Bulimia is an eating disorder that's hard to detect, even by those close to the victim. It's a condition in which obsession with food and weight gain becomes overwhelming and results in episodic eating frenzies (binging) followed by attempts to lessen the effects of eating an entire cake in one sitting (not at all unusual) through self-induced vomiting or the excessive (read dangerous) use of laxatives..
The Likely Victims
Bulimics are usually teenage girls or college-aged women. Mature women are susceptible, but less frequently undertake these dangerous eating practices. Few men or teenage boys suffer with bulimia. Many bulimics report feelings of inadequacy, powerlessness, and a tendency to overachieve in their personal, academic, and professional lives. Do you know someone who fits the profile?
Anorexia versus Bulimia
Unlike anorexics, bulimics often appear to be physically healthy. They may have struggled with weight in the past, but are generally fit and properly-proportioned at the time the disorder takes hold. Their weight remains within the realm of "acceptable" over long periods of time, which is why they don't appear to be suffering from any kind of eating disorder.
Unlike anorexics, bulimics are usually aware that their behavior is abnormal. They keep their binging and purging to themselves, living in fear of being criticized or controlled. They often feel deep guilt over their activities. The guilt then plays into this cyclical disease, leading to yet another episode of binging.
The attempts to counteract binging fall into two general categories: purging and non-purging.
Signs and Symptoms
(Not all bulimics suffer all symptoms listed.)
- Pre-occupation with food
- Compulsive food-related behavior (excessively discussing, recording, weighing)
- Hording food
- Lying about food
Finally, episodic marathon eating sessions, usually associated with stress, always in secret, followed by:
| PURGES |
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Vomiting after meals
Abuse of laxatives, water pills, diet pills
Enemas |
| OR |
| NON-PURGERS: |
|
Excessive exercise
Fasting |
The Long-Term Dangers
Gastro-intestinal problems
Heart complications
Dehydration
Heart Attack
Severe tooth decay
(due to repeated exposure to stomach acid)
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Ulcerations of the stomach, trachea and mouth
Kidney damage
Malnutrition
Death
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The Treatment
Bulimia is not a diet gone mad and it's certainly not something to be ignored or denied by loved ones, in the hope that it'll pass. This eating disorder traps people in a cycle of guilt, inadequacy, feelings of both power and powerlessness and self-abuse. This is a serious disorder - one that won't go away without professional help. If you, or someone you know, is keeping this dangerous secret, please talk to a professional who can help - a counselor, a medical professional, a trusted friend. Some secrets are not meant to be kept.
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