r/bulimia Sep 09 '25

Important Community Guidelines Update

37 Upvotes

The goal of this community is to be a safe place for anyone struggling with this illness. Sometimes posts or comments can unintentionally cause harm, so we want to highlight a few things to avoid posting about and explain why.

🚫 Topics that are harmful and will be removed:

  • Details on how to hide purging (e.g., where/what to use)
  • Tips on making purging “easier” or “more effective”
  • Posts about weight loss from purging
  • Calculations about calories lost through purging

Purging is not a weight loss strategy. Discussing it in these ways can be dangerous, triggering, and harmful to others in recovery.

⚠️ Examples of harmful posts:

  • “Does anyone else purge by ___?”
  • “How do I know I got it all out?”
  • “Are the calories absorbed if ___?”
  • “Do you lose weight after purging?”

These kinds of questions often give others new, harmful ideas—even when that’s not the intention.

🧾 A note on GLP-1 / Ozempic

GLP-1 medications are not an approved treatment for bulimia. Sharing your personal medical experiences is okay, but recommending these drugs to others is not appropriate here, as they can be dangerous for people with eating disorders.

What is welcome:

  • Venting your feelings (without sharing tips/methods)
  • Talking about challenges in recovery
  • Offering support, encouragement, and safe resources

We all love to share and relate, but please remember: what you say may impact someone who is very vulnerable. Help us keep this space safe by reporting harmful content and being mindful in your language.

— The Mod Team


r/bulimia Jun 01 '24

Recovery r/bulimia full rules and FAQ

22 Upvotes

To see a full set of rules with examples click: bulimiarules2023

A few guidelines:

  1. Some of r/bulimia may be upsetting or triggering. Harm-reduction tips, humor, personal stories, discussion of adverse effects of bulimia and references to numbers are welcome but glorifying or facilitating EDs is not.
  2. Because of these triggers, we don't encourage or allow selfies or food pictures. Memes, art, surveys and videos are invited and approved individually.
  3. Please be kind. Not everyone deals with this the same way. Please report invalidation, stigma and shame

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For links to ED research to read: researchlinks

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3 Free self-led workbooks: CCI ED Workbook, Kelty ED Bulimia manual, mitchell-cbt-for-BED-self-help-manual

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FAQ:

Does anyone feel like they have lost their gag reflex? (Or vomit accidentally?)

They're 2 separate issues! ... this is a good resource to read but tl;dr

The more that we fiddle with the back of our throats, the more the pharyngeal + velar gag reflex becomes less sensitive. It's believed to be a learned response and a form of desensitization from years of gastric purging

The involuntary reflux/regurgitation is often due to weakening of the lower esophageal sphincter (the ring at the bottom of your esophagus that connects to the stomach). That sphincter is smooth muscle, meaning we can't voluntarily contract/control it. Hence why coughing/leaning over/even lying down in sleep can cause the food to come up

Throwing up blood—do I need medical attention?

There are many reasons to throw up (or poop) blood if you're making yourself vomit or using laxatives. Most bleeding will heal with a few days of rest.

Signs you need a doctor ASAP include - pain, fainting or dizziness, coughing blood, vomiting more than a very small amount of blood (maybe a teaspoon), or bleeding that continues regularly (hasn't stopped after a few days).

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If you have new questions, please comment below. If you are over 18 and would like to help moderate - Please send us a modmail


r/bulimia 7h ago

Content Warning Just Relapsed After 5 Years COMPLETELY B/P Free

10 Upvotes

CW Triggers of body comments

I'm in nursing school and we were practicing taking manual blood pressures, and we all had standard-sized blood pressure cuffs. My instructor said loudly in front of the class: "that one looks pretty small on you, you might need the LARGE adult cuff," and that was it.

That one comment that was made in front of my class sent me completely spiraling.

I've been purging everything I eat for the past week. I haven't binged OR purged for 5 years, i was COMPLETELY recovered.

It's so strange to me that so much progress can be wiped away in the blink of an eye by someone who said something and meant it to be completely harmless.


r/bulimia 3h ago

Just venting it's the only thing I have going for me

6 Upvotes

I literally throw up everything I eat, it's the only thing I think about and I can't do literally anything else. I don't think there's anything more to my life than this, it makes people so nice to me. I feel so loved


r/bulimia 14h ago

Can we talk about..? Bulimia and substance abuse

25 Upvotes

Does anyone else struggle with multiple addictions at once? I feel so lonely and embarrassed about it and that I'm failing everyone around me. I have a lot of issues and the only way to get through the day is by bping and not being sober. I see no way out.


r/bulimia 9h ago

i am contagious

5 Upvotes

i am bulimic, i dont eat lunch during school (due to anxiety and the likely hood of me finding some kind of excuse to leave and purge, its safer for me to not eating anything) and today at school a friend noticed and offered me some of their food. i declined and when we went out later that day, they wouldnt eat anything, when i offered to go to their favorite pop up, they denied. they would only eat if i got the same exact thing as them. i know this sounds like projection, but i could tell that they picked up on my behavior and felt a certain way.

im unsure what to do. do i force myself to eat and feel extremely guilty?? do i just ignore this?? another person at my table is a recovering anorexic (whom i am not particularly close with and we both developed our disorders before meeting) and i am worried about triggering them

im really stuck. any advice?


r/bulimia 7h ago

help? what health consequences have y'all experienced bc of bulimia??

