To beg you for help on stopping binging

[Reallyfatandmiserable]

I’ve tried it all. Dieting, not dieting, hypnotherapy, not having food in the house, eating well. Last night after I ate FOUR cadburys chocolate yoghurts in a row I wondered if I could burn off the sweet taste buds in my tongue so that I just fucking stop. I’m addicted to sugar. It’s disgusting. I eat an obscene amount of it every day, I waste money on it, I’m ashamed every time I go into one of my local shops and wonder what they think of me. I have had blood tests and all of fine. I take magnesium tablets and it doesn’t change. I try adding cinnamon and it doesn’t work. I have a good diet most of the time, but I binge on chocolate every single day. I have told my GP and nothing. I contacted BEAT and they were useless. I told my counsellor and she mostly dismisses it.

I can’t do this any more. It’s ruining my life. I have ADHD and I presume this might be a response to that. I’ve been doing it since I was a child but it is out of control.

And PLEASE don’t just say things like ‘yo just stop eating it’. If you’ve never had a severe addiction then you don’t understand. And this is like an addiction. Smokers don’t quit smoking after being told to just stop, it doesn’t work like that, I wish to god it did. It’s an eating disorder I guess. I can’t cope.

Please, if you quit sugar, how did you do it? I can’t carry on like this.

You need to tell your GP and therapist immediately and tell them if you're going to self harm as it sounds like your ED is beyond light level of community support.

My DD went on Setraline during lockdown and stayed on it for 3 years, which by the end of being on it, had gained 4 stone and lost all control of her eating, every day was just one big binge.

She came off the Setraline in December and is now 3.5 stone down and back in control of her eating again, don’t get me wrong, she had to work hard at this initially but it’s been a fairly easy ride and the urge to binge has abated. Just worth a thought with the Setraline.

Two small tips that might help wean you off sugar:

Can you limit yourself to buying only dark chocolate (ideally something like Lindt 70% or higher) and could somebody close to you help ration it daily? A few squares might help start the journey of cutting it out.

Do you like ginger? Ginger tea/fresh ginger/ginger tablets are meant to naturally reduce sugar cravings.

Have you tried fake sugar substitutes? The Skinny Food Company does zero calorie chocolate spread and various other zero/low calorie sweet products.

Sorry, should have added that I hope no one thinks I’m advocating for OP or anyone to stop taking their antidepressants, just that for my DD it definitely attributed, was a large part of her binging.

I have a lifelong binge eating disorder, and am very obese. I quit sugar altogether in June (NEVER thought that would be possible for me! a normal day would see me eating chocolate, biscuits, ice cream, etc), have experienced minimal binges since then, have dropped almost 20kgs, but more importantly I finally feel that I'm in control and food isn't.

How I did it: in a nutshell, Corinne Crabtree's NO BS program. I worked with a private coach within her program, and it made all the difference in helping me actually implement things and overcome my own personal obstacles.

A few months ago, I could have written your post. I never thought I would be able to stop eating or stop eating sugar for sure, but since I have tried moderation for years and years and never stuck it, I made the call to ditch processed sugary stuff for good and it's honestly made things way easier. My mindset is better, I get fewer urges, I have more energy in the mornings, and it's so much easier to stay committed to creating new habits without sugar cravings constantly bugging me. Of course, it's not as simple as just quitting processed sugary junk or stopping eating; as you say those are lines trotted out by people who never experienced binge eating disorder (I mean, would you tell an anorexic person 'just eat' and expect that to fix things?) but it can be done. It takes work, and I cried on calls to my personal coach for weeks before I finally figured out what I needed to do to kickstart my own changes. Don't get me wrong, I am working on this every single day - it's something I consciously have to dedicate time to figuring out, and I think I always will, but now I know what works for me and am confident I can either figure it out or ask for help if I can't.

This turned into a bit of an essay, but Corinne has a free podcast I recommend you check out. She has literally hundreds of testimonials from women who managed to overcome binging, lose weight and feel empowered around food. Everyone's journey is different, but it most definitely is possible for you to figure out a way to live that doesn't include bingeing and feeling like food is more in control of your life than you are.

OP, sugar addiction is a real thing, not necessarily something that counselling or antidepressants can tackle. I recommend watching the documentary Fed Up that explains the sugar industry and how it has us all hooked.

Have you read I Quit Sugar? It’s a practical guide to doing just that and also explains how sugar works on the body to create dependency. Some people are more sensitive to it than others.

Ozempic will help you but you don’t say how overweight you are? But it stops food addiction, however it is difficult to get at the moment.

