We Are More Than The Doctor's Paper

5-Eating Disorder~Binge Eating Disorder

Binge Eating is compulsive overeating. People use food as a way to cope with unwanted emotions or stress.

Some symptoms includes lack of control once eating, depression, grief, anxiety, shame, disgust and self-hatred. (www.timberline.com/eating-disorder/binge-eating/signs-effects/)

2.8% of American adults will struggle with BED during lifetime (www.eatingdisorderhope.com/information/statistic-studies)

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Hi. My name is Esperanza and I have B.E.D. That stands for Binge Eating Disorder. If you still don't understand what that means, it basically boils down to me using food to cope with unwanted emotions. Anytime I feel upset, happy, sad, anxious, I would eat and eat and eat. My mother doesn't know it, but she had a big influence on my disorder.

When I turned twelve my father left my mother for another woman. My mother was upset and so was I. While my mother "dealt" with her feelings, I "dealt" with mine. However, our ways of dealing with our feelings were different. She left me at home alone to go to the bar and drink and I ate food to fill the empty hole inside of me. My mother became very drunk on numerous accounts and would come home starting fights with me. She passed out and and I ate. It became normal for me to use food to cope with how I felt. Food became my way to escape. Not only do I have B.E.D., I'm suicidal too. Sometimes food can't help me and all my feelings get hard for me to handle. On my sixteenth birthday I planned to kill myself. Before I could my mother found me and she was ready to start a fight like always. She told me I was a sick, sick, sick person and there are doctors who can help me. My mother was right and wrong at the same time. The doctors here try and help, but they don't really help. They don't understand is here and to be frankly honest, who does?