Bulimia Help

hey i started that age or i was 11 i think. i started cos my parents seperated, my dad lives in thailand,and i moved schools. and after that i jus kept going, im 18 now.
so u any reason why u started so young? bullied, unhapy, binged and purged, then started from there? xoxo

situations vary. when i was 10 my mom told me that the man i called my father was not really my biological father. and that my "sperm donor" took off when she was pregnant and only saw me when i was a month old. he didn't want anything to do with me. that started the ball rolling. at first i was a compulsive overeater. i was filling a void. i felt that if my own father couldn't love me then why would anyone else? after stuggling with my weight i decided i just wouldn't eat anymore. that happen in my mid twenties. i started taking pills and drugs to make my appetite go away. it wasn't until my late twenties that i decided to eat real food again. but i still felt horrible about myself. that's when i started to binge and purge. i could eat but then i would get rid of it one way or another. now my body is all jacked up. please get help now. you are young enough to stop the crazy cycle. i am now 30 years old and i just started talking to my family about my issues. if i had done so at an earlier age i know i could have avoided so much pain and damage to my body. your parents might get mad or not understand, but they'd rather have you healthy and happy than sitting in your room crying because you can't figure out what's wrong with yourself. and guess what? there's nothing wrong with you. we make up lots of stuff in our own minds about ourselves. its awesome that you found this site. i'm here if you ever want to chat.

I was 18 when curiosity got the better of me I guess. I was athletic and pretty switched-on through my childhood and adolescence. But this is around the time I first left home. Freedom can be overwhelming. And 500km away from home at that. I had the mask that I was ten foot tall and bullet-proof.
Recovery is where I'm at now, 5 years on. I need to do this more than anything.
Telling my family was hard - but honestly, the best thing I've ever done. I didn't think I'd be in this relapse situation 3 years ago. Just goes to show I've needed help for some time.

If you need to chat, have anymore questions, just let me know.

Have a great day.

:)
Chloé

I think my bulimia started after highschool. I've always been a perfectionist and when i just failed my end of year exams i was so disapointed and angry with myself. I remember crying my eyes out for hours before eventually just feeling numb. Now when i feel that guilt and anger building up i binge and purge to release it. It seems like such a small silly thing to trigger an eating disorder but i guess everyone has their reasons.

I was around your age, about 12. I remember always having body image issues though. For as long as I remember I felt like being thin was the best thing about myself. I started off as anorexic for a few years and gradually it led to bulimia. The first years of my ED seem like a haze to me.

I think its great that you realize what you are doing is wrong and needs to stop. It took me years to figure that out! Get help as soon as you can, because it will only get worse. It really is a great step that you recognize your eating disorder, and have come to this site for help. If there is anyone you trust I think you should tell them. Your parents might be more supportive then you think. Its just a very hard thing to talk about, but you need all the support you can get.

xoxo

Yes, yes - get help now! I started binging and purging when I was 18, but I definitely had been dealing with "disordered eating" for a few years by then. I dieted a lot throughout middle and high school and I also went through periods of overeating, too. I am now 25 years old and this disorder has pretty much ruled my life for 7 years. Please don't take this lightly. Don't think it will go away on its own or that you can overcome it just by blogging on a website. Actively seek recovery so that you don't end up wasting any more of your life! I know how scared you must be to say anything to your parents. Is there a school counselor you can talk to privately? Usually these people are bound by confidentiality so that they cannot say anything to your parents or others. My heart goes out to you. Lets figure out a way to get you some professional help!

i was 15 years old when i became bulimic.

and regret the day I tried since then....

I was 14 yrs old. Now I am nearly 36 and still can't cope...

i was 12 when i first developed bulimia and this continued until age 22 when i recovered. it's so positive though that you are aware of your problems with food, even enough to be on this site! i know for me it wasn't until years of suffering that i could even admit i had a problem, let alone seek help.

the earlier you seek help, the far greater your chances of a faster recovery (although recovery is possible at any age and any stage) - so start talking to your school counsellor or your parents (if you are comfortable) and seek professional help.

again, congratulations for reaching out on this site and being so honest about where you're at - this will serve you well into your recovery :)

i was 14 years old when i became bulimic but i've hated my body for way longer than that.

