anyone with a ED on MJ?

[WhatIsAUsernamee]

Sensitive subject: but does anyone take MJ who has previously struggled with an ED? I’ve struggled with bulimia since I was 18 so almost 20 years. I have been through real rough times where I have induced vomiting multiple times a day to months where it doesn’t effect me at all and I can happily stuff my face and not worry about weight gain

I have been on MJ for 8 weeks now ( I really need to lose about half my weight ) and I worry I am now back to being obsessive about my weight, I weigh
myself multiple times a week.. I rarely eat a meal on MJ and when I do, my bulimia kicks in and I’m heaving over the toilet. I can get to mid afternoon before the though of food even crosses my mind and even then, I will eat the bear minimum

I have no one I can talk to about this, I’ve never seen a dr about this issue and friends who worked it out 2 decades ago weren’t supportive at all and actually made fun of me for suffering from this illness

Having had an ED is usually a reason not to prescribe WLI due to the issues you’re now facing. I presume you haven’t told whoever is prescribing you the Mounjaro?

I think you need help with your eating disorder, regardless of the Mounjaro. Which you should stop taking. Have you ever contacted the charity BEAT for support? They may be able to help or signpost you to help.

Did you tell your prescriber that you have an Ed?

I have a similar history (which I did disclose), but the MJ has massively helped me and I haven't had any reoccurrence since starting it over 6 months ago. I have been eating pretty normally too, a normal amount of food.

In your case it seems like it's making things worse rather than better so I think you need to stop taking it and seek treatment for the bulimia. I'm sorry, I know it's really hard and I would also find it very difficult to discuss. But you can end up with truly serious health consequences if you carry on at the level you are.

Please contact Beat x

Thankyou for not judging me. no I haven’t told medexpress as I hadn’t suffered any side effects of my ED for quite a while. I think I have been naiev in thinking that it wouldnt come back when I was actually losing weight.
I have never spoken to anyone IRL about this as like I said, the only time I did I was ridiculed by people who I thought were my friends. It honestly has made me ashamed that I suffer from this no matter how much I try to stop

No I didn’t as I hadn’t made myself sick in quite a while before I started taking MJ so didn’t think it would effect me

Im glad that you are doing well on it ❤️

I was hoping that MJ wouldn’t effect me either as hadn’t been unwell in quite a while but I do agree that it is making things worse.
I have lost a fair bit of weight these last 8 weeks since being on 2.5mg MJ and I do think it is then spiraling me back into unhealthy habits with further restrictive eating

the short answer is that being on WLI with an eating disorder is that your provider probably wouldn't be providing them if you had told them. The longer answer is that it can be complicated (as some people find their binge eating disorder improves..this is likely the group that experience the removal of constant food noise,similarly to how some people find they can finally stop drinking alcohol on WLI. GLP meds are probably going to lead to new options for treating addictions when tablet forms are being developed) ...because eating disorders are complicated things and people have unique responses and reasons for having an ED. Someone who is eating to excess to cope with childhood sexual abuse or rape (not an unusual scenario) will still have that buried trauma of abuse whatever weight they are . ED are usually about emotions not about food ...hence why some people even when on WLI or after a gastric band will still be driven to eat to excess, binge and purge or have other disordered behaviours. ED are often also coping strategies..you take away the food what else is there for some people? WLI can also worsen anxiety/mood disorders in some people. Maybe now is a good time to seek support? https://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/glp-and-eating-disorders/ i really hope things get easier for you.

I have suffered with undiagnosed binge eating disorder since I was 18 (now 41)
MJ stopped it dead for me & haven't binged in a year.

I was somewhat using food as a coping mechanism.. but the 'food noise' & cravings for rubbish really didn't help matters & I think it was that which tipped me over the edge into binge mode when I was feeling down.

I have to learn to sit with my feelings now. It has been hard & it does get me at times.. but binging was only a very temporary relief. After the binge I would feel a hell lot worse. This is a much better way & when I do (or if at all!) come off MJ I need to be very careful how I approach it.

I am sorry you haven't found support. I have suffered in silence too.
It's not something you want to talk to your family & friends about.
My family knew that I did it but it wasn't discussed.
I mentioned it to the doctor a few times when I was younger but it wasn't taken seriously & there is no record of it on my notes from what I can see.
I would think that most people who are morbidly obese have BED to some extent.

I think Bulima is on another level to be honest & there are a lot more mental things tied up in it. With my ED I wasn't restricting food to an unhealthy level & obsessing over my weight.

I don't think you should be taking MJ especially as your ED is still active.
Please stop & seek treatment.
I fear you are making things worse for yourself.

If I was still binging on MJ I would stop.

It's an interesting point.
Although I'd say I had (have?) bulimia I have never acted on it without first over eating. So perhaps it's more of a binge eating disorder and then the bulimia is consequent to that.

So in my case the MJ means I don't binge and then the whole issue is gone.

I also need to take care if at some point I come off it.

If you make yourself sick even when eating a normal amount then I can see it might not help.

They would have refused you if you mentioned this. Was it online or Gp through the nhs?

I have obtained MJ through an online pharmacy, not my GP. I do believe that my ED is a consequence of childhood trauma that resulted in my overeating for most of my childhood and teens with the bulimia starting at around 18 when I first started going gym

Thankyou for your advice.

