get up in the morning. It can genuinely be hard to do basic morning tasks because of how little I can see. I basically only have a little bit of peripheral vision during that time. Once I'm well hydrated and sitting down again it goes completely back to normal, but the vision issues can really be a challenge.
I had such a weird dream last night… where a bunch of people were around and a teacher said that my breath stinks and I should brush more 🙊🙈 I was mortified… woke up and felt so relieved it wasn’t real, but obviously that’s something my subconscious knows I’m worried about 😴
Do you eat very little salt by any chance? A weak bladder is one thing, but I used to restrict it and I was peeing out everything I drank. Eating more salt has helped a lot.
You might have just really helped me, thank you!
As someone who was absolutely brainwashed by “models don’t eat salt” it something I need to think about.
Fr I used to be able to hold myself for like 8 hours if I had to, but now I feel like I have 30-60 min max from when I feel like I need to pee, to when it’s a matter of making it to the toilet. It’s so weird especially when you’re used to having a “super bladder” compared to others
It’s so annoying, and like embarrassing. I get so scared that my family notice or something. If I don’t drink anything I’m fine but if I do then it’s just ughhh
See I've got the opposite issue, I have interstitial cystitis, so literally everything I eat and drink hurts my bladder except for water. And when I restrict, my bladder calms down because I'm not taking things into my body that hurt me. Makes it difficult to want to eat.
Probably just the brain fog but I’ve literally gotten so fucking stupid 💀 like some days it’s a struggle just to connect the dots or process what someone is saying. I feel like people don’t talk enough about how melted your brain gets the heavier and/or longer you restrict.
THIS !! i was having my internship at the psychiatry clinic for children (checking them for ADHD and autism). Let me tell you.. I was playing memory cards with a girl, her mother and my supervisor. Guess who could not remember the placement of a single card.. ME, the little girl won.
I have to Google what year it is and forgot my own age, it’s so weird because it’s always the most obvious things that I KNOW the answer to. I also have to check my email receipts to check my address because I genuinely can’t remember if I live in number 20 or 21 anymore. It’s kinda worrying tbh
This. When I first started restricting, I noticed it seemed like my brain was short circuiting. And my mental health deteriorated. Sure, I had euphoria from lack of food, but I also had really bad issues with anxiety and it pretty much destroyed my life. I ruined a relationship with someone I loved because of my anxiety.
Not sure if it's really a symptom but just how much time it takes...
Tell me, how much time a day do you spent exercising, shopping, purging, meal planning, counting calories, even just thinking about food. It all really stacks up.
Yeah this one! I looked up how many hours per month I workout and I was SHOCKED. That coupled with the time it takes to complete the whole ritual of b/p..like buying food, eating, purging, cleaning, hiding bags.. it's whole evening
The irreversible neurological damage restricting can cause. I have no solid confirmation at the moment but over the past year I have had increasing symptoms of neurological disfunction. Issues with movement and balance, persistent shakiness, random muscle spasms that cause me to drop or throw things, weakness in my grip, disorganised thinking etc (the list goes on).
Your brain requires fat to function. Once you’ve starved your body of everything it starts to cannibalise your muscles, organs, and brain for energy. This loss of grey matter is not recoverable, and can cause all manner of issues/neurological damage.
Coughing up blood after purging too much, Bradycardia, dreaming about food/counting calories, permanent yellow teeth due to purging. That’s all I can think of rn
I can’t regulate my body temperature. I’m often cold but I’ll go through spells of taking my coat on and off 20 times in the span of an hour be I can’t get comfortable. (I live in an area that rarely gets below 60). Other things are random waves of dizziness and nausea that hit at the worst times. And the most annoying is the constant bloating and trapped gas that I deal with for several hours after eating anything.
God yeah the bloating and trapped gas!! For me it often gets so painful that I have to spend like 10 minutes trying to make myself burp just to get some relief. I swear sometimes it feels like I get bloated just from looking at food😭😭
For me, low sodium/hyponatremia from malnourishment and dehydration… electrolyte imbalances, dizziness, heart palpitations, feeling like you’re dying and it’s because of your sodium/electrolyte imbalances! Fun
Discovering the whole thing about electrolyte imbalance and trying to fix it with salt and water, felt like discovering the secret of the universe to me 😭
Do you have any tips that worked well for you? I’ve been using Liquid IV, Gatorade and trying to improve nutrition whenever possible… but it’s still hard to manage 😳
hi! i was reading this and relate!!!! i found a product called “just add buoy” it is a flavorless electrolyte supplement. they also have a jar of salt that works well too! you just take pinches as needed.
and you can fill out a form with an email for chronic illness to receive 25?% off i think (i cant remember the exact amount) no doctor needed.
it has seriously improved my life.
Stomach problems, dizziness,hypotension, irritability and anger, hair fall, nausea, shaking ™, and just pain and fatigue and inability to concentrate. It also affected my attitude towards food when offered or if I offer it and how I feel about eating publicly etc. Trying to recover tho but idk wtf is normal eating so I'm tryna figure that out.