I was 12 or 13, I don't really remember, but I am 25 now and just recently I reached out for help!

This goes to all of you who are not as deep in it as I am:

STOP!
REACH OUT FOR HELP!!!
The people around will most likely not realize!
Most likely not even your dentist.

PLEASE, help yourself as soon as you can or you will eventually lose the fight.

Take care everyone!!

i was also 12 or 13.

It was only like 2 years ago - I'm 16 going on 17, so 14 or 15 - but it feels like forever I can't imagine what it's like for those who've had to deal with this for over a decade! Stay strong <3

I was 19 and im now 26 .... but hoepfully am recoverying !!

It started at 19 then i stopped it after about a year - but just restricted my eating and lost a huge amount of weight for the next 2 yrs then started B/P again which has gone on since then.. B/P has become worse this past 2 yr's..

Hope everyone is doing ok and for all the young girls on here who have just started this i would suggest they tell their families right away and get help as its not as easy to stop when ur in as deep as some of us on here are.. save urself and dont loose ur health over this absolute crap disease.. it will eat away at u and then the illnesses and depression will start - Girls it really isn't worth it - if ur unhappy with ur weight or body shape just eat healthy and regular exercise thats all anyone can do ! xx

I agree the more you do it the more it becomes an ingrained habit. You will feel ashamed and guilty about your ED but the BEST thinge you can do is seek help and tell someone. I think it is near impossible to recover from bulimia alone.

There is som much more to our being than our outward appearance. Try to focus on your values your goals and , your inner spirit or religion if you are religious.

I hope everyone is ok as well and I send my love and support out to all of you. We all know what it is like to suffer this horrible addiction and I am glad that we are able to support each other in this way :)

xjenx

My family found out this year, less than 2 years into the ED and I am in treatment now! It helps so much to catch it early...it just gets harder & worse everyday

I was 12, and now im 14. Hey we should be friends since we're about the same age! :]

it started out when i was 14 and it grew to be an problem around 16.

My eating disorder started when I was 14, but actual bulimic behaviours began when I was 17.

i became anorexic when i was 14/15, and when I was 17 I started to binge eat. Since I have been 18 I consider myself bulimic (although I have never vomitted). in november it'll be my 20th birthday. this year 2009 was the worst ever which brought me to seek help. hopefully i can do my clinic stay soon.

I started 6 months ago, and since then I've been purging every single day. It started during my second semester at university. I was feeling fat, and I wanted to lose weight as fast as I could. But I was hesitating. The day before my mom left to go back to my native country, she and I got in a big fight. And this somehow triggered everything. Since that very day, b/p has been my daily routine.

I started when i was 16..and remember thinking after the first time that i would never vomit again..incase it developed into something worse.
Don't be afraid to tell your parents.. i thought mine would be angry too and hugely disappointed.
But my mum was so relieved i told her..and it's such a weight off the shoulders. I hated keeping this secret from them. xxxxx

I was about 15 when I started going all day without food. Then I got healthy- eating right & exercising from about 17-19. I didn't think I was thin enough, so back to anorexia at 20, then starting throwing up about 21 and got help at 24. 3 years felt like forever! My heart goes out to those struggling any amount of time, but especially over 5 years.

Hi there abcdefghijenn. Good to know I'm not the only teen here. I am 16, but I threw up for the first time when I was about 9. I have no idea why I did it though but I was constantly depressed at the time. I didn't actually start throwing up on a regular basis until I was 15.

A few weeks after I had turned 14 was when I first started my bulimic behaviour and I'm now nearly 18.

I'm surprised to see how many people started so young. And now completely shocked that I started at 25. Why now?

I developed eating disorder tendencies at the age of 15,going back and forth between bulimia and anorexia, but didn't really develop a problem until I was 18. i gained alot of weight from being pregnant and going to college. I had an abortion and my mind just went haywire. Bulimia took the place of cutting for me, which I started in elementary school. I'm 21 now, and doing everything i can to get these negative habits out of my life...its a very long road though

And don't worry, 12 is not an unusual age, it can start well before that, or well after, age doesn't matter. what does is that you reach out as soon as you can. You deserve to be happy, and to not be in the cage of an eating disorder, self-hate and destructive behavior!

