Sleep eating disorder help please
I used to have excellent dental hygiene. When I was 20 I was admitted to a psych ward and struggled recovering from psychosis. I had insomnia and nightmares and I discovered if I ate food I would be able to fall back asleep.
I am 28 now and I have had times where I manage to not do this habit but as soon as I become stressed out it happens again. Since then I have had a cavity in most of my back teeth. If they don't have a filling in them they have a stain or the beginnings of a cavity. So I am trying to remineralize and arrest the decay but I am battling against this eating disorder and I feel like all the work I put into my hygiene is being undone as soon as I relapse into these bad habits.
It didn't help that the worst of this happened over COVID so I was unable to be seen by a dentist for a couple years. I currently cannot afford private dental treatments only the NHS treatments.
I floss most days with toothpaste in between the floss and I brush two to three times a day. There was a time where I brushed after I ate in the night even setting a 20 minute alarm to make sure I brushed but I have stopped doing this some how...
I also take ADHD medication and this has helped me slowly pull myself out of the hole I was in post hospital. I take these in the morning 1:30hrs before I wake up so I start my day medicated. I am wondering if this is giving me acidic saliva in the mornings and whether there is something I can do about this without changing how I take my medication. I was thinking taking an anti acid at the same time could help? I am open to changing my medication if it will help to save my teeth from further decay.
With my diet I need to eat less sugar. I notice it's much much worse when I don't eat balanced meals throughout the day. Which I struggle to do consistently. I find this really hard because it involves prepping, planning, cleaning up, spending money and shopping and then you have to have an appetite for the food which i don't really in the mornings.
The sleep eating habit Is so hard to stop. I've tried using sugar free xylitol gum and zolli pops but I almost choked on one and woke up before I also had a sore stomach because of this, it's also very expensive. During this time my teeth felt much stronger though.
I need advice and help. I don't know if my teeth are beyond helping. I do mostly all the recommended flossing and brushing and then some. I struggle with the eating component . I really don't want to have dentures and I feel like I am heading down that path for the future. If I don't change my habits radically.
So longer story short I need help with :
-stopping ' sleep eating',
-To change how I take my ADHD medication so it doesn't contribute to the acidic mouth environment.
-improve my diet and meal routines despite low appetite in the mornings.
-inspirational hopeful stories of people that have managed to stabilize their dental health after a rough patch.
- advice on arresting early decay and protecting my teeth from further damage.
I hope to save up and change the silver fillings to white as soon as I can afford to and as an incentive to myself to get to a healthier place with these habits. Everytime i look in my mouth I feel a sense of grief and guilt.
I know I am capable of making really tough changes in my life. Please help with any advice or personal stories of successfully turning this around I need all the motivation I can get.