Bulimia Drugs and Alcohol

Hey.

Busy week but I wanted to touch base on a subject that continues to be explored on the BH website.

Drugs and alcohol and the effect that they may have on bulimia.

About 37 to 49 percent of all bulimics report using or abusing alcohol. That is way past the norm for the female population. I currently can't find any stats on males. If any of you know of any studies let me know. It would indicate that substance use and abuse are connected with bulimia and other eating disorders.

My personal history includes periods of drug and alcohol abuse combined with decades of bulimia. So I always knew that from a personal standpoint they were connected.

I want to talk about our appastat or set point. That is the trigger mechanism in our brain that regulates when we feel full or hungry. Bulimics may or may not have had a healthy set point to begin with or they may have just stretched the set point so that although it signals when we have had enough to eat we over ride the signal.

My personal take is the set signal is not only stretched but in my case has been replaced by a set point that encourages me to binge. I have done enough experiments with food intake to know this for a fact.

I can eat X amount with no trouble. It is a small amount of food and if I don't eat over that amount I have no problems.

How ever, if I eat the smallest amount over that set point I will immediately binge, I am totally out of control at that point. It is almost as though part of my  mind shuts down.

So my set point is very delicate either by genetics or training or both.

Why is this important to drug and alcohol use?

Using drugs re regulates the minds perceptions of where the set point is so it effects when you feel full. The word "Munchies" was not invented lightly. Cannabis use can really trigger binges. Alcohol can do the same by playing havoc with blood sugar.

Uppers work in the opposite direction. They turn the regulator way down like it doesn't exist at all.
Not good. Particularly when you do return to eating. Imagine where the set point is then?

If you are binging and purging plus using drugs your brain chemistry is going to get hit in two directions at the same time. Once again long term use is going to take a toll. It is going to be a challenge to return to your individual set point. You are in training to be addicted in two areas not just one. The more addictions that co occur the harder it is to enter remission and there is an increase in possible relapse dynamics since you are processing more a single event trigger.

Drugs and alcohol dis inhibit and effect our ability to think clearly and make good value judgments. Considering what we are dealing with here it pays to have a clear mind and perceptual awareness level.

Am I advocating that people stop using? No why would I do that? Of course if you suspect you are addicted by all means stop. If you do use on a recreational level just educate yourself on the risks you are taking as a bulimic.

I asked some people who lapsed back into active binging and purging. I was surprised that so many of them told of going out to a party, dinner, or relaxing at home with a drink or drug of choice.
It didn't take much for them to start back into an active binge and purge cycle and sometimes return to addictive cycles and old dysfunctional behavior in general.

I am adding two sites for you to explore.

One is a test to see if you are at risk for alcohol abuse. You can extrapolate it into other drugs of use.
The other is just for information and stats.

If you have any other sites that have info please leave them with me.

Keep going, if you have had a lapse my suggestion is:

Learn
Let go
Walk away
And get on with your remission.
In Loving Kindness
Bryan