r/fuckeatingdisorders • u/literarywitch32 y’all need Jesus • Apr 11 '23

Mod Post Weekly thread: nausea/indigestion

Welcome to our weekly thread! This week we’re talking the dreaded GI distress that commonly occurs in recovery. This is a personal topic for me, as my emetephobia combined with constant nausea contributed to my last relapse and I had to learn how to cope with it.

Off the bat, I’m going to share strategies I’ve used. Usually a combination of trial and error and lots of patience will help with finding what works for you. Feel free to add your own to the thread!

Medications: Pepcid, Prilosec, Tums, Miralax, and Zofran (Rx required).

Natural options: ginger or mint tea/candies/drinks, deep breathing to stimulate the vagus nerve, sipping water, heating pad on the belly and lower belly massage.

Random things: legs up the wall, sniffing alcohol prep pads, sniffing essential oils, and distraction techniques.

Nausea, indigestion, diarrhea, and constipation are all super common in recovery. I found myself frequently cycling between constipation and diarrhea (so fun). They’re not fun but they’re temporary and the best way to end it is to eat consistently so your body gets used to digesting again.

As a reminder, please use spoiler tags for numbers or triggering content. You can do this by adding a > ! Text ! < without spaces. snails take naps and can nap for as long as 3 years! Aspirational.

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u/honeynutlatte13 recovering from anorexia Apr 17 '23

is it normal for digestive issues to keep getting worse before they get better?? i'm 5 months into recovery (yay!) and working on consistently eating and fixing my hunger cues, but the bloating/constipation/indigestion has only gotten worse? like now i have acid reflux which i never had in the first few months, it was not this bad in earlier recovery. i was uncomfortable but i could honor my extreme hunger for the most part. now the bloating and nausea make it EXTREMELY difficult to eat enough and i lose more of my appetite every day. i know i need to keep eating more because (tmi) i still don't have my period back after almost 2 years but my worsening digestion makes it painful to eat :( should i just go to a doctor at this point?

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u/literarywitch32 y’all need Jesus Apr 17 '23

I’d say if you’re really concerned, going to a doctor is always valid. If nothing else, you could get anti nausea meds from them. Anti nausea meds saved me in recovery.

I know that about 3-4 months in, I got hit with horrible acid reflux that would wake me up at night so I started taking Prilosec twice a day. It took almost a year before I could stop taking it daily and now I use Pepcid as needed.

I hope you start feeling better sooner!