Paint in my chest close to the hearth

[Gia190]

Hello there!

I have suffered with bulimia for about 7 years. At the beginning I used to make myself sick many times per day/week, I was so young with low esteem and pressure from my family, it was a really horrible time. I never feel any sort of pain or something that concern me about. Lately (1 year ago), I started to suffer from continuous headaches and pain in the back of my head. The doctor said I was stress and bad posture. I told her about the bulimia problem and she did check my blood pressure and said everything was fine. I stop to binge myself from a lot to once/twice per week, because even if I was eating slowly I felt so full and binge was almost involuntary.

I have gain some pounds, but i feel OK as long my health recovery. The problem is I have started noticing a pressure feeling on my chest, left side as if someone is pressing down on my breast bone, I'm really worried and fearing there is something related to my heart. Could you suggest what could be happening please?

Gia :)

[cooplist]

Hi there. I don't know if I should tell you what it could be, because I'm not a doctor, and don't want to scare you and because I think you probably know if you have been seeing your doctor. Unless she didn't tell you what bulimia could do to you? I also have bulimia but hate hate HATE the fact that I have it and really regret bring such a horrible disease into my life, because it has caused SO many problems for myself and my family. I'll tell you a few of them. I have had Bulimia (with anorexic tendencies) since I was 17. I'm now 33. I had a son in the midst of my bulimia, and he was born with a heart defect. Now, none of us know if his heart defect was caused by my eating disorder, but there is a chance. People have gone out of their way to try to assure it had nothing to do with me to be kind, but I KNOW there is a chance I could have caused that. My son passed away at 10 months old after three open heart surgeries, a heart transplant and chemo for PTLD. After my son passed away I was in deep despair, and my bulimia/anorexia got worse. I was admitted to the hospital several times because I was so sick. Put on feeds. Put on anti depression meds. I developed osteopenia (that is what leads up to osteoporosis). I'm on pain meds and fosamax. I abused exlax and diuretics for several years, and now I cant go to the bathroom normally and my kidneys have been damaged so much that I have been on dialysis once at my sickest. I suffer severe depression, PTSD, conversion disorder, Complicated grief... I can go on... but I wont. In the last 4 years I have spent most of my time in hospital on a psychiatric ward or in the icu. This March I was diagnosed with Stage 2 Esophageal Adenocarcinoma (now stage 3). I was lucky they caught it early, because they usually don't with cancer of the esophagus, but I still have a lot of problems with it, including strokes, mets, 2 surgeries, about a billion tests and procedures. What caused this to happen? Most likely... BULIMIA. The acid from your stomach eats away at your esophagus lining (same as with GERD). It can lead to Barretts Esophagus, which can lead to Esophageal Cancer. I also have a pacemaker because I was in constant SVT (tachycardia - really fast heart rate), what cause it, most likely BULIMIA! For a few reasons. The lack of nutrition and all the good stuff that you get rid of is what your heart needs to keep strong. When it doesn't have that stuff, its tissue can become damaged. Also electrolytes is a part of what regulated your heart beat (the electric conduction of your heart and body), and if you dont have the proper nutrition and electrolytes, your heart can race, slow down and even just stop all together. Also, the strain of just purging on your system can cause problems after awhile. Im on a TON of medications. I cant take them by mouth, because I can take anything by mouth or i throw up. So I have a constant PICC line that is threaded through a vein in my arm so I can have my medications, and is sometimes use when I cant even use my j tube to I can get my nutrition directly into my blood instead of into my stomach. Oh ya. J Tube. I'm fed through a J Tube that goes in through my stomach and down into intestine, bypassing the stomach. Ive had a CDiff infection that nearly killed me, and a CMV virus which normally or usually don't hurt people much but because I have no immune system, it aggressively attacked me and i ended up on dialysis again. Because of the kidney failure and some of the meds I was put on (eg. prednisone), I ended up gaining about 25 pounds or more, and am just now losing it. There is so much more I could tell you but I think you get the picture. I wish someone would have told me all this when I was younger, but no one did. I don't know how old you are, but you REALLY need to get help for the bulimia before it TOTALLY destroys your life.

[Gia190]

Hello, thanks a lot for your words. I,m 24, I start more or less your same age, at the beggining wasn't a big deal, I even lost a few pounds, but then I couldnt get rid of it. I never have been treated with medicaments, I do yoga and meditation, because i get on the food when I was feeling anxious, but now is more because I can't eat big amounts of food, otherwise I feel I need to go and throw out and is almost involuntary. I know how you feel, I regret everyday about and for me is like a karma, so working to overcome the problem. I know how it feels, but this is a path, and is a blessing to help each other in this difficult path. I'm waiting to go back home and check out everything because in UK, the health is free, but I have explain the Dr my desire to make some exams and they said I'm fine, so nothing else I can do, wait 6 months more.

I'm working on it, of course sometimes you fall, I think is something you never get rid of, but as I said, the more I talk with people about, the more strong I feel.

Blessings for you, all my strenght and best in your recovery,
love, gia