digestive issues

[pleasehelpmedoc]

Occasionally I make myself throw up - I am well aware of the dangers of bulimia, so I'm trying to seek help before it is too late.  But I have noticed that when I vomit, food that I ate several hours before is still i n solid form.  This last time, a pill capsule came up that I had taken about 8 hours earlier . Am I not digesting properly? I've always thought that I've had a slow metabolism, but should digesting take this long?  And I don't think that's it's from the bulimia, because I don't throw up often enough to mess up my system.... thanks!!

[Patricia Pitts, PhD]

As I am a psychologist and not a medical doctor, I will speak from a psychological viewpoint.  Since you are wanting to stop, seeking psychologival and medical consultation for your specific experience and questions is critical.  In my expereince, bulimics when highly anxious seem to have difficulty digesting.  Even hours later, the food seems stuck in their upper GI tract, making it hard to keep the food in.  They may then see more whole pieces of food come up when they vomit. You may wish to visit the bella vita website to learn about various levels of care of treatment.  Best regards, Dr Patricia Pitts  The Bella Vita  Los Angeles, CA

[Rach878]

It could be the bulimia that is making your digestion slower, even if you don't think your doing it often enough for it to happen. As a person with bulimia myself, i can tell you that i also will vomit whole bits of food hours after eating...so there might not be anything wrong, that  might just be how digestive system work...really slowly.

[MissLizzy]

When you habitually vomit, you body remembers.  The enzymes used for digestion are also being thrown up when you vomit.  Although the body will clearly reproduce those enzymes, their productivity may be low.  Also, your body is made to survive itself.  If you throw up regularly, it would hold onto food longer as 'storage'.

I was anorexic for almost 13 years and struggled with bulimarexia on and off within that period of time.  I can tell you that throwing up has many nasty side effects, including swelling in the throat, hands, and belly, water retention, stripped enamel from the teeth and even tooth breakage/loss....bad breathe, esophogus punctures, reflux(after you eat you may begin to automatically regurgitate your food), bloodshot eyes, soars on fingers and hands that you use to purge, yellow finger and toenails, dry hair that breaks off easily, hair loss, giving off a bad odor via sweating from malnutrition, etc.

I dont miss it.  Think about what you want in life, and do that.
Forgive yourself for any perceived shortcomings, and than move fwd to change the ones that would better your life.

We only get one body....