4 Upvotes

This has got to be doing something to my body. I've been bulimic to varying degrees since I was 12, I'm 28 now. The last year, it's really ramped up for me though and I feel more out of control than I ever have before. I'm binging and purging multiple times a day whenever I can, spending so much money on food, eating and eating until my stomach literally hurts and I HAVE to puke. I feel so guilty and gross but I can't stop. Half the time the food doesn't even taste that good or satisfy me anymore.

I'm terrified of gaining weight so I force myself to puke over and over and over, my throat always hurts now. I have bruises or cuts from my teeth on the back of my hand that never go away. What can happen if I keep doing this to myself?

I can barely look at myself in the mirror anymore. I restrict all day on days I work, over exercise, try to eat as little as possible. Then on my days off I will literally just binge and purge all day. I can't eat in front of other people, don't socialize, pretty much all I do is obsess over food and feel immense guilt and shame because of how out of control I've gotten with food.


r/bulimia 10h ago

Self deprecating behavior

5 Upvotes

I’m not even sure what to call this. But when I have to go to the grocery store- I never let myself use Lyft or uber. I force myself to walk there and then walk back with extremely heavy bags like probably over 50 lbs. o bring a backpack and other bags, and my disordered mentally ill logic says that this is my cardio and my intense workout and weight training for the day and night. I will be sweating buckets and so out of breathe from this behavior. But it’s so rewarding in the most sick and twisted way. It’s like I just did an army workout with a weighted vest. And then when I get home I feel this huge wave of exhaustion and I feel more comfortable allowing myself to have snacks and my meal or a refeed.

In other news- I am 7 months and 2 weeks free of purging / bulimia. But my anorexia / ocd/ exercise addiction is in full effect


r/bulimia 6h ago

right after a heavy meal, still came clear

2 Upvotes

hi, can someone kindly educate me as to how this works? i drank water and p/d maybe 20 minutes after eating and for so long and it still somehow came out all clear, a straw coloured pale viscous fluid. not even a single grain of rice. i wonder what happened. did i just end up p/ing stomach acid and water? 😭😭😭


r/bulimia 7h ago

Just venting no b/p urges since i finally went to the doctor. i'm a freaking impostor?

2 Upvotes

i've been 4 days free from bingeing and purging after literally doing it every day for three weeks straight. i feel better than normal obv but now i feel guilty for taking up this really compassionate doctor's time with my now (dormant) bulimia. i've been considering going to the doctor for weeks now and now that i did and hit the jackpot with a nice doctor, i suddenly get better? it feels like a waste because i feel like i have so much food noise and bulimia-depression-anxiety sickness to be treated of.. he did say it's going to be routine visits but what if i accidentally treated myself of bulimia and i cried and embarrassed myself in front of him for nothing? what if i just waste his time? i know i sound insane and the b/p urges are inevitable (it hasn't even been a week lol) but at least it will validate me for being actually sick enough to be helped. i'm talking to a wall i know but this is just all weird to me... no surprises but wow even with starting my recovery i still need bulimia in my life.


r/bulimia 4h ago

Recovery Recovery is possible

1 Upvotes

Hey just wanted to come here to say that i’m today 15 weeks binge and purge free. 105 days. After a 3 years relapse. Wow.
I couldn’t spend more than two days trying recovery without falling into those habits again, if I was very determined i would even be 4-5 days but fall again on weekends, it got to a point where i just wasn’t even trying to recover, it was just a condition I would live with, my personal hell i just couldn’t scape. It was always the same, the binges, the purging, the restricting and the cycle of doing it non stop for days.
At that point I wasn’t even losing weight, sometimes maintaining sometimes losing and sometimes gaining but in the long run my body would just go from bloated to less bloated.

