Eating Disorders

[Justme:)]

Does anyone feel like their crohn's has caused them to develop an eating disorder?

I have coeliac disease as well as crohns and I feel as if being on prednisolone (have been off it for a year now) and the subsequent weight gain, a preoccupation with food due to coeliac, and coming to terms with being diagnosed with all these things (I also have other autoimmune disorders) as well as going through a particularly stressful time in work has caused me to develop a binge eating disorder.

I would be grateful if anyone would be able to share any similar experiences, and to know how they are dealing with it

 

[Starlight]

Back in 2008 I could probably say was the lowest point of my life. I was is severe depression and suffered for a few months with bulimia. Lost about 30 pounds before I came clean. I had hid it until that point. I went to a physiatrist after that, he increased the dosage of my Wellbutrin I've been on for years and I saw him for a couple of months and finally straightened up. I was so uncomfortable in my body. I always feel obese and ugly and I thought if I lost weight, it would make everything better. Well I lost the weight, and when I weighed myself I was still disgusted. No matter what the scale said, it was never good enough. All I saw was " fat fat fat"

I have since gained all that weight back. I still feel nasty, ugly and fat. I have never been comfortable in my body. I feel like when I'm around others, especially fit people, I feel like the fattest person in the Room and feel like everyone is staring at me. Im not depressed like I was before though.

I can say that this low confidence started when I was placed on prednisone. I used to be skinny( well underweight actually because I was at the time not diagnosed) then I go put on pred and everything changed. I gained a crap load of weight, had a big moon face, and countless other side effects from that drug and at that time I was on it, I was in 7th grade. Let's just say kids can be SO cruel and ever since that really lowered my confidence and I've never really gotten it back. That's why I will refuse to be put on prednisone EVER Again. No matter what. I'll do surgery before being put back on that stuff. I had every side effect you can think off, hot flashes, mood changes, weight gain, joint pain, moon face, etc etc. It did help lower my symptoms from the crohns but at what cost? It shot my confidence in myself down, and I traded one problem for a list of others. Then when I got off pred. The crohns come back very quickly. My view on pred is obviously not a good one. I see it as a drug doctors turn to far to often and the side effects it causes doesn't make it worth it.

To this day I still have very low confidence. I'm a very shy person. Though not AS bad as I used to be. I so want to loose weight and stop feeling so gross in front of everyone and I think if I could loose the weight ( the right way!) it would help boost my confidence. And help me be healthier in the long run. I just have such bad will power.=(

So you are defiantly not alone! I hope things start to look up for you real soon and feel free to message me if you need to talk or anything!

 

[Jennifer]

Back when I was a teenager on Prednisone before my surgery I started eating less to try and keep my weight down even though Prednisone only adds water weight on me (back then I was usually underweight). It never fully bloomed into anorexia but from time to time I still have issues where I avoid eating a lot or sometimes skip meals to try and keep my weight down. I was dealing with depression back then and am dealing with it yet again. I'm in remission though so my depression is from other issues like going to grad school (that's when it started again in 2008) and got worse after my grandpa's stroke a couple years ago.

When your life is so out of control, you look to things that you can control. Seeing a therapist/psychologist did help for me yet unfortunately my insurance no longer pays for it.