r/ruminationsyndrome

For the past few months I've been experiencing vomiting after every meal. Even after drinking water. Not all of my meal comes back up, I'd say around half. I don't get nauseated or any chest pain, I just eat then 5 to 10 minutes later it comes back up. It's can last for up to 1-2 hours and the food still tastes the same, not acidic.

Some background, it started in my eating disorder inpatient treatment. I was recovering from anorexia and I do have a past of being bulimic. But at the moment I'm not forcing myself to vomit or anything, it's like I have to burp and then undigested food comes rushing out my mouth.

Can anyone give me some insight?

I talked to someone today who said they were using rumination to control their weight because it felt "safer" than vomiting. Less acid, less damage. I used to tell myself the same thing.

I spent 4 years trapped in rumination syndrome before finally breaking the cycle in March. One of my biggest regrets is how long I ignored what it was doing to my teeth.

Tbh, for a long time, they looked completely normal, so I assumed I was fine. Then one day I noticed they were getting yellower. It wasn't staining. My enamel had slowly worn away, exposing the darker dentin underneath.

By the time I realized it, the damage had already been done.

If you're stuck in this cycle, there are three things I wish someone had told me sooner:

• Don't brush your teeth right after an episode. Wait about an hour.
• Rinse with water. If you have baking soda, adding a little to the water can help neutralize the acid.
• If this has been going on for a while, tell your dentist. Mine recommended a high-fluoride toothpaste because my enamel was already wearing down.

When u're deep in an eating disorder, your teeth probably aren't your biggest concern. They weren't mine either.

I just wish I'd understood that my teeth look fine" and "my enamel is fine" are not the same thing.

Take care of them. You'll be glad you did.
Much love,
Emile

One of the best advice I heard about great ideas is from Stephen King. He said "a writer's notebook is the best way in the world to immortalize bad ideas". It means that great ideas keep popping up in your mind because they won't let you go and that it's important. It can be applied even to other aspects of life, business idea or a any kind of project. If the idea is truly good it will stick around, like a rash until you do something about it. It literally speaks to you and wants to come to life.

Do you have anything in your life which is stuck like a gum in your thoughts? Do you have unfinished goals or dreams? Does something bother you to the point you can't sleep?

It's your moral and personal duty to address it. If you want to live in peace with yourself, you can't ignore the highest voice you have in you - your consciousness. That's the voice that keeps talking and you ought to listen to it. If not, well...you can see for yourself what will happen. Nothing good. I can promise that.

So what will you do about the voice? Will you keep ignoring it or will you finally heed to its cries?

I have begun rumination symdrom 1 year ago while I was also anorexic. I was using it to absorb less food but during my recovery 4 months ago, I totally stopped to Split my food to help my body heal but I never stopped regurgutating and chewing my food after almost every meal because it permits me to enjoy the taste and texture of my meals more time. I always have chewing-gum with me so people never ask what I am chewing.

Now, I have gotten back into spliting sometimes after a big meal or a desert that I didnt necessary needed.

So I am just thinking if rumination symptom can not nexessary be a bad thing if it can permit me to enjoy my food and eating what I want with limited results on my weight.

Does it has any secondaire effects ?

Excuse me if my English is not good, It is not my first language.

Have you ever experienced manipulation that made you doubt your own memories? And then, when you eventually found out the truth, it left you feeling angry, hurt, and humiliated all at once? To make matters worse, the other person continued to lie, took zero accountability, flipped the script, and rewrote the story?

That's exactly what happened to me.

It happened a couple of years ago and lasted for a relatively short period of time, but somehow the impact never fully left me. Some days I barely think about it. Other days, I ruminate so much that I feel physically ill.

It was a truly horrible experience. I was extremely naive back then, couldn't articulate my thoughts well, and didn't trust my own intuition. And what that person did completely destroyed my mental health.

I have worked a lot on healing myself. But even now, there are days when I wake up and immediately remember the things that person said, the disgusting lies, the insulting things spoken behind my back, and most importantly, the attempts to manipulate me, manipulate others, and shift the blame for their mistakes onto me with no regard for my wellbeing. Only that person's needs and image seemed to matter.

I'm happy and truly grateful to God that it ended long ago, but somehow the trauma remains. I sometimes have vengeful thoughts too. I keep questioning how someone could do that to me and play the victim?

It was my first experience with a truly narcissistic person. The maliciousness, lack of empathy, and discovering the reality of that person's intentions truly shook me.

I really need help managing my thoughts, letting go of the trauma, and forgiving someone who will probably never apologize, if only for the sake of my own sanity.

Any advice?

Tbh, I told myself it wasn't that bad. I told myself I could manage it. I told myself I'd deal with it later.

I'm 22 now and studying engineering. I spent about 4 years stuck in a daily cycle of rumination syndrome, and for a long time I never really stopped to look at what it was actually doing to my life.

One day I sat down and wrote it out

Here's what ended up on the raw list:

• 4-5 hours lost every day.
• Planning my entire schedule around meals.
• Constantly looking for places to hide.
• Turning down invitations and skipping weekends away.
• Keeping people at a distance because normal dinners felt impossible.
• Making excuses just to disappear into a bathroom.
• Constant low-level anxiety before any meal or social situation
• Spending a kitesurfing trip in Morocco hiding instead of being on the water.
• Sitting in class wondering if the person next to me could hear or notice anything.
• Thinking about symptoms, food, pressure, and escape plans from morning to night.
• Avoiding friendships and romantic relationships because I couldn’t handle normal meals or dates.
• Waking up with swollen cheeks from constant regurgitation.
• Watching my teeth slowly get worse.
• Constant anxiety about my breath.
• Losing motivation for things I actually cared about.
• Fear of having children and still being trapped in the cycle.
• Losing the feeling of being a normal version of myself.
• Fear of choking in my sleep.

 

and against all of that, I had exactly one single toxic bonus on the other side: The heavy dopamine hit of ruminating because it felt safe, comfortable, and predictable. Seeing everything written down hit harder than any appointment or medical explanation ever had.

Over the following months, I became slightly obsessed with understanding my own patterns. I tracked symptom timing, posture, breathing, abdominal tension, meal timing, sleep position, and anything else I could think of. Eventually I put all my notes, observations, and the things that helped me into a 25-page document because I was tired of rewriting the same explanations over n over.

I've been free of the cycle since March 2026.

I'm not saying everyone here has the same underlying problem. Rumination syndrome can look different from person to person. But writing MY list was probably the turning point for me because it forced me to see the real cost of doing nothing.

What's on your list?

What's the biggest thing this condition has taken from you?

And if anyone wants the document I put together during recovery, i would be happy to share it. 

Much love,
Emile