Since I’ve been on MJ I can barely eat so I’m not actually bingeing and then purging. MJ has cut out the food noise and I can barely stomach a meal these days so I more snacks on cheese, crisps, salads, yogurts etc
I try to still eat at least one small meal a day of veg or fish then I am finding that I am purging afterwards
Previously before MJ I would typically overeat in a short time period and then purge
It’s just feel shit as I feel like I just can’t stop, this ED has been apart of my life for such a long time I feel like I’ll never get past it

Before MJ I would overeat and then purge but
since I’ve been on MJ I haven’t been overeating as it has completly cut out the food noise and I struggle to barely eat a meal a day yet I still find myself purging once I have ate a small meal

I got it through an online pharmacy as my GP surgery aren’t prescribing it AFAIK

I buy it through a pharmacy but one of the questions was do I or have I ever had an ED. Did you not have this?

please stop taking MJ and seek help for your ED. This is bigger than you and you need medical help.

I suffered from bulimia from my late teens to my mid-30s. I did manage to stop the purging behaviour but not the binging, so I ended up putting on a lot of weight and becoming obese. When I started taking MJ last year, I hadn't purged for about 10 years and my reasoning was that I needed to address the binging part too, which MJ has, to be fair, helped me with.

BUT I would not advise anyone to follow my example, because now that I've reached my initial goal, I'm struggling to make myself eat enough for maintenance. I keep thinking "Maybe just another two pounds, then I'll stop". I have days where I make myself eat a bit more than usual and then go into a panic in case I put weight on, and restrict my calories for the rest of the week. In short, if you have disordered eating patterns and thoughts around food, you really need to get help for that first and foremost. Otherwise, any weight loss attempt is just going to be triggering.

It's kind of confusing for me because I have finally got to a healthy weight and that was what I wanted but the anxiety I have now about not regaining it all is a heavy price to pay. It sounds like any gains for you are too far outweighed by the negatives to be worth it.

PPs have given good advice, but I didn’t want to read and run without saying no one should have been unkind to you about suffering from an eating disorder. They are a very serious form of mental illness. Good luck with seeking treatment and with your healing.

I am so sorry that people in your life laughed at your illness. Bulimia and BED are serious, complex conditions which need specialist treatment. Please, stop the Mounjaro and speak to BEAT. You are going to make yourself very unwell.

Hi, glad you are reaching out. EDs are a b*tch. former anorexic here - when i tried to eat as i wanted to get better, i fell into bulimia… After some years i did pluck up the courage to talk to my GP and got treatment. I would say I am 98% recovered . I haven‘t B/P in years neither have i restricted.
When i started MJ being in control was amazing especially that some things in my life were not. But it did increase my anxiety and my fear that i was going to throw myself into an ED again…. Something i do not want. So i do make myself eat because i want to be healthy. And that is the end of it and i am ok. I am recovered now. I can do that: eat and be ok.
i decided many moons ago to eat and get better. The thing is i did not manage to do it alone. It is something really stupid to eat a normal meal and keep it down but i remember how hard it was to do something so basic. I was very underweight with my bulimia. Through getting help (CBT and SSRIs and group therapy) and changing some things in my life i managed to get better. It wasnt a quick fix, it wasnt easy but every meal kept down was a step in the right direction. The more i got healthier, the better things got. If i was able to eat “normal” within a year of starting recovery, it took at least 5 years (and getting pregnant) to stop all B/P entirely. It took as many years to make changes in my me and in my relationships. For me having an ED was very isolating. Now i have friends! It took an awful lot of efforts to be where i want to be. And to be fair i am still in therapy now (psychoanalysis) because although my ED has gone, i am still full of anxiety and therapy helps. In therapy now i can talk about MJ and my weight and my ED and it makes it ok and i dont have to worry alone about it.
I know you had a bad experience when you tried to talk to “friends”. It is a scary illness. Do you want to get better?

I'm on wli
I had bulimia for most of my adult life
It's a bitch of an illness ,every time you think your free of it ,it pulls you back in.
I've wrecked my teeth and wrecked my metabolism.like you say ,I couldn't give it up .it was my crutch ,it got me through the bad days ,it was my friend when I didn't have anyone
It was there at the end of every day , helping me through the day to my reward at the end .
It would of killed me if I hadn't of stopped
I started vomiting up blood through my nose and that was when I knew I was doing serious damage to myself.
I went many times to the doctor's for help.. explaining my situation..I was never diagnosed with bulimia, despite having it on and off from 14 to 46
Doctors saw an obese woman in front of them , obviously that meant I couldn't possibly have an eating disorder
So it was fairly easy to get wli.
Anyway I've lost 10 plus stone on it ..down from a size 32/34 to size 18 .
It's taken over a year ,and I've more still to loose
Wli have saved my life ,my weight was slowly killing me .

Some people find Prozac is very good for helping you stop bulimia
.i had binge eating disorder as well ,and obviously not diagnosed so nothing on my records.
I stopped bulimia and stopped binging about 7 years before I started on wli .
I'm not sure when I was in the middle of my bulimia stage ,that wli ,would of been able to help me ..if I'm totally honest.
I read the book the bulimia help method,and that helped me stop the cycle of binging and purging ..but it took a long time .. bulimia was my crutch ,my friend,my light at the end of a shit day ..when I took bulimia away ,I was left not coping with my life at all ,I was shocked at much I'd relied on it .
5 years after I'd stopped bulimia I was diagnosed with autism,and told I met the criteria for ADHD as well.
So that helped me understand why bulimia had such a hold over me
My advice would be ,to tackle things one thing at a time ...you can't loose weight while suffering from bulimia..sort that out ,and then at a later date tackle the weight ..one step at a time
It can't be done overnight though..I had many false starts and relapses
And it is an absolute bitch of an illness..I totally sympathise xx