Bulimia can feel like being trapped in an exhausting cycle around food. You might find yourself eating a large amount of food while feeling unable to slow down or stop despite being full. After a binge you might experience intense guilt, fear, shame, or distress that become so overwhelming that you attempt to compensate through vomiting, fasting, excessive exercise, or the misuse of laxatives or other medications.
These behaviors can provide a temporary sense of relief or control, but they often keep the cycle going. Over time, the cycle can take up a great deal of emotional and mental energy and affect your relationships, daily routines, and physical health.
Bulimia can affect people of any body size, gender, age, or background. You cannot tell whether someone is struggling simply by looking at them, and you do not need to appear visibly unwell for your experience to be serious or deserving of support.
Recovery is possible. With psychological, nutritional, and medical support, treatment can help you understand what maintains the cycle, develop different ways of responding to distress and urges, and build a more flexible and peaceful relationship with food and your body.
Bulimia Nervosa
What this can look like
Binge Eating That Feels Hard to Control
Having times when you eat a large amount of food in a short period and feel like you’ve lost control or can’t stop, even if part of you wants to.
Trying to “Make Up For” Eating
Feeling like you need to “make up for” or undo what you ate after a binge through behaviors such as vomiting, restricting or fasting, using laxatives or diuretics, or excessive exercise.
Your Body Affecting How You Feel About Yourself
Feeling like your weight, shape, or appearance plays a big role in how you see yourself or determines your worth to others.
Secret Behaviors
Feel pressure to hide or keep your behaviors secret from others.
Changes in Mood & Emotions
Feeling overwhelmed by guilt, shame, regret, or distress after a binge or after trying to “make up for” eating
Changes in How Your Body Feels
Swollen salivary glands, sore throat, dental problems (due to repeated vomiting), electrolyte imbalances, dehydration, and gastrointestinal issues.
Your relationship with food and your body doesn’t have to stay this way
Eating disorder patterns can become so familiar that it’s hard to imagine things feeling different. Treatment can help you understand what’s keeping you stuck and begin building more flexibility, freedom, and trust around food and your body.