
Eating Disorders Support Group
Eating disorders are marked by an obsessive need to control the intake and/or purging of food. This community is dedicated to those struggling on the road to recovery. Join to discuss your experience with others and find support. Get advice, ask questions, and meet others who are going through similar struggles.

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Hi there. Now, I dont know if this is crazy or what? I keep telling my therapist and husband that if I could get pregnant and have baby number two then I would eat better and stop exercising.
Now is this possible? I found my 'shadow' took a holiday when I was pregnant with my first child and would like to think he would do the same again. Now they tell me I need to recover before thinking of another baby to try and rid 'shadow' for good, not just for nine months.
Any thoughts?????
Now is this possible? I found my 'shadow' took a holiday when I was pregnant with my first child and would like to think he would do the same again. Now they tell me I need to recover before thinking of another baby to try and rid 'shadow' for good, not just for nine months.
Any thoughts?????
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I'm trying to exercise daily. I was doing fairly well until I sprained my ankle 2 weeks ago but now I'm getting back on the horse. Today I walked over a mile with my arm weights that are about 22lbs total. I was out of shape and it was hard on my arms. I also did my 30 situps. I'm also going to drink a lot of water and try to eat healthy. I do tend to have a sweet tooth but I'm cutting...
True story: One of my best friends in treatment could have been my mom- she is 53 years old, and had bulimia for 32 years. That's right- 32 years. By the time she got into serious treatment (residential at Oceanaire in CA), she was severely underweight and after routine blood tests came back, doctors said they were surprised she hadn't suffered a heart attack as her potassium was fatally low.
Okay, so why does this apply? During these 32 years, she used the excuse of getting pregnant to keep food down. Well, as she put it, "it was by the grace of god that I started eating to keep the fetus healthy." As soon as she had the child, she would begin the cycle all over again. In total, she has FIVE children and has been married...once. She never went through a divorce, though before she went into treatment, she and her husband were estranged and her kids didn't know what to say when it came to her illness. She was the kindest woman, with energy, devotion, and a powerful sweetness...but only when she began to accept her recovery. I will never forget the first night she was there: she was a skeletal frame, with timid eyes, uncertainty, and suspicion. She wasn't smiling, she looked ashen, and the life was sucked right out of her.
Now that we have established that you need to get better for your own stability, let's focus on your child (and other future children): do you want to subject them to the horror of watching their mother slowly kill herself?
I hope this post has helped. Please seek inside yourself to forgive the past traumas you may have endured, and accept yourself for who you are. Only after years of recovery should you perhaps try for another child, but why not try to make these the best years of your (new) life for your husband and child that is here NOW?
What happens then?
When you have a three month old and your therapist and husband look at you and tell you that you're slipping again, will you go into IP then?
Or will you say, "I can't leave my baby right now."
Will you have the physical energy to look after two children when you are suddenly concerned about getting back to a pre-baby shape? I'm sure you'll have the emotional energy, but it is hard to play with kids like they really NEED to be played with when you feel like you're going to pass out.
It is definitely, definitely up to you. Your egg, his sperm. Just some things to take into consideration.
I will say, that considering they are recommending inpatient for you NOW, if you plan on getting pregnant - you better rev up your nutrition pre-conception. Not only are there fertility issues, but there are birth defects associated with lack of nutrients.
but if you become pregnant now, with this shadow, you're risking your future child's health. Women who are undernourshed, whether by making poor food choices, restricting, purging, or even eating a more typical american diet (meat and carbs, with few vitamins) have deficiencies in certain vitamins or minerals. It takes a while to correct these. to become pregnant while you are still suffering would put baby at risk for the same deficiencies, and possible defects related to them.
I know i sound preachy: it's something i've thought about, A LOT. i've been in recovery, trying hard for about 3 years, and still am worried about my diet. I am going to go to a nutritionist before i get pregnant, because i fear.