Nov 17, 2009 7:01 pm US/Eastern
HealthWatch: Late Night Binge Eating
The Urge To Raid Refrigerator Was So Overwhelming For Some Patients They Were Clinically Diagnosed By Doctors
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
We're all guilty of grabbing a midnight snack. But for some people eating at night is more than a bad habit. It can become an obsession that leads to a serious eating disorder. And stress can be a major trigger.
"In the morning I realized I probably ate something in the fridge in the middle of the night," Dr. Jana Dehovitz said.
"I was like why'd I do it? That I'm disgusting. I hate myself," Gail Shapiro-Scott said.
"You hate yourself. You feel embarrassed. You feel like a failure," Dr. Dehovitz said.
These women couldn't stop themselves. Their urge to eat late at night was so strong they couldn't help it. Doctors diagnosed them with night eating syndrome.
"It entails eating late in the day into the night and in more extreme cases getting up from sleep to eat," said Dr. Alan Geliebter of St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital.
Dehovitz, a pediatrician, had difficulty finding time to eat during the day. A busy job combined with her hectic personal life left her stressed and under pressure. She felt hungry only late at night. And sometimes she didn't remember eating at all.
"I would eat things in the morning. I would find a spoon or I would find things in the sink," Dehovitz said.
She gained 60 pounds but had no idea why.
"I started realizing like wait a minute who ate this? Then I started connecting it that most likely it must have been me, and I don't recall waking up at night," Dehovitz said.
Shapiro-Scott knew she was eating at night. The problem: it's what woke her up from sound sleep many nights.
"I would pop up, walk right into the kitchen conscious and I would start to eat," Shapiro-Scott said. "I just had this overwhelming feeling that I had to eat."
Not all night eaters gain weight. Shapiro-Scott is a vegan and ate lighter foods. She believes stress was the culprit that prompted her to eat.
"My mother was very ill and I was in Florida and it escalated. I did not think this was okay to eat. It wasn't okay to me," she said.
But like Dehovitz she had no control and couldn't make it stop. Both women ended up taking matters in their own hands to fix the problem. Dehovitz locked her kitchen and Shapiro-Scott posted reminders not to eat around her home.
"I would do like 'do not leave bedroom' and the refrigerator 'do not go in' ...'not hungry.' It didn't matter, so there was a sign," Shapiro-Scott said.
"I knew I should not open the door," Dehovitz added.
"They've learned to turn to food and it becomes this comforting, very reliable behavior that is there night after night," said Dr. Kelly Allison of the University of Pennsylvania.
The key to treatment is to make it less comforting and harder to do.
"Once they feel, 'yes I can get back to sleep,' their body starts not needing that food as much during the night and does let it be more at peace," Dr. Allison said.
Therapy helped both women reduce stress and literally relearn how to eat again.
"You must legitimize it. You have to cut it up. Sit down and enjoy," Shapiro-Scott said.
"I know when I feel hungry and it's a new feeling for me it's a great feeling," Dehovitz said.
Both women are now fully recovered. But they want other people with symptoms not to feel ashamed or alone.
For more information on treatment, please click
here and
here.
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