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Is anorexia easier than bulimia?

1.6K views 31 replies 20 participants last post by  Sugared Sushi  
#1 ·
I mean sure restricting all the time is hard but having to throw up must be so much worse
 
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#5 ·
For some reason I hate throwing up. Okay, I guess it's not hard to understand why, but it makes my throat hurt and my hands smell like vomit the rest of the day and the worst part of all is that whenever I'm eating before I know I'm going to throw up, I can't even taste the food. I just can't enjoy food when I know it's getting purged. But if I restrict, food is so much more enjoyable, even more so than when I just eat normally. I think it all depends on the person. I personally have had more success with restricting.
 
#7 ·
I'm talking about strictly bulimic not anorexic subtype
Literally no difference.
I was AN with purging disorder
Recovered, Relapsed
Exact Same Behavior. Re-diagnosed as Bulimic.
Even my doctor said the only reason was my BMI.
 
#8 ·
I dont care if i get shit for this.

But bulimia is SO MUCH EASIER. which is why it's so fucking hard to recover from.

Me when I have anorexia - Starving constantly, cold hands, I can NEVER warm up no matter how many layers i have on -at any weight- shaky, dizzy, hair loss, cant think or focus, i'm constantly exhausted, I fall asleep in class but cant sleep at night, i get really anxious (but tbh the anxiety is probably the cause of the anorexia) I pull my hair out and scratch my skin without noticing i'm doing it.

Me when I have bulimia (which i feel like i'm slowly relapsing in to :/) - Not really ever hungry (hallelujah) , warm, my hands are normal temp, no hair loss, none of the anorexia side effects.

I don't have to worry about if i eat this i will get fat because i can just throw it up. so fucking easily.

The issue is it's too easy to do. Being sick doesn't bother me at all, it's literally the same as going for a wee or whatever because it's become so normal to me.

it had massively affected my teeth though- my main reason to try stop binging and purging and then purging,
 
#10 ·
Neither one is easy. I'm not bulimic but I've been anorexic. The obsession with not eating, what will I eat when I have to eat, how will avoid eating by isolating myself, how will not eat when I can't isolate, counting hours until I can have broccoli, doing exercise instead of fun things, crying over gaining 4 ounces. That is not easy or fun. I imagine throwing up would be just as horrible, to eat and feel out of control and throw it up must be terrifying.
 
#11 ·
I've been diagnosed with each of them at different times and I Agree with the people above... It's just a crappy either way you go. I love hate both of them. But when I'm leaning toward restricting I lose more weight so it's more effective that's for sure.
 
#17 · (Edited by Moderator)
Neither is easy. Neither is easy to recover from. Not eating is not easy. B/p is not easy. Both have their reasons for why. Anoretics purge. Bulimics restricts. Both find either difficult, sometimes. The heath complications are just as dangerous. Nothing is easy? I don't know why this is a question. Throwing up is not "worse" than depriving your body of food, they are both awful to your body, mind, etc. Please don't look for something easy... it'd all harmful and and a mental illness that haunts you. This needs to be locked.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
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#18 · (Edited)
I hate recovery from anorexia. It's not easy at all for me. I hate the weight-restoration because I can never recognize myself. When I was at a healthy weight, I just couldn't believe my eyes on what I saw and I just had to lose it. What's awful is that in that recovery, the DBT or CBT skills do not really stick with me. Especially with my thoughts regarding my body image, the symptoms just come back.

Bulimia is rough too. I have no history of it and I have never purged in my life, but I see many people from treatment come back. There are so many health issues with bulimia and it sounds just as frightening as the anorexic's health. I do not think of it as easier or worse.

Why compare the severity of a mental illness to another? Everyone is suffering. There are just different symptoms. These type of conversations are unhelpful because people with eating disorders will invalidate their pain because they feel as if it's not worse enough.

Would you say that a patient with psychosis is worse than someone with an eating disorder because they cannot distinguish reality because of their hallucinations? Some would, but only because they are uneducated about eating disorders. Both are destructive.

Pain is pain. Doesn't matter what it is or where it comes from, everyone feels pain from many different things. You do not choose this pain either. If my eating disorder were a choice, man-oh-man...
 
#20 ·
OK I have AN binge/purge subtype. All eating disorders suck but when I was restricting I felt like hell, but did feel a sense of order in my life. Bulimia is so chaotic, and I feel so ashamed of myself when I binge and purge. So IMNSHO restrictive anorexia is easier than bulimia. But I understand that everyone's experience is different so you can take what I say or leave it as you wish.
 
#23 ·
I dont care if i get shit for this.

But bulimia is SO MUCH EASIER. which is why it's so fucking hard to recover from.

Me when I have anorexia - Starving constantly, cold hands, I can NEVER warm up no matter how many layers i have on -at any weight- shaky, dizzy, hair loss, cant think or focus, i'm constantly exhausted, I fall asleep in class but cant sleep at night, i get really anxious (but tbh the anxiety is probably the cause of the anorexia) I pull my hair out and scratch my skin without noticing i'm doing it.

Me when I have bulimia (which i feel like i'm slowly relapsing in to :/) - Not really ever hungry (hallelujah) , warm, my hands are normal temp, no hair loss, none of the anorexia side effects.

I don't have to worry about if i eat this i will get fat because i can just throw it up. so fucking easily.

The issue is it's too easy to do. Being sick doesn't bother me at all, it's literally the same as going for a wee or whatever because it's become so normal to me.

it had massively affected my teeth though- my main reason to try stop binging and purging and then purging,
I love the honesty in this response and I have to say I agree completely.

The holier than thou shit on this thread is ridiculous.

Binging and buying junk is a lot easier to hide than chronic restriction. It is far more socially acceptable to buy and eat large quantities of food. Managing stress was easy because bulimia involves more action than anorexia did. What I mean to say is that bulimia requires the act of consumption of food and then the act of purging. Anorexia, for me anyway, was a lack of action - just didn't eat/ate very little. Bulimia for me felt so easy because I felt far more agentic than my anorexia. But that may just be me.

I went for ages binging and purging without getting caught or question but the restriction drew eyebrow raises much faster.

Its not comparing EDs but just comparing our own experiences of what felt easier for us.
 
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#25 ·
For me personally restricting is easier than binging & purging. It's because when I b/p I'm CONSTANTLY hungry, which caused me to do it several times a day, and still an hour later I would feel like eating again. When restricting, it takes a few days for my body to get used to eating less, and after that it's pretty easy to eat less than maintenance - no cravings and much less intensive hunger than when I purge. Also, I suck at purging so probably 50% always remained inside me anyway.

For over a year now I've only binged & purged occasionally (used to do it daily), and mainly restrict. I feel mentally much more stable this way.