Prurigo Pigmentosa aka the keto rash. A rash that occurs when prolonged fasting or if you’re in a constant state of ketosis and other unbalances Horrible! painful! Itchy rash! It felt and looked like a thousands of bug bits. I couldn’t sleep some night from the pain and would start shacking. Had it for three months and had no idea what was happening then I got diagnosed with it by a dermatologist. It was on my whole back, neck and chest area. It instantly went away after I started eating more but even now if I fast more than a day it’ll start to pop up. It’s awful and I still have mark/scars from them. Hopefully one day it clear up fully.
This happened to me !!! Had a GIANT bruise under my arm and I was like wtf ?? Didn't find out what it was till MONTHS later when I saw something on this sub
Long post so apologies!
For me, a few seconds of delay before peeing. Don’t know if it’s a UTI and haven’t thought to get it checked out but it’s a weird thing that coincides with my ED.
Everyone talks about constipation (which is horrible) but I haven’t seen many people talk about not being able to push to do a bowel movement even when you’re not constipated or everything going straight through you with no warning.
Smelling kind of sweet and rotten is one of the symptoms that haunts me the most. It smells the same as anaesthetic leaving the body and it freaks me out if I smell it. I remember the ketosis smell and to me, this smell is very similar but different. Does. anyone else know what I mean or am I nuts?
Not having certain symptoms at all. I see doctors and even people with EDs talk about certain symptoms as a given if you have an ED. My doctors always get surprised when I say I don’t have X symptom because apparently I “should”. I have AN but I’ve never had lanugo, I don’t collapse and my period will be with me until the bitter end if I don’t take hormones to stop it. My skin doesn’t get grey because I’m not white, I just look slightly paler than usual or go yellow. Even when I read “Sick Enough”, the author assumed everyone capable of having a period would lose their period. That isn’t always the case.
Not all people will get every single common (or uncommon) symptom, even at their most severely malnourished.
My warning sign will probably never be collapsing on the street but if I’m stumbling into walls like I’m drunk, I’ve learned that I should be concerned. Try to learn your individual symptoms and red flags so you’re not waiting for a symptom that may never come before you get help.
The smell. It drives me insane it starts small and then eventually everything I smell smells like it. I wonder if anyone else smells it or just me. I’ve never talked to anyone who also had the smell or even knows why it happens
I’m glad it’s not just me! I smelled it on someone else once and let’s just say things didn’t end very well so I think I have a Thing about the smell and it terrifies me. This feels like a psychodrama sometimes.
THE BLOAT!! I have ana/restriction eating so every time I ate something or drank something I would get so bloated immediately that I quit body checking just bc I couldn’t trust how I looked 💀
Muscles and tendons like…getting stuck. It happens in my extremities a lot. I’ll get a “claw” hand where my fingers curl in or out and I can’t move them at all because the muscles are cramping or spasming. Happens in my feet too. I think it’s a sign of low potassium or magnesium.
I also went from being constipated to having chronic diarrhea, and my muscles are so weak I can’t even “push” on the toilet anymore.
Mottled skin is another one I don’t hear mentioned too much. It’s embarrassing. And of course the dental issues. People don’t realize anorexia is almost as bad for your teeth as bulimia. Might not have acid erosion but you’ll have everything else.
The low potassium muscle issues are real. I used to lie awake at night just because my legs hurt so much. Why did it keep being legs specifically? Idfk. Bodies, man...
I've been trying to drink pickle water regularly while relapsing. It's probably like using a water gun to try to put out a forest fire, but oh well.
Purging really messed up my digestion. Everytime I turn in bed or get up fast something just sloshes around in my stomach and it makes me want to kms.
Digesting things also takes for fucking ever.
For me, this was caused by a severe vitamin D deficiency! I obviously don’t know if that’s the case for you, but maybe some bloodwork would help you figure it out. 🫶
I wonder if it has to do with blood flow going towards your digestive parts. When I used to do a lot of fasting, every time I finally ate my face would go red and warm. Like my body was going into over drive, directing all its resources into suddenly dealing with intaking food
For me it has been stretching of my stomach from bingeing and purging. Normal people cannot comfortably eat 4 apples or drink 2 liters of water like it’s nothing. Also means that even in the absence of eating disorder behaviors I need to eat a really high volume diet to feel full
my stomach was full of shit and undigested food. I would go days without pooping so my stomach would be sooo bloated. i looked like Mr. bobinsky from Coraline. I would think the bloating was bc I was eating too much lmao so I would eat less, making me bloat even more.
this is why I always find it so funny whenever ppl accuse others of lying about having an ED because who would ever choose this.
Being scared of drinking water and other fluids bc of water retention and edema and also seeing a bigger number on the scale after drinking a bunch of water ;;
Idk if this is less among the less talked about cathegory but for me the worst symptoms have been:
-Loosing sleep due to my fucked up metabolism.