My eating disorder began when I was barely 15. I first began with anorexia and then it developed to bulimia 3 or 4 months later. Now I am 18 and have been in and out of hospitals that I feel that I am an elderly person.
What made me so sad when i was in a behavioral institution girls younger than me way younger than me had been dealing with this at very young ages. Its unbelievable that at such a young age we begin to diet and soon the diet becomes us.

jus signed up for this only there, not too sure bout it. but thought i would start with this comment.

i started when i was 16 and have been struggling with it for nearly 21 years. it never goes away. i went for help to the doctors a few years ago but they wanted to send me to a group therapy meeting with anorexics. i am not thin, but i stablise my weight by purging, i really should be very very heavy with the amount i eat. so i was too embarrassed to face this in a meeting with anorexics.

i would be too ashamed

there are only a few close friends that know i struggle with this. cant say i know why i started or why i still do it,maybe a control thing.

i have a daughter and she is so beautiful and would hate her to pick up any of my failures.

I started when I was 24. A few years after I got married.

I first made myself throw up in high school, but nothing really came of that. My bulimia started when I was 19.

I was 14 and my family found out when I was 16 and put me in rehab. I was back in the b/p cycle within months. It kinda calmed down once I got a serious bf and I was ok for about 4 yrs until now.... You'd think at the age of 25 you'd be able to rationalise how bad b/p is for you but no, that'd be oo easy!!

When I was thirteen I weighed nearly 200 lbs. and was miserable without a doubt. However, my dad didn't believe this was a crisis and with time and a little guidance I would lose the weight and learn to eat like a healthy human being. But at that time I lived with my mother and she "tricked" me into starting my first diet. I lost nearly 70 lbs. in six months. Anorexia was my beginning point and bulimia was my terminal diagnosis. It's hard to pinpoint what started my bulimia. I couldn't honestly say it was one thing that flipped the switch. All I know is nine years later I'm still battling bulimia, but I'm slowly realizing why I resorted to ED for so long.

When I was about your age, I would call myself fat, too. I actually came accross an old journal I used to write in and I called myself fat like twice. Kinda funny reading back on that now. I know a lot of people will tell you this, but as girls, you will go through a period of time when puberty is approaching at your age where you gain weight no matter what. I wish I just would've excepted it at the time back then because as I grew taller and the good curves kicked in I thinned out and looked good. I never developed or experimented with throwing up until one of my friends showed to how to do it when I was a freshman in HS, a year after I was showed how she was so skinny, for winter formal I just did it on and off for a week to lose weight for the dance (even though I didnt even need to). It started to get more serious by my Junior year of HS, I was about 16 or so. Since your young and still have time to save yourself, do it. Even if it doesn't end up getting serious. Your teeth will start to draw attention to your dentist by the age of 15. I can't even wear whitening strips without my teeth hurting like hell. Everyone has their insecurities, heck I still do. This might sound bad, but if anything, just try eating very small healthy meals if you're trying to lose weight, and stay active. At least you will love life a little more, prevent ugly teeth, and not have to hide behind this disgusting disease. You can talk to me whenever you need

I hate this! I am 29 and I have been bulimic since I was 19. I don't really even know how it started. I changed cities to go to school at the time and I was lonely. I have dealt with depression off and on and I had to basically quit drinking alcohol because it easily gets out of hand as well, so much that I was getting panic attacks before work sometimes and would have a couple drinks before I started in the morning.
I feel crazy and I know what I am doing is not normal. The intensity of B/P cycles vary from day to day and I am trying to figure out why. I have a few friends that know about it, my husband knows, and I have seen a psychologist about it but I don't think I had the right "fit" with him.
Sometimes I feel like the only way I can "control" this is by following a strict low-carb diet. It seems to work because I never have craving for junk food but I get so tired following such unbalanced eating plans. At the same time, I deal with exhaustion and an inability to sleep when I am B/P all the time too.
I so want this to be over.

