ED Community Forum Discussion: Harm Reduction 2/21/20

General

What does harm reduction mean to you?

What questions do you have about harm reduction?

What is the difference between harm reduction and full recovery?

Bulimia Community

Do you have harm reduction techniques that work for you?

What potential dangers and consequences exist for your current behaviors?

Are there behaviors you would like help with reducing?

Anorexia Community

Do you have harm reduction techniques that work for you?

What potential dangers and consequences exist for your current behaviors?

Are there behaviors you would like help with reducing?

Binge Eating Disorder Community

Do you have harm reduction techniques that work for you?

What potential dangers and consequences exist for your current behaviors?

Are there behaviors you would like help with reducing?

ARFID Community

Do you have harm reduction techniques that work for you?

What potential dangers and consequences exist for your current behaviors?

Are there behaviors you would like help with reducing?

Other Specified or Unspecified ED Community

Do you have harm reduction techniques that work for you?

What potential dangers and consequences exist for your current behaviors?

Are there behaviors you would like help with reducing?

i'm ana/osfed and my biggest harm reduction behavior is high-restricting. before, i'd low restrict and then binge and then purge and then low restrict again, that whole cycle. but lately, i've been high-restricting and it honestly helps! it's still not a healthy amount of calories, but it's better than before. something else that i do is i have weekly refeed days where i eat about 30% more calories than i usually do during the week, and it helps keep my metabolism okay. maybe this doesn't make me really anorexic, but at this point i'm so sick of my ED and this is the easiest step towards recovery i can take, so i'm going with it :)

@alittlewanderer

I'm really glad this has been working with you! Relaxing your rules a little bit in terms of how many calories you let yourself eat is a great harm reduction strategy. It's really good to hear that you've been getting a little more nutrients in you, and that doing so has put a halt on the binge/restrict cycle. It's such a vicious cycle and I know how frustrating it can be! I also know that a lot of complex feelings can be tied up in what diagnostic category we fall into, but your struggle is vaid regardless of what you're symptoms are, what your weight is, or what little boxes you fall into in the diagnostic criteria.

You're taking great steps and I'm so proud of you--I hope things continue to improve for you

@Shanna

thank you, that means a lot <3

Anorexia Community

Do you have harm reduction techniques that work for you?

Not really any thaat I can say work well because I am still learning new techniques.

What potential dangers and consequences exist for your current behaviors?

There are so many that it is hard to list and really would be too TW <3

Are there behaviors you would like help with reducing?

I want to try to reduce restricting behaviours