bulimia, university, money issues

Hello,

I have suffered from eating disorders for 5 years or so of my life. I am currently struggling a lot with bulimia, which by consequence has really effected my funds. I find myself spending obscene amounts of my money on food and not thinking of the consequences, until afterwards when i feel horrible and guilty. I recieve disability living allowance for my eating disorders and depression which all gets spent on food. I also have several credit and store cards which i have used to buy even more. :frown:

I know, it sounds pretty bad, and it is. I know some of you will say i need to try and stop but it is not that easy at all. I have tried and failed on many occasions, and even though wasting my money this way makes me feel terrible i still cannot stop myself.

Anyway, the point of this post is to ask whether anyone else has had similar experiences? & if so, how did it effect you at university? I will be living in halls away from home and as we all know being a student can be tough on your bank balance. I am worried i will spend all of my student loans on binging and have nothing left to get books or pay my rent. I tell myself i just won't let that happen, that i can't, but in all honesty i know that the promises i make to myself mean nothing.

Thanks for reading, any replies and input would be much appreciated. But please, if you are disgusted by my behaviours or/and just want to say 'snap out of it' please consider that you can't possible understand how i feel. I really can't cope with being flamed right now.

Anon x

Reply 1

Anonymous #1

Sure you can ask, i don't mind questions - at the moment i'm not seeing anyone treatment wise. But in the past i have, unsuccessfully. I have been into hospital on many occasions. I did have to declare the eating disorder on my ucas form as a disability, so i'll probably be given some access to counciling and such through university. I am also thinking that with registering with a new GP i might be given a chance to try some sort of treatment with a new mental health team (as where i am now hasn't been much help).

I just don't want this illness to completely screw up my time at uni.

Reply 2

Anonymous #2

Ok...I think that you should keep a diary about it..I know it sounds stupid but it does work, at least for me in different circamstances. Write down how you feel, how you feel before and after you spend the money, and then how you feel when you spend a normal amount of money on food and dont binge etc. Read them back the next day adn see the difference, and think back to that when you want to binge eat/spend. It might work it might not, but it is worth a try. Sometimes writing things down make them more prominent and easier to remember in your mind.

Reply 3

Juno

As soon as you get to uni (well, not literally. Leave it a few days if you want) go and register with the counselling services. They do vary between unis, but if they don't feel they can help you they should advise you of someone who can. If you leave it longer then you might have got yourself into a worse mess and it will be harder to get better.

You could also put some of your money into an internet account such as ING Direct so that you have to wait a few days before you can access it. This should hopefully limit your spending. Limit your overdraft too, and preferably don't get one at all.

Reply 4

Anonymous #1

Thanks for the advice guys - the diary idea sounds like a good one, and i will register with some sort of concilling services.

Unfortunately, i already have my overdraft, and yeh, i have already spent a lot of it too :frown:

. As well as the spending i am trying to pay off cards that i have spent on, meaning i never really get anywhere.

Reply 5

princess-anna

Hi,

First of all I know how you feel, well to a certain extent anyway, for the past two years I have struggled with an eating disorder and i know how consuming it can be and how food can be a bit of an obsession. But recently I confided in a couple of close friends who have really helped my perceptions of myself, and by allowing them to help me I have managed to get my binging/puking cycles under control.

Now I see university as a fresh start and a chance to get away from the negativity which caused me to start making myself sick in the first place, now I dont know if this helps and I know its a bit of a cliche but it really does help to talk to someone about it, it doesnt have to be a professional unless you feel comfortable with that, but i'm sure the people who love you will be there when you decide you can confide in them.

With regards to the money issue i'm sure everyone has similar worries about budgeting for one thing and another, I know ppl who will spend all their money on drinking and have no money for rent ect but i think this is all part of growing up and I bet that being in a different situation with different ppl will really help you to gain perspetive about your problem.

Best of luck with university, and everything, theres light at the end of the tunnel but you really should talk to someone, it really does help! xxx

Reply 6

Anonymous #1

Thankyou Anna...that is great that you have been improving recently, you should be really proud of yourself as obviously i know how difficult it can be. Really though, thanks so much for the kind words and advice. I am thinking that the start of uni can be my fresh start too, i am not expecting a magic cure but i find a little bit of hope can be extremely helpful at times like these.

Reply 7

CelenaGaia

Good luck mate, I'm totally behind you. I've suffered Anorexia Nervosa/Athletica for 5years, it started out as bingeing/excessive exercise to purge so could have been more classified as Bulimia then, but I've been fairly steady the past 2years, on a weight gain diet which is taking forever coz the more cals I put in, the more energy I get - more exercise! Like a hamster on a treadmill, lol. But I love to keep active anyway, so it's not really a punishment to me, I want to keep fit. It used to be pure agony, the amount I used to do and on the cals I was on (quite little, in comparison to the energy output.) I'm currently on 2,950cals and exercise hard 5x/week, 1xday I do light exercise and 1 day just housework/walking. Get yourself into a good fitness routine that's about building MUSCLE and not burning cals all the time, eat enough to maintain this regime, and believe you me you can seriously improve your health and your moods. Get you out of the binge/puke syndrome, hopefully. Don't take my advice as Gosphel, I'm only speaking from my own experiences and trust me, everyone's different and I still have real rough days where I can barely eat if I can't exercise. That's the way my mind works - no exercise = don't deserve to eat (or not much over my BMR.) So getting sick/injured is a real bitch!!

Hope some of this helps, good luck hon and take care at Uni - you know how you cope with stress, and you know it's detrimental to your health, so PREPARE YOURSELF for it at Uni coz by God there will some stressers there!!

Reply 8

Leisure17

How about putting the money you need for rent into a seperate account you can't access readily? Or paying the rent in a lump sum when your loan gets in?