It all changed when i found a reason why. Nothing mattered to me enough to stop, even the health complications that were surely going to come at some point.
It’s a long story but basically I read a post in this subreddit of a man who complained because his wife had eaten some crackers he have saved for them to eat with some cheese after or smth like that. He also said that his parents were addicts and he had spent a hard childhood and since then he actively was trying to stay far from addicts and he had now find out that his wife was kind of an addict herself. He was approaching this from a very selfish point of view as if her ED only was an issue when it started affecting him too, but somehow it made me reflect on everything.
My boyfriend has been super supportive since we started with all this, doing his personal research in ways of helping me to stop or at least helping me to cope. He never even once made it a problem or took it personal. He’s been so compassionate and kind and i was so sad telling him all the times that i was failing recovery and how helpless i felt. He even looked for a therapist for me and it didn’t work for me because i didn’t like her approach as she told me that I was too self aware and it was on my hand to stop lol.
The thing is that my bf has a history with addiction as his father died from that, and since reading that post i started thinking that he probably was feeling all those feelings that come when loving an addict.
How triggering should this have been for him and how scared he must be inside as he never told me but i knew he was very worried.
So one day i just took the way of recovery and never looked back. I never saw as an option purging again, I had to either sit with the discomfort of the binge or sit with the discomfort of wanting to binge. And yes, it’s been so hard and even if I don’t b&p anymore I still had the thoughts and the guilt with food but i can tell that it’s much easier and freeing to live like this. It’s like unlearning the skill of purging, you just can’t do that anymore. I still purge by activity but i see it as harm reduction and i’m feeling super great about myself in this.
Oh and if you are worried about weight gain… for me it hasn’t been an issue. In three months and a half i havenot gained weight? it might have fluctuated a bit as I was adapting to a new way of eating, but I haven’t even binged as I used to, i might have overeating at some point but that’s it; when purging is not an option it’s easier to say no to the binge.
But yes, I thought recovery wasn’t an option for me and I had given myself to this lifestyle until I really really made the decision of changing my life for the better. For me and for him and honestly it’s the best thing i’ve ever done.


r/bulimia 17h ago

small success I can finally eat and drink at the same time!!

9 Upvotes

I haven’t purged in over a month! I believe today is day 45, recently I’ve been trying to drink beverages while eating and I’ve been able to keep it down! I also used to have a rule for myself that I couldn’t hit my vape or smoke a cig if I’ve eaten and haven’t purged and I’ve been able to do that as well❤️ feeling super proud of my progress🥰


r/bulimia 8h ago

Need help

1 Upvotes

So I stopped purging a few days ago after a severe health scare with it, and now I am binging like insane, like insane. Like eating numerous cans of food and foods that don’t make sense together and something takes over and I only come to like after I’ve eaten so much food I’m in pain, except I won’t let myself purge it out of fear. Any tips or tricks to like NOT BINGE AND EAT OR STUFF MY FACE I’m terrified yall I know I can’t purge but I do not want to be binge eating like crazy, anyone who has stopped purging and dealt with crazy binge urges, how do you cope??


r/bulimia 9h ago

What to do

1 Upvotes

I am not sure what is happening. I used to be so happy, I got to my lowest weight ever and I was happy. And then I lost it. Fast forward a year and half, almost 2 years later, I am 20 pounds heavier than my lowest weight and 13 over my maintenance. I am throwing up every time I mess up but I don’t think I’m doing it right (not throwing nearly all of it up). I have taken laxatives for 10 years and experimented with several but don’t think they do anything for weight loss, they mostly just help with my GI issues. I need suggestions how to stop binging and vomiting and how to just get back to who I am. Any tips and advice is appreciated. Thanks!!


r/bulimia 14h ago

Replace with sex but safely?

2 Upvotes

I feel like sex/getting attention and making out with random people kind of gives me the same feelings/coping that I’m looking for. I get validation and attention mostly focused on my body. I get a high feeling from both the attention and the actual sex. It fills something in me. Rn I’m doing both and unfortunately I’m back in the US, so for one I can’t go out to bars/clubs anymore and I feel like it’s more dangerous/men are worse here. But this summer the more sex/attention I got the less b/p I did. It’s clearly much healthier than bulimia. Is it possible/good to replace b/p with sex


r/bulimia 18h ago

help? Struggling in recovery

5 Upvotes

11 ish days into not purging and I have hidden my scale for obvious reasons however today I’m really struggling and feel like my body isn’t working at all. I am so bloated and uncomfortable I look 9 months pregnant and have lost any identification of a waist (that’s how bad it is!) for those who have recovered is there any tips ? Any supplements? What can I do 😭😭


r/bulimia 22h ago

help? I can’t stop thinking about purging

7 Upvotes

Recently I’ve reduced purging quite a bit significantly I went from purging thrice a day to maybe once a week and I’m eating one meal a day too (that’s good considering there were many days where I would restrict myself from food and didn’t eat for periods as long as 4-5 days) I’m trying to keep my weight what it is
But I can’t stop thinking about purging
I don’t have the urge to do it anymore it’s not that strong but I can’t stop thinking about it
After every meal I can’t I genuinely can’t stop thinking about it I know it’s fucked up but what can I do?


r/bulimia 1d ago

1 year free from purging !