I was 21 the first time i b/p. I'm turning 31 in a months time, I have no idea how it has gone on for so long. every time is "the last time", only it isnt.

I can't believe I've just read about a young girl having her first binge when she was just 9. When I was 9 I didn't even know what a calorie was never mind be bothered about them. I was just out all the time playing with my friends, getting muddy and having fun. My heart goes out to you all xx

I started around 13 years of age and am now 20. But when I first started it was mostly a self esteem issue.I was the youngest of 5 kids and I felt very forgotten about and my parents weren't very involved with activities and things that I wish they would of supported me in. I stayed actively bulimic for a couple years after I turned 13 but have suffered from it off and on after that.

i first tryed makin my self sick when i was 16, when i was 9months old my mum walked out on my dad an me n my 2 sisters leavin my dad to raise us, so when i was 17yrs old i moved to live with my mum..omg WHAT A BIG MISTAKE...she was bulimic and had bin for many many years and she said to me (no daughter of mine will be fat )and thats when she showed me how to do it properly she made my strave at first...omg it was so hard i nearly passed out a few times and then that was it i was hooked,lovin that fact that i cud eat what ever i wanted and not be fat...

so i was 17 when i started
beckyxx

I started when I was about 13. Now I'm 25. It's morphed throughout the years. Some years I was restricting more and some years I was bingeing more. Regardless, it's been painful.

I applaud you for recognizing the issue so early and seeking help.

I started because other girls were doing it. I remember not wanting to, but wanting so badly to be included in something. If only I had known! It's funny though, i wonder if peer pressure be enough to cause a person to self destruct or whether i might have become bulimic even if the other girls hadn't been doing it. My aunt was bulimic, which i didn't learn about until years and years later. I have not done research about genetics being a cause for eating disorders, but I wonder whether it was partially the case for me.

At around 12/13 years old, our bodies are changing and we're going through puberty. So, this seems like a very common time for girls to start hating their bodies because it's difficult to accept our bodies as becoming "womanly."

when i was 12, due to bullying and family stuff i started anorexia, and this went on till 19, when i kinda wasnt eating but threw up everything i had to eat, and now im way better, my weight is up etc and for the most part, apart from binging n purging i am ok.

still finding my body hard to cope with, since comments from my gran aged 12 iv seen myself as chubby, but i guess thats just ed being a poo!

only been bulimic for a year, gong to be 23 next month- well the b/p type anyway but i guess i've had an e/d since i was 12, always worried I was the biggest girl out of my friends and always worried about calories and body sizes but i guess it just developed to a point that it made sense- on what world it would actually make sense i dont know, but at the time it was a case of fooling myself into believe that once you start you can stop just like that. Silly me.

I started taking laxatives in 8th grade when I was a cheerleader. It got progressively worse in high school. I was the flyer on the squad (the one that gets hoisted into the air) and had to maintain a low weight. But it was never low enough even with taking the pills.

The second year in college I started with anorexia. I was trying not to binge and went from eating everything and throwing up to eating nothing at all. Three years and being very close to death later, I started binging again. Along with the b/p, I became an alcoholic.

About a year and a half ago I stopped binging and purging, but it started again a few weeks ago. Even when I wasn't doing it, I thought about it a lot during that period. Now I'm having trouble finding a balance. It's a struggle everyday, but I need to start living for myself and not for this disorder.

I became anorexic at age 17, but I was a purging anorexic to begin with, becoming a restriction-only anorexic after that.

During recovery when I was 19 I gained weight by binging, weirdly nobody saw this as a problem even though it freaked me out. This habit led me back to bulimia, and I have recovered and relapsed at different times since then; I'm now 22. I've had my share of drug abuse and alcohol problems too.

This is the fifth year I have not been totally ED free and it's beginning to hit me that I need to change something now so I don't have an eating disorder for life.

i was the same as rabbit, but at age 13. i became a full time bulic by the time i was14 turning 15.
i am now 16

:)

Since I was 9 years old. I'm scared for my teeth.

