I'm struggling to go through perimenopausal changes with grace, but also struggling with some disordered eating habits as I try to find a balance between accepting what nature wants to do to my body and trying to maintain a healthy weight. I'm not overly restrictive during the day. I eat when hungry. I don't crave junk early in the day. But at night once everyone is in bed I crave junk and binge. I'm not sure if I am using that word correctly in a clinical sense. I am doing HRT and my meds seem to work ok to balance me out.

I'm pretty sure this is mostly mental, like I'm trying to make healthy choices but I have a shadow self that doesn't like the rules and I keep her at bay til the end of the night. Idk. I had this problem when I tried keto a few years back. Many years ago I decided to do a raw food diet temporarily and maintained it perfectly. I didn't feel restricted or rebel against myself. But then after having children and breastfeeding my relationship to carbs changed maybe. So I tried keto and I feel AMAZING in ketosis but I end up eating tons of garbage because the mental aspect of restriction just doesn't work well for me.

So even though I am not intentionally "restricting" early in the day I am prioritizing healthier foods and I guess in some way it's effectively the same thing.

I also have PDA autism which is probably relevant as I wonder if the food choices are a "demand" and how to navigate that. I also suspect part of the current issue is due to having to take a break from my Vyvanse until I get checked by the cardiologist - since Vyvanse is also prescribed for binge eating disorder it isn't surprising if I'm struggling more with this while I can't take it. (As an aside, if you've done research into the safety of stimulants for cardiac patients, specifically those with late discovered congenital issues like a hole in the heart, please share citations for clinical studies about this as I want to advocate for the doctor to let me stay on my meds.)

I don't want to just get fat. But I also don't want to have so much mental energy taken up by this inner battle. What do?

by Nina Coslov

In my early 40s, I started noticing changes in my body. A once great sleeper, I was now waking at 2 a.m. – often with lots of energy and sometimes with anxiety. I’d be awake for about 3 hours before I could get back to sleep. Around the same time, premenstrual breast tenderness returned — something I hadn’t experienced since my 20s, before I had children. Not long after, I’d notice from time to time a pervasive edginess, a revving — an energetic ... More

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Title: Perimenopause
Category: Diseases and Conditions
Created: 7/5/2005 12:00:00 AM
Last Editorial Review: 9/17/2019 12:00:00 AM