Who can help me with my binge eating?

When someone binge eats there’s a compulsive mental state that they go into, where they consume the food, and they fixate and the world around them disappears, and you might find yourself finishing off whole blocks of chocolate and sandwiches.
Although you get some pleasure at first, binge eaters describe binging as like being in trance-like present focus state. Followed by a strong feeling of guilt and regret when they’re done.
So, why do you binge? Binge eating induces a distinct altered state of consciousness, just like any compulsive pattern, like binge drinking, addictions, or compulsive gambling. Scientists have found that the same chemicals are released in the brains of binge eaters when they act on their compulsion as in the brains of people who are addicted to amphetamines and cocaine. This then creates a negative cycle of expecting the binging, going into that trance-like present focus state, guzzling, feeling guilty subsequently, and then wanting to mask those guilty feelings with another binge.
It may be that you are not meeting your emotional needs in a health way and find your situation and some areas of your life unsatisfying or difficult, or you may have negative beliefs about yourself, and the altered state of consciousness you get into binging session can be a way of temporarily mask those unpleasant thoughts and feelings.
Also, an unhealthy diet filled with high sugar like chocolate can de-stabilise your blood sugar levels and make you more prone to binging. You have a number aspects of your general diet you need to address, and the ways you managing your stress levels, anxiety and meet your emotional needs in a better healthier way.
Powerful hypnotherapy can help you transform that binging pattern, so that you’re free from being pushed around and controlled by it. It can help you to form new mental templates to manage any unpleasant feelings and escape that present focus self-induced hypnotic state that you are current getting yourself in whenever you binge.
Feel free to contact me should you wish have a private discussion.

In my opinion you may really benefit from having a team of people around you. You have several issues going on there with your body and your mind so I think you probably need a team of a GP, dietician, health/clinical psychologist and a physiotherapist with expertise in chronic pain (I am assuming with your injuries that you experience chronic pain?).

You want to make sure that all the people in this team will talk to each other otherwise you might find yourself confused and trying to following different plans with each different therapist. You need to make sure there is one common plan and the whole team, including you, are on the same page.

You could probably start by going to your GP and seeing if they have people that they recommend. Or of course if you are based in Melbourne - this is precisely what my team specialise in.

You must be so frustrated - as it sounds like there are heaps of road blocks for you. The MHTP should cover 10 sessions per calendar year? That will be reset in January 2014.  You probably need a clinical psychologist as they get highest Medicare rebate and you might have to shop around for someone that does concession or bulk bills? The gap for someone in my team is $15 for instance if you are unemployed. You might find some who have no gap at all.

I also think you have to be a bit careful about which physiotherapist you see - and if you can't do the exercises then you need someone who will make sure they set the exercises at a low enough level that you can do them. Then gradually (as gradually as you need) build up. I know a great physio in heidelberg in Melbourne.

My worry for you is that although the pain is dealt with by your meds it sounds like it still stops you from doing things (e.g., walking) which could be so good for your mental health and your relationship with food.

The eating stuff…I bet you do know more about food than I do…but sometimes it is not just about knowledge you know? What is that saying “doctor heal thyself or something?” HARD!

It is hard to convey it all in writing like this…so don't hesitate to call anytime. But yeah, with all that going on I would feel that you will get best benefit from a team.

I am not a professional, but I am a recovered anorexic/bulemic.  i had anorexia for 7 years, bulemia for probably 5, so I figure I can help you.  To control the bulemia, I planned my meals to the last crumb, and always made sure that I had a food reward if I got through an event without binging.  At home, i tried to make sure I never had food that I could binge on, and if I could sense that it was going to happen, I would go out for a walk, for a drive, anywhere that I would not hav access to food.
I do not know if you live alone, or have anorexia, these do mess with the best of plans, as it is harder to binge when there is someone around, observing you and a prolonged abstinence from “nice” food will inevitably lead to a binge.
My solution was to eat carefully during the day and put off my dinner as late as I could, so that I always had something to look forward to.  if I binged at lunch time, it meant that I had nothing to look forward to for the rest of the day, and that made it harder to stop.
Yes it is an emotional problem, but someone telling you to get on top of your problem is not going to help you NOW, or tomorrow.
In the end, I was certified and ended up in a psych hospital, and after 6 months came out, not cured, but able to eat normally, and 30 years later I am still OK, albeit when I am unhappy i do tend to turn to food, but can generally control the binge factor.
You are likely short on oxytocin, which we do get from comfort food, so maybe a trial of oxytocin could help you.  I found that when I got a dog, and formed a loving relationship with her, it helped control the desire to binge, but that may only have been because at about the same time I discovered good sex, which also produces oxytocin.
I do not know if I could have resolved my relationship with food if I had not gone into the psych hospital, or not.

As you may know binge eating carbohydrates stimulates the reward system in the brain rewarding you with feel good chemicals such as dopamine. This is because carbohydrates are ‘food for the brain’.

It also appears that due to your injuries you cannot exercise which is also a contributing factor as exercise negates the stress chemicals as a person exercising stimulates the feel good chemicals.

Your life has changed from being active in sport and pain free and presently not employed so you could be grieving for the lifestyle that is so important to you, hence the depression.

I am also wondering when you are binge eating are you so consumed at the time that you disassociate from the pain and depression at that time?

ACFED (Australian Centre for Eating Disorders) have a list of trained therapists who may be able to assist you. The link is www.acfed.com.au/

I wish you well with your journey.