What to Do When You're Sick During Eating Disorder Recovery
I’ve recently recovered from a nasty bought of the stomach flu, and it got me thinking about how illness can affect eating disorder recovery. You’re on your recovery journey in San Diego and elsewhere, and things are progressing nicely, when WHAM!! You get the flu, get a cold, or even learn that you have a a serious condition that needs more intense medical care, like surgery. It can be incredibly overwhelming, and it can definitely affect how you eat and how you see your body.
I’ve outlined three tips on how to navigate the rough waters of illness while in eating disorder treatment in San Diego and around the world. These three tips expand beyond the typical steps, such as seeing your medical doctor and take over the counter remedies. The reason is because eating disorders are incredibly complex—physiologically, nutritionally, and psychologically. Tackling all three areas when you are feeling crappy can be a challenge—so these strategies are quick, simple, and can help you get back on the road to recovery ASAP.
TIP #1: Tell your eating disorder dietitian ASAP.
Being sick affects how you eat. Even if you’re not struggling with a tummy virus like I had, all kinds of illnesses (and even chronic pain) influences your appetite, as well as your hunger and fullness cues. Any effort you’ve made toward intuitive eating can go out the door, and it can feel discouraging.
As soon as you realize that you are ill, contact your registered dietitian (RD) immediately. The RD will let you know how you can make sure you can maintain your nutritional needs. For example, you might have an illness that requires that you only take fluids. In that case, your dietitian can tell you what kind of liquids could give you “the best bang for your buck” nutritionally (thank you, Dr. Megan Hellner, for the use of that phrase in this context—I love it!).
RDs can also help with myriad issues that can accompany illness and pain, such as gastrointestinal symptoms, low energy, and inflammation.
TIP #2: Practice radical acceptance when body image issues increase.
When we get sick, our bodies can look different. It can result from the illness itself, and it can come from the medications we’re taking to fight the symptoms. Either way, when you’re already struggling with your body image, having your body change on you can feel really scary. It can sometimes seem as though you can’t trust your body anymore. I totally get how overwhelming it can be.
The best antidote to this phenomenon is to practice radical acceptance, which is a dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) technique. It is sitting in the moment and telling yourself, “Yes, I feel like crap. Yes, I feel as though I can’t trust my body right now because it is doing all of these weird and awful things. At this moment, I can’t do anything about it. It is what it is. It feels terrible. AND, I’m still okay.” Radical, right??? Yet full of that nonjudgmental, moment-to-moment acceptance that you need.
TIP #3: Lavish yourself with self-care.
I love the word LAVISH because it makes me thing of putting on a thick coat of yummy-smelling lotion on my skin and just letting it all soak in. That’s what I want you to do for yourself when you’re sick when it comes to self-care. I know that it’s so hard to be sick, especially for those of you who grapple with perfectionism. Being sick or injured my be THE LAST thing that you want because it’s getting in the way of being productive, goshdarnit!!!
I often tell my clients that perfectionism can be a superpower—and with great power can come great responsibility (borrowing from Sami Rami’s Spider-Man, but whatevs). The responsibility in this case is that all of those amazing traits that you use to further your high-achieving self, you can take those traits and use them to lavish yourself with love and acceptance. So it means that you are going to do such a fantabulous job taking care of yourself that you are going to be the RULER OF THE SELF-CARE UNIVERSE. You’re going to be able to write a BOOK on self-care after this bought of illness, and it’s going to be AWESOME!
Above all, hang in there. You will feel better. It’ll just take time. Wrap yourself in a soft blanket, watch some great tv, and rest in the knowledge that you’re doing exactly what your body needs. That’s self-love, baby.
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Hey all, thanks for reading my blog! I hope you have a fantastic day. :)
Marianne 😊
Join me LIVE on Tuesday, September 13th, from 12 pm to 1 pm Pacific Time for my FREE virtual Masterclass: The Ultimate Training to Break Free from the Binge Eating Cycle.
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Want more great stuff on eating disorder recovery? Need more info on ARFID, bulimia, eating disorder treatment, binge eating, and countless other eating disorders in San Diego, check out the resources on my website, including previous blog posts, PLUS my guest-speaking gigs on podcasts.
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