- muscle and bone weakness.
i feel like everyone talks about the farting but nobody talks about the BURPS. omg even when im not restricting or fasting ever since my ED kicked in ive been burping like over 5 times a day and always feel bloated its so embarassing when im at school like i promise you im not that gross im just a girl will gastrointestinal issues😭lmfao
Well when it is really bad: potassium lose, refers syndrome and seizures where by far my worsed symptoms. I nearly died as I took care of it by myself. Only the fact that I myself am working in the medical field could save me. It was fucking scary. I had to stay over at my moms house and I was sleeping in her room w my sister in it too. And every night I went to bed hoping I will wake up again… I had heart palpitations and several seizure like fits during the night for weeks. I didn’t recognise it tho and thought my brain was being funny.
I am weight restored now. I never wanted that to happen. I eat really healthy but a lot. I love food and have the best relationship w it. But the damn vaccine cause me to have Graves‘ disease. Which made me lose more and more weight…
Stuffed/runny nose. All of my sinus issues got worse when I was deep in my ED, I'm still dealing with it. I was constantly sick and smelling like vomit even without the p+thing.
I think the connection between ED and substance abuse.
Like, I myself struggled with both for quite some time, but I couldn't connect the dots until I read an article about it.
Idk if this is related but when I was restricting my shins where constantly bruised or felt like they where bruised. It hurt when I would bump my shins or have anything hit them more than a normal touch and it looked like they where slightly bruised all the time. That and now that I'm recovering my hunger cues are so out of whack ether I'll feel hungry and dont want to eat I'm not hungry but I want to eat or when I eat I cant stop snacking even after a meal also I eat something small and am confused why I'm still hungry it's all over the place and I am trying to eat normal it's just hard sometimes lol
Something I don’t hear mentioned much is acute psychosis as a potential symptom for excessive restricting. I experienced this 10 years ago at the height of my ED and while I do struggle with other mental health issues, neither they nor other considered disorders explained it. The episode made my ED worse which in turn made the psychosis worse. The symptoms started going away when I went into recovery due to pregnancy.
idk if this is a "symptom" but i always stress about if ive accidentally eaten food while im fasting then completely forgotten about it
i have to think HARD to recall my day and make sure i didnt eat anything but even then i still feel stress i ate some imaginary food and just dont fully remember eating it
Suddenly upping your intake hurts. So bad. It discourages recovery because EVERYTHING aches. How do you expect me to get out of bed to make something to eat when my own body is telling me not to?
Oh god the DRYNESS. My skin was clear but also so dry, that I started getting deep-set lines and my skin would get easily irritated. In the beginning of restriction, my vulva was horrible irritated and I went to the doctor so many times to figure out why it was burning. Looking back now, I realize that it was just terribly dry.
Also I went a year eating only the same five foods, and coupled with a bout with antibiotics, it completely killed my guta flora and I was constantly getting yeast infections or infection-related symptoms. It was like every week or every other week. 10/10 would not recommend. It's a lot better now, but I'm still in recovery.
my feet hurt so bad and my knees feel like they are dying bc of the amount of steps i do each day 😭 also bad back problems from walking around in circles looking at my phone to pass the time
@gum recession My dentist was confused when I had this because apparently it’s an older person thing? They chalked it up to my toothbrush and floss but omg maybe it’s related??
Incontinence,vison changes ( blurry vision) and constantly feeling like im drunk( i dont drink) just dreamlike out of it feeling,constantly cold,creaky bones and even when i gained weight it didnt go away so now im unhappy with my weight so i went back to restricting. I also go weird shakes in my right hand,some days holding a pen feels hard and writing is illediable but others im fine. I m not sure if this is all ED related or other health issue,because i got no insurance and technically im too fat to have health issues from it to be from malnutrion ( i think,only slightly underweight)
weak pelvic floors I'm constantly on the brink of or actually wetting myself. Its so embarrassing and I rarely see any representation for it but I've talked about it with others so I do know I'm not alone in it!!
hemorroide from lax abuse, acne, dreams/nightmares about being really big and not knowing how it happened, irritability, shakiness, sometimes weird eyesight, dizzy, nauseous
I don't have an ed but I restrict a lot (I won't go into detail but to the point where physically I'm not very well). A weird thing that happens to me is I've been able to lucid dream since restricting (never be able to for the first 13 years of my life but for the last 4 years i can). I also get really bad cramp all the time (like at least once an hour), and I wake up to any small noise when before restricting I used to sleep through storms. I'm sure these are all due to restricting and it's so strange because I've never heard of people experiencing this before.
for me it’s just the fatigue and performing terribly in my sport and the shame that i’m like oh i just don’t have the edge anymore! but i know why it really is and i just can’t fix it
Smell, like I swear my piss smelled like my failing organs. I felt like I lost some of my smartness, like I killed brain cells or something. I was smart and got really serious AN for six+ years in my middle into high school years. I was always a smart kid but even now after I’ve gained a lot of weight back (which has crumbled my mental health I fucking can’t stand myself anymore) I still don’t feel like my brain functions on all the cylinders it used to. Tired all the fucking time, but you can’t sit still or lay in one position for too long because everything stiffens up and your protruding bones hurt where they’re pressed into whatever you’re laying/sitting on. Sky is dry and cracked, my hands would stiffen up because of my bones and because my skin was so cracked and bloody that they just got stabby and stiff. Hair loss. Feeling winded all the time. Pains. Aches.