I started when I was 19 I think. It was the spring of my freshman year of college. I am now 22 and have found it very very hard to stop. I am scared for the long-run problems that this disease will cause on my body, but when it comes down to it I push that aside and go on with living with the disease. .

like i previously posted i was 12 or 13 when first began ed behavior. i remember being a preteen and looking at teenage girls and thinking "they are so large... they take up so much more space than me and are so overtly sexual". of course being a kid i didn't think it in those words but that is the impression i remember having. i remember being disgusted and scared at the prospect of "becoming a woman". esp the prospect of "taking up more space" than i believed i deserved. now i celebrate my femininity (most of the time) but i think my thoughts as a kid were in large part due to growing up in such a patriarchal culture where women are not valued.

i think a lot of girls start their ed behavior around the age of puberty because of this.

I was just terrified of being fat! But at 14 years old there was not a chance my mum would let me skip meals and eat as little as I wanted to- so i'd do as I was told then ged rid of it after i'd done.
I'm still exatly the same 8 years on at 22 years old... But now, it's not because i'm being force fed by my mum- Its because I love pizza and curry, but also my skinny jeans!

I was 19 when I really jumped off the deep end. Around that time my parents divorced, I broke up with my long term boyfriend, school got really hard, and I was taken advantage of sexually. I guess the combination of those things was leathal. I did however have disordered eating for as long as I could remember.

I became bulimic at the age of 18, I'm now 21, and I always felt I should have been/should be more mature, to be able to control it, and make it stop. But girl if you can get help and stop it right now, then you have a chance before you end up messed up like som of us. Before you ruin your physical and mental health. It's just not worth it! In any way!

I was 16 when I realized I could make myself throw up. I can't believe I'm 19 now, and still wasting time.. Saturday night I was supposed to go out with friends but instead of having a quick dinner and getting ready to go, I decided to keep eating, and eating, and eating, and missed out on another chance to enjoy being young and having fun. I'm going to end this within the next 2 months... I've promised myself that because I can't go on this way any more. Food is controlling my life... How ironic that a necessity to life can hinder life so extremely. But no more for me. I'm going to find a way to get better AND feel good about myself somehow.

i became anorexic at 13 and finally moved into bulimia at age 15. I'm 17 now and idk if ill ever be able to stop. this is the first time i've admitted it to anyone.

I started the summer before my freshman year. I only did it once that year, but the thought was always there in the back of my head. I'm 22 now and at the worst. This HAS to be rock bottom. I on average b/p 2-3x/ day. I'm in outpatient treatment now but can't quite.
Trust me, tell your mom. Get help before you end up in this predicament of not being able to find a will to stop.
Good luck darling, I'm here to talk if you'd like.
xoxo

Doll

I was fourteen when I became bulimic, then around a year ago I purchased the Paul McKenna: I Can Make You Thin book. I read it everyday for a week or so and it changed my life (or so I thought). I was completely controlled around food, didn't worry about calories or fat or weight gain. I ate what I want and I looked/felt fab. But now I've totally relapsed. Its affecting my relationships with those I care about and its turned me into a mess.

I was 20 and now I'm 27. I'm totally terrified that I'm never going to get better.
I had a good period where I was working full time and my life had structure, but I was exercising a lot too... then I went back to university and things have all gone pear-shaped. I can't quit my degree though, but I wonder if I'll ever get through it. Every day is a battle at the moment.

It started with anorexia at 9 years old then bulimia at 11 still am bulimic wish it will go away

I started later than most of the people that have posted- i was anorexic when i was 19 and then bulimic at 20. i went to an all girls high school so there was no pressure to look good or be thin- college was a huge wake up call and i just didnt know how to handle it : /

I started only 2 weeks ago, first its just on and off but now became once a day. Im 29, I need help please!!!

I was 15 going on 16. I was bulimic for almost a year. After that became literally too painful to do, I became anorexic for about a year. The anorexia hasn't resurfaced since, however the bulimia never left. I was always told I was "overweight", "fat" or that I should "eat a little less" or "lose some weight" by my family. I am now 32. I never took a serious approach to recovery until now. I was/am in denial. I am currently having the worst relapse, since I was a teenager. I had this sudden realization that I am still fighting this.

I know people get bulimia much later too, but I am 29 now and I am still a little in disbelief that I started to have an eating disorder at 28.