I’m in your shoes too, I read Brain over binge by Kathryn Hansen and I found it really helpful. She has podcasts too

Its not a healthy recommendation (not advising you to do what I do) but the honest answer for me is pepsi max cans. Ice cold in the fridge, whenever I get the binge urge i have a can of pepsi max. Even if I drink a few cans in a row 🙈 now I've got a whole other issue that Im addicted to fizzy drinks and that comes with a whole different set of problems health wise
BUT I'm not bingeing at all so for me it's the lesser of the two evils and I quit smoking cold turkey so I can't be perfect!

You say you have ADHD, but Sertraline is an SSRI. They are for treating depression, and haven't been shown to treat ADHD symptoms, and there's some evidence they actually aggravate them. Are you also clinically depressed? If not the GP shouldn't have you on sertraline but they all hand it out like it's a cure all smartie.

The sugar gives you a dopamine hit which is what your ADHD brain craves. Go back to the GP. You might need lisdexamfetamine or dexamfetamine. If you're also depressed, it's fine to be on an SSRI but its not going to treat the dopamine low ADHD symptom that's causing the sugar addicton. Don't get wegovy/ozempic etc until you've tried treating the ADHD.

I was given sertraline as she said it would block the dopamine loss and that would help? They put me on it and then just left me on it, I haven’t had a check in or spoken to anyone since.

Don't keep cash anywhere. Put your bank card in a block of ice. Unless you will then resort to shoplifting it's a physical barrier that will prevent you from buying junk to binge on. Just keep enough cash on you for your daily necessities.

No offence OP, but you've been doing this three decades, sought advice from literal professionals (GP, BEAT, counselling) and it hasn't changed, so you might be 'treatment resistant'. Maybe you have to stop fighting it as clearly you can't stop. And getting all 'I understand people are trying to be helpful but...' when you're the one who came here and asked if you were being unreasonable isn't cool at all. What on earth do you think a bunch of strangers on a forum will be able to offer you that the above professionals can't? It seems like no matter what anyone suggests, you'll insist it won't work. So why are you here?

There are therapists that specialise in disordered eating. Maybe worth a try?

ADHD meds are usually more like Concerta or Ritalin- slow or fast release and helping you focus. Some people take it with anti-anxiety medication and/or an anti-depressant as well but Sertaline is an anti-depressant rather than something to specifically help with ADHD.

What is your overall diet like? Like day to day?

I see you’ve tried hypnotherapy, have you considered remedial hypnosis?

I have struggled with this for 30+ years too.
Some things that have helped

• the Glucose Revolution book, then wearing a continuous glucose monitor to check how trying to manage blood sugar works in practice. Rice for instance sends my blood sugar sky high, so it's a sure fire bet that if I have sushi for lunch I'll binge on chocolate later when the car crash hits
• the Dr Chris and Dr Xand podcasts on upf - really helps on seeing it as not desirable
• the lessons I learned in giving up booze. Yes it is much easier to stop drinking than to manage a food addiction given we still have to eat, but some of the thought patterns help.

Having a go at me when I’m sitting here sobbing isn’t going to help. Of course I want help. The reason why I posted that is to try and make people understand that those sorts of suggestions don’t work. I’m trying to reiterate that I’ve done all this and it doesn’t work. I thanked that person for responding, I do appreciate it, but I’m trying to avoid reams of responses that say the same sort of thing and wasting peoples time.
thank you very much for taking the time to engage but I won’t be responding to you again, I don’t need to be made to feel worse than I already do.

This might be an idea, maybe I need to find a local
person.

I haven’t heard of this, I’ll have a Google

Really good! I eat a big range of fruit, vegetables, nuts, seeds, healthy fibres, lots of protein. I take multivitamins and extra magnesium and b vitamins. I’ve had blood tests and they say everything is perfectly healthy. This has to be a mental thing, I just don’t know how to break it. It’s so out of control it’s taking over my life.

You need to find a hobby or something that you can do with your hands (keep it clean folks!) so that it distracts you. Can you substitute the chocolate bars for something a little less fat like Skinny Whips or low fat yoghurts instead?

Following. I've had hypnotherapy too and have tried all the things you mention. Even if I'm full, I'm just compelled to go on huge binges. I do it about once per week, but struggle not to do it every day. My husband doesn't understand it at all and thinks it's disgusting. I'm mortified and really wish I could stop.

Do you have anyone you could hand your finances over to so you're incapable of going out and getting chocolate when you feel like it? Or anyone you live with who could stop you going out in the evening for it?