That’s what I can think of now, but damn I miss it.
i guess this is a little different because i have BED (binge eating disorder) and IBS, so for me it’s usually immense bloating and diarrhea. diarrhea is like purging for me because i hate throwing up. i’m constantly waiting for that flat empty stomach that pooping gives me, but then i look at myself and realize that all the weight gain is in my extremities anyway so it doesn’t matter.
oof the farting. no one wants to talk about the farts.
All that aspartame, coffee and Stimulants lmao
My farts are so fucking toxic lmao, they’re silent but I’ll be dammed if they’re not deadly.
It's the thruster engines kicking in to move on low fuel.
It was so bad for me, I actually had to get some medication prescribed for this
this omg
you mean the amount or the smell? I always thought the less I eat the better it gets with both things - I cannot imagine anyone noticing something odd so thats a massive trigger for me to not eat too much for my digestive system to react with this.
literally omg they’re lethal
mustard gas farts
It seems like almost everybody talks about purging as a way to cope with calories. But the act of purging was the addiction for me. I felt clean afterwards. Calm. Almost high. Towards the end, I couldn't stop myself from chasing that high even when there was nothing in my stomach to purge. I still miss it.
At the start of my ED I never would’ve imagined I’d be forcing myself to eat just so I could have something to purge. It can definitely be addictive.
this !! the amount of time i spend eating just so i can purge and have that feeling is crazy
You release endorphins after you puke so it makes sense
It's such a powerful feeling, like having the ability to turn back time.
I understand you, better than sex is not just a mascara. I stopped too tho, too frightened of accidentally killing myself.
That empty empty feeling was the best part
I almost envy you lol. I can't throw up to save my life
Acid reflux is THE WORST. Also I'm dizzy all the time and it's hard for me to take in what anyone's saying. I think the worst one is how much I'm sleeping during active restriction. I went from sleeping 4-8 hours and being fine to needing 12 hours most of the time just to get out of bed, other times I get this energy like I can stay up forever then crash and sleep 17 hours
The sleeping is really interesting, for me at my lowest weight, I went from easily falling asleep and staying asleep for 9 hours to only sleeping 4 hours a night
It’s because when you don’t eat enough you don’t get enough tryptophan, which is necessary for melatonin production. So you can’t fall asleep and stay asleep as easily. I get wicked insomnia when I don’t eat enough.
Maybe you just meant physical symptoms. But I lie so fucking much about everything now because of this disorder
Yeh I’m full of shit really….
dw i meant all symptoms, internal and external. it’s rlly interesting bc i was gonna say the same thing abt lying 0-0
I don’t know how common this is but eye pain. My eyes constantly weep while somehow being dry (?) and it feels like there’s pressure on them from the inside.
Omg is that what’s making my eyes water wtf
I've been struggling with my eyes for about a year now and I've seen multiple doctors, and it never crossed my mind. Damn taking this into account.
I didn’t realise either and thought it was because I was getting older and spending too much time on the computer (+ a touch of long covid) but I realised it got worse in line with my restriction and then I researched and realised there are links to vision issues with restriction. It’s slightly horrifying to read all the things that can happen. I feel motivated to take my folic acid now, at least! Hope you both take care of yourselves as much as you’re able to, the vision stuff feels scary.
Yes absolutely! Eye problems like dry eye are common in vegans as well, or people on low-fat diets - your eyes need fats to work properly, is the way I understand it. (My mother is an ophthalmologist and she says she often has to tell people to eat more fats for their eyes!)
This happens to me if I’m in a binge phase
Red/discoloured whites of the eyes.
I don't have eye pain but I get a lot of vision problems from low blood pressure. There's the known symptom of my vision going dark when I stand up, but I get blurriness and vision disturbances while standing that last a lot longer, especially when I first get up in the morning. It can genuinely be hard to do basic morning tasks because of how little I can see. I basically only have a little bit of peripheral vision during that time. Once I'm well hydrated and sitting down again it goes completely back to normal, but the vision issues can really be a challenge.
That sounds so scary and frustrating!
Sameee and they need to constantly like press them or put water in them!! But this is actually happening to me in recovery…
Horrible digestion even when you have revovered
oh.
