Yes - Ive had phases of shopping addiction too. Id have a huge desire for some product - maybe a piece of clothing. If it was available in a couple of colours I wouldt be able to decide which colour to choose and Id end up buying both. When I was younger I did indeed waste a lot of money on clothes that didnt really get worn. Toiletries and cosmetics are other products that sometimes have "demanded" that I buy them. There was a while I had to have expensive weird "health foods" too.

But the biggest waste of money has been on ordinary food that got wasted when I was into my ED. Youre right in that there is something similar in the cravings to buy or to participate in ED-behaviours.

I've cross-addicted for years. Not so much with shopping (although my credit card has had it's moments;) but when I was younger drugs and on and off with alcohol. Minor gambling at one point. It always seemed like when my ED behaviours lessened my other "addictions" increased. Then I kind of realized they were all just symptoms of the same thing - the hurt and fear that I was harbouring in my soul. Once I started getting a handle on that, ALL my little "addictions" started to fade away.

I struggle with alcohol addiction as well as ED and like Forestfreek mentioned, it is all symptomatic of a greater hurt that we are trying to self-medicate.
I think many of us can relate to the guilt about wasted money- even those of us that don't deal with shopping addiction. I know I feel guilty adding everything up (mainly my student loan debt that has yet to do anything for me!) and feeling that woulda coulda shoulda feeling.

As others have shared, I too have had other addictions; in early anorexic days I had a shopping addiction (clothing) and also visiting health food stores. Never alcohol for me as I chose a long time ago never to drink because I knew I'd be a candidate for addiction in this area - I'd grown up with parents who were both very addicted to alcohol at various periods of their lives (i.e. hard workers and very functional but also hard-out party people also!!).

Like Forestfreek said, I also found that when my ED behaviours were under control I then seemed to "transfer" the addiction to some other behaviour.

As I've worked on healing the roots of the ED, the other addictions have fallen away also.

Oh and forgot the biggie... I was addicted to exercise and would run very long distances religiously every day, come rain hail or shine or sickness or exhaustion etc etc. I was starving and running - starving for love and self-acceptance, and running away from my life!
Kim.

I definitely think that addiction can rear its ugly head with multiple things-- food, alcohol, exercise were my biggies (not so much shopping, but I can definitely see that as an addictions as well). I think the patterns are very much the same regardless of the addiction, as is the cycle, as many others who have responded seem to... it is a vicious cycle

My main addictions other than food were compulsive spending, underearning and codependency.