Living with an Eating Disorder at 57 and Post-Surgery Challenges

I have had an eating disorder for as long as I can remember. I am 57 years old now. I had surgery about 4 and a half weeks ago. I thought my disorder would just go away. I was wrong. It scared me. I was so scared I messed up my stoma. I woke up and it was fine; I just had to empty it. I set my alarm for the middle of the night and about 4 times in the morning. Does anybody have the same problems?

Hi there. Welcome to the site.

Emptying during the night is pretty much the new norm for us with an ileostomy.

The number of times during the night varies.

I go at least 3 times. I can clock each hour as it seems to be always around the same times.

Usually 3 a.m., once before, once after. It sucks.

It's exhausting.

Some will say eat before a certain time like 4 or 6 p.m.

You need to find your rhythm on your "go" times. For example, if you ate at 2 p.m., when would you need to empty? That amount of time is important to know about digesting food, especially for decent sleep.

It will ease those midnight empties.

I don't need an alarm clock. My internal one seems accurate enough.

Let us know if this works.

The welcome wagon is on its way with other suggestions and advice.

Welcome again.

Lots of various eating disorders out there, you’ll need to be more specific if you wanna find someone that may have the same thing. As far as emptying at night, ostomy or not, everyone has to go. You may need to empty multiple times, once, never at night. It all varies for each of us. 

Emptying at night is normal for sure. I mean, for me, I've had a kidney stone so now I consume a ton of water during the day so I go anyway, lol. There are many disorders out there; if you can be more specific, you might find someone here who has had similar experiences. Only if you're comfortable sharing, of course.

I agree with what everyone said; emptying in the night is normal. It is not that you messed up your stoma with an eating disorder. My concern would be if you are purging, then you may cause yourself a hernia or cause yourself to get dehydrated. With an ileostomy, you can get dehydrated really fast.

Getting Support in the Ostomy Community with LeeAnne Hayden | Hollister

Daisymae, thank you for sharing such a private piece of information about you. I had anorexia in my early 20s, just flat out stopped eating. It's exhausting and debilitating. I'm grateful to be way past it, although I do still eat the chips out of cookies and leave the cookie, and eat the icing on cake and leave the cake. These are called food rituals and sometimes they remain...

You say you thought your disorder would just go away, that it scared you and messed up your stoma. Can you be more specific? Why would the surgery affect your eating habits? I want to help, just not clear on what it is exactly that's concerning you. We all wake up at least once at night to empty our bags, sometimes more depending on how much and how late we ate, that's perfectly normal.

I didn’t read any of that post but it’s gotta be the longest one I’ve seen on here. 👍 Hope you copy and pasted all of that and didn’t actually type it all out. 🥵 

he posts most of that to everyone

Indeed he does.

This is the seventh time I have seen it in as many days.

Slight overkill, don't you think?

Thankfully, there is a scroll.

Praise be to the scroll key! 🤭😉😅

My bloody mouse set on fire scrolling down that load of repeat. I am trying not to say what I really want to say. IGGIE

Too late, my friend. You already said it in another topic.

It's hard keeping one's tongue bitten, as to not say anything.

Especially when one feels something needs to be said.

Calmer heads prevail.