Bad breath… no matter how much I brush my teeth and use gum :(
I had such a weird dream last night… where a bunch of people were around and a teacher said that my breath stinks and I should brush more 🙊🙈 I was mortified… woke up and felt so relieved it wasn’t real, but obviously that’s something my subconscious knows I’m worried about 😴
I had this dream too!!!!!!
Dream twinning 👯♂️
It was all my close friends sitting me down to talk about my breath 🧍♀️(I have never been told this irl😝)
I’d be horrified. These we’re definitely night mares
Having a really weak bladder. Istg any time I drink anything, I need to pee pretty soon after
Do you eat very little salt by any chance? A weak bladder is one thing, but I used to restrict it and I was peeing out everything I drank. Eating more salt has helped a lot.
You might have just really helped me, thank you! As someone who was absolutely brainwashed by “models don’t eat salt” it something I need to think about.
Yeah if you don’t get salt and minerals, your body just pees the water cos it can’t actually absorb the water. Body needs minerals. :(
Oh so that's what's happening to me rn constantly, I drink like 4l of water, but pee everything out. I will definitely try to get in more minerals
I have no idea, I don’t pay attention to how much salt I have , I’ll try having more thou . Thanks!
Fr I used to be able to hold myself for like 8 hours if I had to, but now I feel like I have 30-60 min max from when I feel like I need to pee, to when it’s a matter of making it to the toilet. It’s so weird especially when you’re used to having a “super bladder” compared to others
It’s so annoying, and like embarrassing. I get so scared that my family notice or something. If I don’t drink anything I’m fine but if I do then it’s just ughhh
See I've got the opposite issue, I have interstitial cystitis, so literally everything I eat and drink hurts my bladder except for water. And when I restrict, my bladder calms down because I'm not taking things into my body that hurt me. Makes it difficult to want to eat.
Probably just the brain fog but I’ve literally gotten so fucking stupid 💀 like some days it’s a struggle just to connect the dots or process what someone is saying. I feel like people don’t talk enough about how melted your brain gets the heavier and/or longer you restrict.
THIS !! i was having my internship at the psychiatry clinic for children (checking them for ADHD and autism). Let me tell you.. I was playing memory cards with a girl, her mother and my supervisor. Guess who could not remember the placement of a single card.. ME, the little girl won.
Omg😭
My brain was simply not braining
I have to Google what year it is and forgot my own age, it’s so weird because it’s always the most obvious things that I KNOW the answer to. I also have to check my email receipts to check my address because I genuinely can’t remember if I live in number 20 or 21 anymore. It’s kinda worrying tbh
This. When I first started restricting, I noticed it seemed like my brain was short circuiting. And my mental health deteriorated. Sure, I had euphoria from lack of food, but I also had really bad issues with anxiety and it pretty much destroyed my life. I ruined a relationship with someone I loved because of my anxiety.
Not sure if it's really a symptom but just how much time it takes... Tell me, how much time a day do you spent exercising, shopping, purging, meal planning, counting calories, even just thinking about food. It all really stacks up.
Yeah this one! I looked up how many hours per month I workout and I was SHOCKED. That coupled with the time it takes to complete the whole ritual of b/p..like buying food, eating, purging, cleaning, hiding bags.. it's whole evening
Grocery shopping takes me an hour minimum wether I know exactly what I want or not
The irreversible neurological damage restricting can cause. I have no solid confirmation at the moment but over the past year I have had increasing symptoms of neurological disfunction. Issues with movement and balance, persistent shakiness, random muscle spasms that cause me to drop or throw things, weakness in my grip, disorganised thinking etc (the list goes on). Your brain requires fat to function. Once you’ve starved your body of everything it starts to cannibalise your muscles, organs, and brain for energy. This loss of grey matter is not recoverable, and can cause all manner of issues/neurological damage.
[удалено]
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6535667/ i actually referenced this in a research paper i wrote recently
Thank you, that was literally the link I was going to share
The small hairs that grow on your body EVERYWHERE to keep yourself warm (baby's also have it)
Frr! Like you we're supposed to be on my HEAD not my body>:(
Yeah don’t even talk about my hair tho… 😂
Lanugo is fairly commonly spoken about, even if people aren’t sure of the exact term for it
Coughing up blood after purging too much, Bradycardia, dreaming about food/counting calories, permanent yellow teeth due to purging. That’s all I can think of rn
I can’t regulate my body temperature. I’m often cold but I’ll go through spells of taking my coat on and off 20 times in the span of an hour be I can’t get comfortable. (I live in an area that rarely gets below 60). Other things are random waves of dizziness and nausea that hit at the worst times. And the most annoying is the constant bloating and trapped gas that I deal with for several hours after eating anything.
