Bulimia Treatment and Therapy in NJ, 07901

Bulimia

A very difficult cycle to break, you don’t have to lose it all! Bulimia often can feel like you have control one moment and then lost it the next.  You don’t have to struggle forever.  Please understand there is hope.

Experiences include:

• Being out of control around food.
• A need to get rid of what you have consumed (purging)
• Food feels like a love/hate relationship?
• Hiding behaviors including purging
• Finding the right person is like searching for a needle in a haystack

How do I know when I need help?

That’s a very tough question to answer.  If you find that you trying to get rid of the food you eat through purging, exercise, laxatives or diuretics, you likely need support.  Many times, people who struggle with bulimia can have a history of anger or irritability.  The uprising of emotion is too much and a neutral point needs to be found.

Body image is an obsessive concern

If body image difficulties include feeling too fat, too full, too much they can run your life.  They can make you feel horrible. Please understand that you are not crazy. There’s actually biological reasons that body image becomes a problem.

Control is something you don’t want to give up

Bulimia often feels like an abusive relationship. One minute you feel great, the next it’s as though you are in a cycle of pain.  You don’t know why it is happening. You need something to make you feel normal.  No matter what you do, how you try to do it, and where you try to stop, it’s a beast! It just feels too powerful to overcome.

Bulimia can feel like an addiction

YES!  In fact, the same neural pathways in the brain are utilized when bulimia takes root. People with Bulimia have tried all types of ways to stop the cycle of bingeing and purging to no avail. You feel stuck, angry and disappointed. Its a self defeating cycle.

Emotions often are anger or sadness

You have a tolerance level of what you can handle. When there is a strong sense of dissatisfaction, you may not know how to build the confidence to overcome the disorder.  Low self worth and continued discomfort with your physical and mental well being are common complaints. Being out of control is another.

There are many forms of purging from self-induced vomiting to incessant exercise. Some people utilize laxatives and diuretics to a point that is uncontrollable and dangerous. We’ve worked with people taking 10-100 laxatives because they are so entrapped by their bulimia they had no idea who to turn to or where to go.

If any of this is your experience, call us for a consultation, immediately. We know how to help.

Bulimia signs and symptoms include:

BINGEING

• Eating much more food in a binge episode than in a normal meal or snack
• Feeling that eating can’t be controlled once a binge begins
• Hiding or hoarding food
• Making excuses for missing food, or money taken to pay for binge foods
• Eating until the point of physical discomfort or pain

PURGING

• Habitually going to the bathroom immediately after eating or during meals
• Damaged teeth and gums
• Swollen salivary glands in the cheeks (chipmunk cheeks)
• Persistent sores in the throat and mouth
• Sores, scars or calluses on the knuckles or hands caused by self-induced vomiting
• Scratchy or raspy voice quality
• Misuse of ipecac syrup to induce vomiting