Hey everybody, happy Thursday.
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But let's just get into it.
And the question is,
Hey Kati, I guess I'm just wondering if having a chronic illness,
Trigger an eating disorder or eating disorder behaviors is a common thing to have happen.
Good question.
And why you think doctors are more than willing to give you the good bad and ugly and depressing,
Symptoms of a chronic illness or might chase a few and don't mention how it can affect a person mentally,
Let alone mention the possibility for an eating disorder to start.
I saw three specialists, a physical therapist,
As well as my PCP over the course of my five years with my chronic illness for answers.
And not a Single one of them acknowledged that it could be connected,
Until I met and started seeing Janine my therapist.
Yay.
And I really wanted to address this situation, this topic as a whole.
How and why can eating disorders be linked to chronic illness.
Now the first thing I want to address,
Is her question about why do medical professionals like our doctors our PCP people that we see.
Why don't they mention that there could be a connection between,
An eating disorder and chronic illness or one could start because of the other.
Why don't they mention that?
Or how it can affect someone mentally.
And overall I feel that medical professionals don't spend enough time in their psych rotation.
If you don't know, and I'm sure every state in every situation is a little bit different.
But every physician has to spend a certain portion of time in a rotation in the psych ward.
That doesn't mean that they sit down clinically like I do with people,
And hear how things feel and what people go through.
They go to a psych ward in the hospital,
And spend a rotation in some kind of facility like that.
And I just don't think that's sufficient.
Also, I don't think that medical professionals are often taught enough about bedside manner,
And how to talk to someone else about all that they could be going through.
They often just rattle off all the symptoms and what's going on,
And what they're going to do and then want to get to it.
Which is great if they're a surgeon or if they're a doctor and were in an emergency situation.
But when it comes to chronic illness and we see these people often the most.
It will be really really helpful if they could in some way help with their training,
So they know to talk about Mental Health and Wellness, and how its healthy mind healthy body.
It's all connected. Am I right?
And overall I think because they focus so much on the physical.
They're reading through a chart you know. They're going through your list of your papers,
And all the symptoms and things you've had and medications you're on.
They're so focused on that.
I think they lose sight of how you might feel about it.
And I wish something that one of my hopes in the future is to change the way they're trained.
So that when they offer up all the stuff, they then also say,
Hey, I know this can be hard,
Here are some referrals for therapists in the area.
Or here's a therapist that works in the hospital if you'd like to see him or her.
That would be awesome,
But unfortunately that's just not the protocol at this time.
Let's answer the overall question.
That is why do eating disorders and chronic illness go together?
And is this a common thing? And the truth obviously is yes, it's a very common thing.
And I wrote some notes about why I think eating disorders and chronic illness go together.
Because I hear this all the time.
And the number one thing that I thought of is a sense of control.
When we are diagnosed with a chronic illness,
We're told that this is something,
We're going to have to live with for the rest of our lives, something that is completely out of our control.
Nothing we can do can magically make it go away.
Yes we can take our medication and deal with the symptoms and manage it as best we can but
But often people report feeling a loss of a sense of control.
And this can help us get it back.
The second reason I believe these go together is,
Because when we have a chronic illness things can feel overwhelming.
We might already feel so much discomfort,
That an eating disorder can give us a way to numb out.
And I know that a lot of people you know talk about even if there's only being about control.
Like that first reason I gave. But the second and the most, I find this to be the most common.
Is just not wanting to think about anything. I feel so overwhelmed I want to completely numb out.
And if I'm focused on food whether it's getting food, eating food, not eating food, doing certain things,
Whatever that is.
The eating disorder allows us to do that.
And focus our thoughts solely on that so we can't think about any of the other shit going on.
The third reason I feel that chronic illness and eating disorders go together,
Is because medications unfortunately can really mess with our hunger fullness cues.
And I often find this to be the trigger for a lot of my clients.
When it comes to the eating disorder starting.
Because their medication made them so nauseous. They were throwing up all the time.
And then when they weren't throwing up when they got the medication right,
They found that was kind of a way to cope.
And so medications can make it hard for us to get back in touch with our body.
And the illness as a whole can make it hard to get back in touch with our body.
Know when it's hungry and when it's full.
And to be able to listen to those cues.
The fourth reason I believe eating disorders and Chronic illness go together is,
Because we can be suffering from a lot of other things.
We can be going through a loss, right, I did that interview with Hank Green.
I'll link to the video we did together in the description.
But he talked about grieving the loss of what his life could be and what he planned on it being.
And so how hard that was and that can lead to depression.
And a lot of people struggle with that.
And so eating disorders, like you know, are another way to cope with like bigger things going on.
And so we use the eating disorder to deal with that grief and loss and depression and all that's come up for us,
As we've received the diagnosis and are living with the chronic illness.
And the fifth and final reason that I believe chronic illness and eating disorders go together is, Trauma.
And I know this sounds very similar because eating disorder is just another way to cope.
But I think it's important for us to acknowledge how traumatic it can be,
To be diagnosed with with a chronic illness.
Not only is the diagnosis itself traumatizing, hard to digest,
There's a lot of grief and loss like I talked about before that come along with it.
But secondly it can put us in a vulnerable position.
And a lot of people take advantage and it can be really traumatizing.
We can have family members abuse us when they're supposed to be taking care of us.
There can be so many things.
There's a lot to unpack when it comes to this.
But I really just want to acknowledge that when we have a disability, a chronic illness,
Something that can make us vulnerable to others,
I find that that is often so closely linked to trauma.
And again an eating disorder the coping skill that helps us better deal,
And amount from that whole experience and all of the PTSD symptoms we may be going through.
Lastly my advice to any of you who are finding this correlation,
Who feel that your chronic illness has triggered her eating disorder,
Please speak up, please reach out, please shout to be heard.
I know medical professionals, like we talked about, might not be the best.
But sometimes as we keep asking we keep telling them.
This is what's going on.
This is how I feel
Sooner or later someone's going to hear us and will get us to help that we so desperately need and deserve.
Know that nothing's wrong with you.
This isn't completely odd, right?
As I said, it's actually very common.
So speak up, reach out, because truly, only we can be our best advocate.
I want to thank you all so much.
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And I will see you next time, bye!