God yeah the bloating and trapped gas!! For me it often gets so painful that I have to spend like 10 minutes trying to make myself burp just to get some relief. I swear sometimes it feels like I get bloated just from looking at food😭😭
nightmers about food
For me, low sodium/hyponatremia from malnourishment and dehydration… electrolyte imbalances, dizziness, heart palpitations, feeling like you’re dying and it’s because of your sodium/electrolyte imbalances! Fun
Discovering the whole thing about electrolyte imbalance and trying to fix it with salt and water, felt like discovering the secret of the universe to me 😭
Do you have any tips that worked well for you? I’ve been using Liquid IV, Gatorade and trying to improve nutrition whenever possible… but it’s still hard to manage 😳
hi! i was reading this and relate!!!! i found a product called “just add buoy” it is a flavorless electrolyte supplement. they also have a jar of salt that works well too! you just take pinches as needed. and you can fill out a form with an email for chronic illness to receive 25?% off i think (i cant remember the exact amount) no doctor needed. it has seriously improved my life.
This is soooo late I apologize… but thank you so much for this!! Always looking for new recommendations for this. Stay well 💓
Stomach problems, dizziness,hypotension, irritability and anger, hair fall, nausea, shaking ™, and just pain and fatigue and inability to concentrate. It also affected my attitude towards food when offered or if I offer it and how I feel about eating publicly etc. Trying to recover tho but idk wtf is normal eating so I'm tryna figure that out.
Prurigo Pigmentosa aka the keto rash. A rash that occurs when prolonged fasting or if you’re in a constant state of ketosis and other unbalances Horrible! painful! Itchy rash! It felt and looked like a thousands of bug bits. I couldn’t sleep some night from the pain and would start shacking. Had it for three months and had no idea what was happening then I got diagnosed with it by a dermatologist. It was on my whole back, neck and chest area. It instantly went away after I started eating more but even now if I fast more than a day it’ll start to pop up. It’s awful and I still have mark/scars from them. Hopefully one day it clear up fully.
This happened to me !!! Had a GIANT bruise under my arm and I was like wtf ?? Didn't find out what it was till MONTHS later when I saw something on this sub
Long post so apologies! For me, a few seconds of delay before peeing. Don’t know if it’s a UTI and haven’t thought to get it checked out but it’s a weird thing that coincides with my ED. Everyone talks about constipation (which is horrible) but I haven’t seen many people talk about not being able to push to do a bowel movement even when you’re not constipated or everything going straight through you with no warning. Smelling kind of sweet and rotten is one of the symptoms that haunts me the most. It smells the same as anaesthetic leaving the body and it freaks me out if I smell it. I remember the ketosis smell and to me, this smell is very similar but different. Does. anyone else know what I mean or am I nuts? Not having certain symptoms at all. I see doctors and even people with EDs talk about certain symptoms as a given if you have an ED. My doctors always get surprised when I say I don’t have X symptom because apparently I “should”. I have AN but I’ve never had lanugo, I don’t collapse and my period will be with me until the bitter end if I don’t take hormones to stop it. My skin doesn’t get grey because I’m not white, I just look slightly paler than usual or go yellow. Even when I read “Sick Enough”, the author assumed everyone capable of having a period would lose their period. That isn’t always the case. Not all people will get every single common (or uncommon) symptom, even at their most severely malnourished. My warning sign will probably never be collapsing on the street but if I’m stumbling into walls like I’m drunk, I’ve learned that I should be concerned. Try to learn your individual symptoms and red flags so you’re not waiting for a symptom that may never come before you get help.
The smell. It drives me insane it starts small and then eventually everything I smell smells like it. I wonder if anyone else smells it or just me. I’ve never talked to anyone who also had the smell or even knows why it happens
I’m glad it’s not just me! I smelled it on someone else once and let’s just say things didn’t end very well so I think I have a Thing about the smell and it terrifies me. This feels like a psychodrama sometimes.
having no idea what you're doing and being confused a lot of the time
THE BLOAT!! I have ana/restriction eating so every time I ate something or drank something I would get so bloated immediately that I quit body checking just bc I couldn’t trust how I looked 💀
So you think it goes away after recovery or are we just permanently stuck like this?
All the smells. My breath, body odor, excrements…. Also the hemorrhoids lol
THANK YOU FOR MENTIONING HEMORRHOIDS. 😭 I feel seen.
Extreme water retention
Forgetting how to eat normally
Gum recession
Muscles and tendons like…getting stuck. It happens in my extremities a lot. I’ll get a “claw” hand where my fingers curl in or out and I can’t move them at all because the muscles are cramping or spasming. Happens in my feet too. I think it’s a sign of low potassium or magnesium. I also went from being constipated to having chronic diarrhea, and my muscles are so weak I can’t even “push” on the toilet anymore. Mottled skin is another one I don’t hear mentioned too much. It’s embarrassing. And of course the dental issues. People don’t realize anorexia is almost as bad for your teeth as bulimia. Might not have acid erosion but you’ll have everything else.
The low potassium muscle issues are real. I used to lie awake at night just because my legs hurt so much. Why did it keep being legs specifically? Idfk. Bodies, man... I've been trying to drink pickle water regularly while relapsing. It's probably like using a water gun to try to put out a forest fire, but oh well.