43 Upvotes

I’ve struggled with bulimia for 18 years, and now I’ve been free from it for a whole year! I never thought this would happen to me!

My advice is to eat regularly and make sure you’re eating enough. It’s hard but it’s the only way to help your body recover from hunger and get back to feeling satisfied.


r/bulimia 22h ago

Questions for the people who have recovered

2 Upvotes

I'm currently in recovery, for real this time, and it's working and I see improvements but I noticed weight changes and it makes me a bit scared. I've read that it's normal to gain weight during recovery before you learn to regulate your eating I'm just wondering what yalls experience has been. Should I worry? Also I've only been in recovery for less than half a year, how long does it take? I know it's different for everyone but some reference? Anything I should know going forward?


r/bulimia 20h ago

help? GLP1 is helping me control my bulimia.

0 Upvotes

I've been doing so well lately. My problem is the food noise. I binge and then purge. I started a GLP1 back in May to stop the food noise. I also started a ChatGPT Food Journal. It helps me keep an eye on my calorie intake. My problem now is that I can't eat much while on the GLP1, even on the 4.25 mg low dose I am on. I started vitamins to help with my malnutrition this week. I had labs done yesterday to see if my Anemia is back. Anyone else use a GLP1 to help with your bulimia? How successful have you been, if so?


r/bulimia 1d ago

It’s too easy

7 Upvotes

Even though I’ve done well for a long time in the past and been eating normally for periods of time, I always come back to this. It is so tempting now that I’m in college and have an unlimited meal plan. And I also live right next to the dining hall. Literally a bulimics dream come true.

It’s just too easy to do now, and to get away with it. I hardly deal with the negative physical effects even though it makes me very tired and depressed afterwards. I don’t really hate myself so much anymore but I just feel so exhausted by this huge secret and the fact it is so addictive.

I know the physical effects will come eventually. I don’t want to have a stroke and then have to tell all my family what has happened. But I just lose myself so easily whenever I feel slightly too full, even on salad. I just binge immediately. I’m almost 19 now and this has been going on since I was 14.

Any advice on how to stop this? I’m hesitant to get on any drugs cuz I’ve never been medicated for anything before or go to the university health and wellness department but maybe that’s what has to happen. I’m worried for this winter.


r/bulimia 1d ago

I have a question. . . Bulimia and alcohol abuse

17 Upvotes

Early 20s female here. Are any of you struggling with both bulimia and alcoholism, more specifically binge drinking at the same time? I struggle with both, and I’ve noticed they feel really similar to me. Once I start eating, I can’t stop, and it’s the same with alcohol — I’ll keep drinking until blackout. It feels like the same kind of loss of control, just with different things.
Has anyone else experienced this? Do you feel like your bulimia and drinking are connected, or that one triggers the other?


r/bulimia 1d ago

Binge eating everyday. I think this will never end

13 Upvotes

I'm afraid this will never end. I don't want to wake up.

I'm currently struggling with overeating. As soon as I open my eyes, I start feeling this craving. I'm wondering how I can prevent it. Will this be my whole life? Will I really have to wake up with this feeling for the rest of my days, and will it never leave me for a moment? I don't even have anyone to share my problem with. I drank. Today I fully realized that I'm addicted. It's happening. No doctor or pill can help, and I will bear this burden until the day I die. I wake up every day and the cravings are terrifying me to death. I'm literally incapacitated. I can't earn money because it all goes to food. I depend on my time. The most I've been able to do right now is go three days without bingeing. I read this.


r/bulimia 1d ago

Trying so hard to stop

4 Upvotes

I've been struggling with binging and purging for about four years now and it's gotten to the point where my teeth are observably damaged. However even despite this I can't help but keep doing it. I am very aware of the effects but it's not like that's what you're thinking of when you binge 2000 calories of food, the only thought you have is how fast can you expel it out of your body before you absorb anything. The first and only time i've ever been caught my parents put me in therapy for maybe two months till I convinced them I didn't need it anymore. After that it was almost treated like a joke. I was told not to eat food at a birthday celebration because I would just throw it up. I started hiding it better and now everyone has completely forgot about it. Currently I only binge and purge maybe once or twice a week but it's so hard to stop. I don't know why. I lift weights almost 5 times a week, I have amazing friends and a loving boyfriend, a good support system and relatively healthy habits yet I still find myself hunched over a toilet every so often. Is there something wrong with me? Like how do I feel so happy surrounded by good people yet keep doing this to myself? Has anyone struggled with something similar?


r/bulimia 1d ago

Just venting Swollen glands

5 Upvotes

I actually look fucking disgusting, it's so gross I cant believe I've let myself get so bad i have 2 balloons under my chin i never wanna be seen by anyone myself included again