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Hi everyone.

My name is Alexis I'm 26 years old.
I'm new here and I joined to make friends and feel less left out I have many chronic conditions... Asthma, bipolar 1, Pica, anxiety, atopycal dermatitis, IBS, fatty liver disease, Hay fever and pcos.
I love drawing, writing stories, I love a lot animation in 2d and learning stories and I'm good at baking.
My first language is not English but Spanish.

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What is an eating disorder?

#EatingDisorders

Eating disorders are behavioral conditions characterized by severe and persistent disturbance in eating behaviors and associated distressing thoughts and emotions. They can be very serious conditions affecting physical, psychological and social function. Types of eating disorders include anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge eating disorder, avoidant restrictive food intake disorder, other specified feeding and eating disorder, pica and rumination disorder.

An eating disorder is a mental disorder defined by abnormal eating behaviors that negatively affect a person's physical or mental health. Only one eating disorder can be diagnosed at a given time.

Types of eating disorders include binge eating disorder, where the patient eats a large amount in a short period of time; anorexia nervosa, where the person has an intense fear of gaining weight and restricts food or overexercises to manage this fear; bulimia nervosa, where individuals eat a large quantity (binging) then try to rid themselves of the food (purging); pica, where the patient eats non-food items; rumination syndrome, where the patient regurgitates undigested or minimally digested food; avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID), where people have a reduced or selective food intake due to some psychological reasons (see below); and a group of other specified feeding or eating disorders.

Anxiety disorders, depression and substance abuse are common among people with eating disorders. These disorders do not include obesity. People often experience comorbidity between an eating disorder and OCD. It is estimated 20-60% of patients with an ED have a history of OCD.

You can refer to this:

resiliens.com/resilify/program/overcoming-disordered-eating

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Medicine Burnout & Simply Feeling Bleh

Hey everybody, nice to be here & have a space to share my current thoughts & mood, & maybe get some feedback from others who can relate to me. In a nutshell, I am a 35 yr. old mother of 2 & a full- time virtual student, & have been diagnosed wt bipolar 1 & GAD for 6 years. For the past 3 yrs I have been on a pretty solid med regime, have been sober for 2 & pretty much doing amazing. Only here will I also admit I have an ED which I have had for 25 years & just really do not seem to know how to beat. — Anyways, the past couple of weeks, & especially the past couple of days have been extra rough on me & I just feel like I have so much going on in my brain that hasn’t been an issue for years. I am getting frustrated bc I am tired a lot & find it hard tk stay awake during the days to do schoolwork, & I really wonder if it’s due to the high amount of medication I am on. I take lithium, seroquel, topimax, & stratera; the lithium I take twice a day. All of thise have a side effect of drowsiness, so no wonder I can’t stay awake even if I drink buckets of caffeine, right? Then I start getting upset that I even have to take all those medications, & I don’t want to have to do this my whole life. I have always been med- compliant, but now I feel like stopping. I know I can’t quit cold turkey, but can anyone else relate? I also have pica and it’s been out of control the past two weeks. I do not have health insurance to see my therapist, but I started looking into that today. I can’t believe almost exactly 6 years ago I was in the mental hospital barely getting the correct diagnosis, & even just months ago I felt like i was at the best point ever, & now last night I was skipping meds, crying in the bathroom about how I can’t stand being me, & not sleeping for the night because my brain is mush again. Anyways. I think I got off topic. I really do want to know if there is a point when we reach “too much” on our meds and need to go back down to the minimum. That’s all. Thanks.

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Our experience of horse riding therapy & Autism #Autism #ridingtherapy #Autistic #autismmum #autismmom

Sam is 9 now. He’s got classic Autism, sensory processing disorder, PICA &profound learning disabilities. Sam’s a sensory seeker and will seek out sensory feedback almost constantly. Sometimes this is via screaming, while other times it’s bouncing, rocking, flapping, jumping or spinning.

When a friend shared a photo of her Autistic grandson at a riding therapy session, I knew I had to try it for Sam. So I rang Foxfields Therapeutic Riding Centre and got Sam booked in.

He’s been attending once a week, for about 4 months now. During that time, Sam’s confidence on the ponies has grown massively. He is also a lot calmer for the first 2/3 days following his session.

Sam has absolutely no interest in animals usually. He ignores our 2 dogs until they annoy him. Despite this, Sam took a shine to the horses almost immediately. I really didn’t expect Sam to take to it as well as he did, but he’s really surprised me.

If you’re considering attending a riding therapy centre, check to make sure they have horses which are confident with riders of your ability - (or the person doing the session). Some ponies can only carry people under 59kg for example, so wouldnt he suitable for larger riders.

Check for testimonials online too, especially from riders with additional needs. There are a lot of riding schools now offering special needs sessions, but they may have no actual experience or training specifically for clients with disabilities.

Sam spent the first 3 lessons in the arena. He mastered walking and trotting pretty quickly. By 4, he was ready for his first local hack. Sam seemed to love riding through the woods and along country lanes.

In my opinion, therapeutic riding sessions have helped Sam (and me by default) massively. So if somewhere close to you is offering these sessions, it’s well worth giving them a call. Many of them offer a free trial class, which is what I did with Sam. So definitely ask if they do any taster sessions.

Finally, therapy and 1–1 sessions are allowed to continue, despite being back in lockdown now.

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Sudden onset of Pica?

I am a 27yro female with POTS, bipolar, depression, anxiety, gastroparesis, and IBS. Very recently (past few weeks) I’ve been craving dirt or sand or ash. Idk what triggered this, I use to enjoy eating a little sand as a kid at the beach, but it’s never been a craving or compulsion before. Does anyone know if any of my issues could be linked with pica? I don’t have insurance rn otherwise I’d make a Dr appointment and get some blood work done. I’m going to try adding iron supplements into my daily mix, but I’m just hoping for some more info in a non judgmental way. Thank you ❤️

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