I think perhaps when I look back that my eating has been 'emotional' at many points in my life and that I had unconsciously used exercise as a counter to overeating previously.

It's at 29 that it's really got a hold of me and fighting it is so hard even with all the awareness I didn't have when I was younger.

I started when I was 15 and was full on bulimic six months later. Now at almost 18, I have been through therapy and am currently having a relapse. I wish I could make it go away. I wish I could tell myself that I am not fat. And most of all I wish I could convince myself that I am beautiful. But I can't. All i see when I look in the mirror is a fat tub of lard and thats why I have got to beat this E.D.

I started right before my 16th birthday. I was always the average athletic one in the family. I was always compared to my naturally super skinny sister and I was sick of it all. Gosh I even remember being 7 and crying about feeling fat. I think thats when I started to binge due to sadness.

When I was 15 right after my sophomore year in high school I started to diet because my dad and step-mom were on the low carb diet so I followed them. I lost quite a bit of weight but still wasn't satisfied. I went away up north with one of my friends and just didn't eat. I came home and everyone said I looked good, I had lost a lot of weight. From there I was addicted to the thought. By my 16th birthday I was bingeing and purging. I got helped and gained the weight back. However its now coming up on my 7th year since I started this. I am beginning to relapse again with all the stress thats on me know. I am getting married I can't do this to my self or my to be husband. I want to change for everyone but myself and I guess thats why I am here. I need to want to change for MYSELF because I need to put myself first this time!

I was 12, I was an athelete and hated that I had breast...I wanted to have a super athletic body and I tried to starve my boobs away.

I was abused by an ex-boyfriend and I felt I needed to make myself better for him, and punish myself.

I started when i was about 16. I am now 24. It was on and off again until about a year ago. I always felt that i was over weight and I was in a really horrible relationship and i am still feeling the effects of that now. every day is an ongoing struggle.

My ED started with anorexia my senior year of high school. I started b/ping when I entered college about a year later, at 18. I have been slowly transitioning from anorexia to bulimia it seems because now when I'm in my ED my binges are getting worse and worse (such as spending more money, eating more food than I would with anorexia, hiding food, etc.)

I was 18, and mainly starving, but purging as well. This was due to me moving away from home and trying to deal with everything alone at a new school. I also think mine was related to being raped when I was 16 and trying to deal with all of that and work it out on my own.

It's been 5 years. I'm just now seeking help seriously. I have to do this for my husband, for my students and for myself.

I wish I had done it sooner. Get help now!

You can message me if you want someone to talk to. =)

when i started having an eating disorder im 19 now
but it was very young i would always refuse food.
hide my lunch in primary school
and throughout high school just never really ate much at all
only in the past few yrs ive been b/p
started seeing a psycologist in august this year
and it is a long tiring hard road to recovery
i see dieticians and doctors and nurses regulary
cause ive just found out my heart has majour issues
my advise to anyone would be to get out now
see a psycologist see a doctor
get it sorted before it really starts to kill you
there is nothing pretty bout it at all!!
good luck and God bless all!!
peace
xx

I was 18.. now Im 19 and goig to 20

I was 18.. now Im 19 and goig to 20

now that I actually think about it, I was only 12. 7 years ago!

Hi! I was 12. I am now 36 years old.

i was 17. im 21 now. it gets worse as time goes on...it breaks my heart that some of you guys started in middle school and younger. if you can, please just stop now. if you cant, please get help.

none of us deserve this.

I can't believe how young some of the ages are. I have had various disordered eating patterns for a big part of my life, I'd say since I was about 10 (I'm 17 now). This would vary from binging, to restricting, to complete fasting to overexercising. However, bulimia became seriously implanted into my life about a year ago. I seriously can't even imagine how some of you have lived with this nightmare for 10, 15, 20 years!

my prayer for everyone on this site. everyone in the world struggling with an eating disorder is that they can all get help.
recovery is possible
get help before its too late!!
dont let this disease ruin anymore lives!!!!

my prayer for everyone on this site. everyone in the world struggling with an eating disorder is that they can all get help.
recovery is possible
get help before its too late!!
dont let this disease ruin anymore lives!!!!