There’s no doubt that pregnancy is a life-changing season. While many women welcome this new chapter in life with joy and anticipation, others meet it with fear and anxiety. Case in point: women who are trying to recover from anorexia.
A history of eating disorder adds another layer of complexity in the long list of complications pregnant women have to bear. Pregnancy then becomes an object of worry, sometimes, dread. If you find yourself pregnant while trying to get back on your feet from anorexia, the best way to keep yourself physically and mentally healthy is to know what to expect in this journey.
You’re at risk for relapse.
You’ll experience a lot of noticeable changes in your body during pregnancy. You’ll gain weight. You’ll experience an increase in appetite. You’ll have mood swings. All these changes would make you feel like your body is beyond control.
Add here the fact that you’d have to keep an eye on what you eat and how much you weigh to ensure proper nutrition of your growing baby. After weaning yourself off the obsession over food and weight, here you are, revisiting it. All of these are triggers, which then make for a strong possibility for relapse.
It’s important to acknowledge this, so you can take steps in guarding yourself against it. Open up this health condition to your ob-gyn. Brace yourself for the changes. Most importantly, never go off abruptly with your eating disorder treatment in Westport.
You’ll hear a lot of comments about your body.
Some will tell you that you don’t look like you’re pregnant. Sometimes, they do it to “console” you that you’re not getting that big. To you, this could trigger fixating on keeping a certain body image, perhaps driving you to restrict eating, or it could also cause feelings of shame, thinking you’re not feeding your baby enough.
On the other hand, some people will say that face is getting rounder, and that they’re happy you’ve gone healthy. This could again prompt body image issues, with you feeling you’ve lost control on your growing body. Unfortunately, all these comments about your body are inevitable.
What you can avoid though is getting yourself affected by these. This points to the importance of being consistent in therapy sessions. Psychotherapy equips you to counter negative thoughts with healthy thinking patterns. Never take treatments for granted. Instead, learn as much as you can.
You might slip into post-partum depression.
The struggle for pregnant, recovering patients continues well after giving birth. Issues can come from different sources. For instance, there’s the pressure to “bounce back.” There’s the anxiety that the body won’t “normalize.” There’s the challenge of motherhood sinking in. These can cause post-partum depression.
You may find yourself suffering mood swings, withdrawing from family and friends, losing appetite, symptoms which can put you at risk for relapse. To prevent post-partum depression, your doctor should monitor your health during pregnancy. They should be able to put you into counselling sessions if ever there are early signs of the problem.
Although there are a lot of risks during pregnancy and recovery, know that there have been women who found genuine joy in the journey. May you discover that as well even amid the struggle.