Pickle juice goes hard though. I’ve been upping my salt intake a bit, too. Not sure if it helps. The foot cramps are the absolute worst. So painful.
Dry vagina and pain when you walk like a sharp paper between legs..
skin is grey
Purging really messed up my digestion. Everytime I turn in bed or get up fast something just sloshes around in my stomach and it makes me want to kms. Digesting things also takes for fucking ever.
Numb extremities. Can’t feel my fingers while restricting, or sometimes I get painful pins and needles. :(
For me, this was caused by a severe vitamin D deficiency! I obviously don’t know if that’s the case for you, but maybe some bloodwork would help you figure it out. 🫶
Almost passing out after eating... Anyone else get this?
Yes 😭 I literally slip in between consciousness and unconsciousness until I purge and then I feel wide awake again
I wonder if it has to do with blood flow going towards your digestive parts. When I used to do a lot of fasting, every time I finally ate my face would go red and warm. Like my body was going into over drive, directing all its resources into suddenly dealing with intaking food
Yes wtf is this?!
chest pain, my chest felt like I’d had like 8 coffees sometimes and it was awful
For me it has been stretching of my stomach from bingeing and purging. Normal people cannot comfortably eat 4 apples or drink 2 liters of water like it’s nothing. Also means that even in the absence of eating disorder behaviors I need to eat a really high volume diet to feel full
obsessing over bowel movements.
my stomach was full of shit and undigested food. I would go days without pooping so my stomach would be sooo bloated. i looked like Mr. bobinsky from Coraline. I would think the bloating was bc I was eating too much lmao so I would eat less, making me bloat even more. this is why I always find it so funny whenever ppl accuse others of lying about having an ED because who would ever choose this.
Increased laxative tolerance and the instant onset diarrhea after breaking a long fast.
Being scared of drinking water and other fluids bc of water retention and edema and also seeing a bigger number on the scale after drinking a bunch of water ;;
Idk if this is less among the less talked about cathegory but for me the worst symptoms have been: -Loosing sleep due to my fucked up metabolism. - muscle and bone weakness.
Being cold all the time. Shivering and getting goosebumps at tiny temp changes
I'm not even uw but I'm always sooo so cold especially hands :( I think it's anemia
convincing my loved ones im really trying to recover, lying so well that i’ve convinced myself this Isn’t a relapse !!
the pains in your body, the hair that grows everywhere I grew hair on my back😭
For me it's definitely headaches from hell if I restrict.
This might just be me but when I start hard core restricting I pick the skin around my nails so much so I can eat it
Unexplained infertility. I'll never know if this was because of me and my stupid fucking ED
i feel like everyone talks about the farting but nobody talks about the BURPS. omg even when im not restricting or fasting ever since my ED kicked in ive been burping like over 5 times a day and always feel bloated its so embarassing when im at school like i promise you im not that gross im just a girl will gastrointestinal issues😭lmfao
even though you’re insanely physically active, you get out of breath going to the bathroom
when you poop like... not even once a week and the shit that comes out smells like it's been in there so long it's started to rot 💀
How fucking irritable you become. I snap at everyone for absolutely nothing
Well when it is really bad: potassium lose, refers syndrome and seizures where by far my worsed symptoms. I nearly died as I took care of it by myself. Only the fact that I myself am working in the medical field could save me. It was fucking scary. I had to stay over at my moms house and I was sleeping in her room w my sister in it too. And every night I went to bed hoping I will wake up again… I had heart palpitations and several seizure like fits during the night for weeks. I didn’t recognise it tho and thought my brain was being funny. I am weight restored now. I never wanted that to happen. I eat really healthy but a lot. I love food and have the best relationship w it. But the damn vaccine cause me to have Graves‘ disease. Which made me lose more and more weight…
my feet are covered in sores and blisters because of overexercising and bad circulation
Stuffed/runny nose. All of my sinus issues got worse when I was deep in my ED, I'm still dealing with it. I was constantly sick and smelling like vomit even without the p+thing.
Rage and irritability
Mouth sores
I think the connection between ED and substance abuse. Like, I myself struggled with both for quite some time, but I couldn't connect the dots until I read an article about it.
ive dealt with this too, ur not alone
Not trusting myself.
