Navigating Recovery Symptoms of an Eating Disorder

[Disclaimer: This article is for informational and educational purposes only and is not a substitute for medical advice, mental health care or eating disorder treatment.]

You finally made the choice to pursue recovery from your eating disorder or disordered eating behaviors. Maybe you hit rock bottom or something happened that you took as a sign to finally embark on this journey.

You have fought your demons and the old voices that tell you to keep shrinking your body. You have had enough of starving or stuffing your body and you’re ready to go.

One week in, you might have your first break-down. None of your clothes fit, your digestion is a war zone and you look like you are 5 months pregnant. Your first thought might be that you should probably go back to your old behaviors, because they feel SAVE right now. Not so fast.

I want to talk about 3 side effects of recovery that are a mind game to overcome, because I want to assure you that you can handle them!

Water retention in recovery

When I started my recovery journey, the water retention was physically painful. I carried so much water in my legs and arms that it was torturous to even go for a walk or get out of bed in the morning. You might not deal with such extreme water retention. But, regardless of the severity of it, I encourage you to be kind to yourself through this process.

It’s important to understand that eating more food than your body is used to leads to our muscles and other tissues holding onto water and pulling it in, making for a painful experience called Edema.

It can be scary to see our body swell up like this, but I promise you that this is very temporary.

Generally, the water retention goes away within the first month of reintroducing foods and balancing out your intake.

It’s important to not get discouraged by the temporary changes your body goes through, as it balances out your hormones.

Indigestion and severe bloating in recovery

Depending on the severity of your disordered eating, your body might have developed food sensitivities. I remember, when I first tried to reintroduce gluten back into my diet, my body was in very severe pain.

I am not celiac, so I caused this sensitivity by restricting gluten/bread for many years. When our bodies aren’t used to a certain food, they might perceive it as dangerous and reject it.

It takes a while for your body to get used to the foods that you restricted for so long.

Symptoms of indigestion are acid reflux, severe bloating, nausea, loose stools and abdominal pain.

It is very challenging to figure out our digestive system in recovery. The number one rule is COMPASSION and PATIENCE. Your body is doing the best it can to rebuild itself and recover.

It may take a couple of months for your body to release the water and calm down.

Personally, I started slowly reintroducing fear foods back into my life, one meal at a time.

The bloat was unbearable at times, but its important to stay strong and endure the short-term pain, in order for your body to heal.

A lot of people asked me how long it takes for the digestion to heal.

It’s definitely a different experience for everybody, but a rule of thumb is to have patience for the first few months and it will eventually calm down.

Dealing with bloating for a few months is always better than dealing with our eating disorder for the rest of our lives, right?

Mental health in recovery

This is probably the most challenging part of recovery. Our mind can play some serious games with us. Water retention and indigestion might send us into a tailspin of relapse-thoughts. Side effects of eating disorder recovery are anxiety and depression. Personally, I think it is a chicken and egg situation. We don’t truly know whether our anxiety came first and resulted in an eating disorder, or the other way around.

Regardless, the mental health aspect requires SUPPORT.

I truly believe that without the professional help I got through this time, I couldn’t have fought through it.

We put so much emphasis on our body and on food, so feeling “out of control” around both makes recovery so hard.

This is why so many people give up. They don’t seek the help that they truly deserve and end up going back to old, comforting (but very destructive) behaviors.

I urge you to not give up, before you try seeking that help. You deserve to be free, you deserve to let go of those old demons inside of you.

Your old behaviors never served you and life begins at the end of our comfort zone.

If you find yourself struggling mentally with your bloat, indigestion or any other side effects of recovery, always take the route of self compassion.

You have treated your body poorly for a long time. It will take a while for everything to get back to the way it once was.

The good news is that all the side effects are TEMPORARY. Nothing lasts forever and this, too, shall pass.

Some practical tips

First and foremost, every action of yours needs to be rooted in self compassion and kindness. Always speak to yourself in the most positive, uplifting and kind way. Picture yourself as someone in your life that you love. You would never speak to them harshly, right? I want you to practice speaking to yourself in the same exact way.

If this doesn’t work, speak to yourself like you would speak to a child or a puppy. 🙂

The second thing that helped me in recovery was meditation. I do this 5 minutes every morning. That is all I can commit to, but if you can do more, great! I sit on my couch in the morning, feet on the ground and do deep breathing for 5 minutes. I think about things I am grateful for or simply try and just “be”. This helps being at peace while dealing with the side effects of recovery. It is a huge part of stress reduction.

Thirdly, there is a couple of supplements you can take and foods you can eat to support your digestion throughout your recovery. Two of my favourites are probiotics and digestive enzymes. Our digestive system is very sensitive especially during the first few months of recovery. Supplements are NOT a must, however, personally they did help move things along. Fermented foods such as kimchi, sauerkraut, any fermented veggies as well as kombucha are just a few of my favourites.

Whatever you do, remember to be kind and compassionate with your body, because this is the first step in everyone’s healing journey.