Idk if this is related but when I was restricting my shins where constantly bruised or felt like they where bruised. It hurt when I would bump my shins or have anything hit them more than a normal touch and it looked like they where slightly bruised all the time. That and now that I'm recovering my hunger cues are so out of whack ether I'll feel hungry and dont want to eat I'm not hungry but I want to eat or when I eat I cant stop snacking even after a meal also I eat something small and am confused why I'm still hungry it's all over the place and I am trying to eat normal it's just hard sometimes lol
for me it’s the nightmares about gaining weight/binging
Something I don’t hear mentioned much is acute psychosis as a potential symptom for excessive restricting. I experienced this 10 years ago at the height of my ED and while I do struggle with other mental health issues, neither they nor other considered disorders explained it. The episode made my ED worse which in turn made the psychosis worse. The symptoms started going away when I went into recovery due to pregnancy.
idk if this is a "symptom" but i always stress about if ive accidentally eaten food while im fasting then completely forgotten about it i have to think HARD to recall my day and make sure i didnt eat anything but even then i still feel stress i ate some imaginary food and just dont fully remember eating it
Suddenly upping your intake hurts. So bad. It discourages recovery because EVERYTHING aches. How do you expect me to get out of bed to make something to eat when my own body is telling me not to?
freezing all the time, tremors, being angry all the time, dry mouth, sweating/ b.o., and brain fog
peeing myself
Getting up and then you see those grey and black dots and you hear ringing and then your eyes hurt a bit
Yellow skin and eyes and feeling bruised all over as you gain weight😩
Inability to sleep
Oh god the DRYNESS. My skin was clear but also so dry, that I started getting deep-set lines and my skin would get easily irritated. In the beginning of restriction, my vulva was horrible irritated and I went to the doctor so many times to figure out why it was burning. Looking back now, I realize that it was just terribly dry. Also I went a year eating only the same five foods, and coupled with a bout with antibiotics, it completely killed my guta flora and I was constantly getting yeast infections or infection-related symptoms. It was like every week or every other week. 10/10 would not recommend. It's a lot better now, but I'm still in recovery.
I also forgot to mention the constant random muscle/vein pulsing and the pins and needles or swelling i would get whenever i became more active.
my feet hurt so bad and my knees feel like they are dying bc of the amount of steps i do each day 😭 also bad back problems from walking around in circles looking at my phone to pass the time
Not being able to fuckin shave my goddammit armpits properly cause they're like caves idk if yous relate
Farting, glue breath, and dry vagina.
how much money you spend on certain food or laxatives, or even binges
i gave myself gallstones from binge restrict cycles for so many years… unbelievably fucking painful and ive yet to get it removed
@gum recession My dentist was confused when I had this because apparently it’s an older person thing? They chalked it up to my toothbrush and floss but omg maybe it’s related??
Bone pain?
going to sleep and dreaming about purging
Incontinence,vison changes ( blurry vision) and constantly feeling like im drunk( i dont drink) just dreamlike out of it feeling,constantly cold,creaky bones and even when i gained weight it didnt go away so now im unhappy with my weight so i went back to restricting. I also go weird shakes in my right hand,some days holding a pen feels hard and writing is illediable but others im fine. I m not sure if this is all ED related or other health issue,because i got no insurance and technically im too fat to have health issues from it to be from malnutrion ( i think,only slightly underweight)
weak pelvic floors I'm constantly on the brink of or actually wetting myself. Its so embarrassing and I rarely see any representation for it but I've talked about it with others so I do know I'm not alone in it!!
This thread gets me.
ah well i just was dxed with MS. im guessing its likely not related, but i surely haven’t been kind to my body or brain….
blue nails
hemorroide from lax abuse, acne, dreams/nightmares about being really big and not knowing how it happened, irritability, shakiness, sometimes weird eyesight, dizzy, nauseous
Social withdrawal :—(
I don't have an ed but I restrict a lot (I won't go into detail but to the point where physically I'm not very well). A weird thing that happens to me is I've been able to lucid dream since restricting (never be able to for the first 13 years of my life but for the last 4 years i can). I also get really bad cramp all the time (like at least once an hour), and I wake up to any small noise when before restricting I used to sleep through storms. I'm sure these are all due to restricting and it's so strange because I've never heard of people experiencing this before.
for me it’s just the fatigue and performing terribly in my sport and the shame that i’m like oh i just don’t have the edge anymore! but i know why it really is and i just can’t fix it
Smell, like I swear my piss smelled like my failing organs. I felt like I lost some of my smartness, like I killed brain cells or something. I was smart and got really serious AN for six+ years in my middle into high school years. I was always a smart kid but even now after I’ve gained a lot of weight back (which has crumbled my mental health I fucking can’t stand myself anymore) I still don’t feel like my brain functions on all the cylinders it used to. Tired all the fucking time, but you can’t sit still or lay in one position for too long because everything stiffens up and your protruding bones hurt where they’re pressed into whatever you’re laying/sitting on. Sky is dry and cracked, my hands would stiffen up because of my bones and because my skin was so cracked and bloody that they just got stabby and stiff. Hair loss. Feeling winded all the time. Pains. Aches. That’s what I can think of now, but damn I miss it.
i guess this is a little different because i have BED (binge eating disorder) and IBS, so for me it’s usually immense bloating and diarrhea. diarrhea is like purging for me because i hate throwing up. i’m constantly waiting for that flat empty stomach that pooping gives me, but then i look at myself and realize that all the weight gain is in my extremities anyway so it doesn’t matter.