Description

Bulimia (boo-LEE-me-uh) nervosa, commonly called bulimia, is a serious, potentially life-threatening eating disorder. People with bulimia, binge eating. This means that people feel they have lost control over your eating. Eat large amounts of food in a single session. This often occurs in secret, and they often feel guilty and ashamed. Then they try to get rid of the food and the extra calories in an unhealthy way, such as vomiting or the misuse of laxatives. This is called the blowdown.

If you have bulimia, you probably focus on your weight and body shape, even when you're trying to think of other things. You can judge yourself severely and harshly for what they see as flaws in their appearance and personality. Bulimia is related to how you see yourself — not only about the food. It can be difficult to overcome, and that can be dangerous.

It is important to remember that an eating disorder is not something that you choose. Bulimia is a complex disease that affects how the brain works and how to make decisions. But effective treatment can help you feel better about yourself, eat healthier and to reverse serious complications.

Symptoms

Bulimia symptoms may include:

  • Living in fear of gaining weight and trying to lose weight in unhealthy ways.
  • Repeatedly eating unusually large amounts of food in a single session.
  • Feeling of loss of control during the binge. You may feel like you can't stop eating or can't control what you eat.
  • Vomiting in the end or the exercise to the extreme after binge eating so that you don't gain weight.
  • The use of drugs that cause you to urinate, called diuretics or laxatives or enemas to pass stools when not needed.
  • The fasting, the limitation of the intake of calories or not eating certain foods between binge eating.
  • The use of dietary supplements or herbal products for weight loss. These products can be dangerous.
  • He is very happy with their body shape and weight.
  • Leaving your body shape and the weight of the guide of how you feel about yourself and your worth.
  • Having extreme mood swings.

People with bulimia may use different methods to purge. The severity of bulimia depends on the number of times a week that you purge and the problems caused by doing so.

When to see a doctor

If you have any bulimia symptoms, seek medical help immediately. If left untreated, bulimia can seriously affect your physical and mental health.

Talk with your primary healthcare professional or a mental health professional about your bulimia symptoms and feelings. If you are not sure whether you want to seek treatment, talk with someone about what is going on. This could be a friend or a loved one, a teacher, a religious leader, or someone else you trust. This person can help you take the first steps to getting help.

Help a loved one with symptoms of bulimia

If you think a loved one may have symptoms of bulimia, talk with the person openly and honestly about your concerns. You can't force someone to get help, but it can give encouragement and support. You can also help to find a health professional or mental health professional, make an appointment, and even offered to go to the appointment.

People with bulimia can be at any weight. For example, you might be the average weight or overweight. That is why you can't tell just by looking at someone the size, if that person has bulimia.

Symptoms of bulimia that family and friends may notice are:

  • Always worry about eating or being overweight.
  • Have a distorted view or a negative body image, or both.
  • Eating unusually large amounts of food again and again in a single session.
  • Follow a strict diet or fasting after a binge.
  • Have acid reflux, difficulty passing stool, and other stomach problems.
  • Not wanting to eat in public or in front of others.
  • Go to the bathroom immediately after a meal or during the meal, or for long periods.
  • Doing a lot of exercise.
  • Have wounds, scars or calluses on the knuckles or hands.
  • You have damaged teeth and gums.
  • Change of weight up and down.
  • Swelling in the hands and feet, and cheeks and jaw.

Causes

The exact cause of bulimia is not known. Genes may play a role in the development of bulimia and other eating disorders. Emotional health, and family history may play a role. Also, the pressures of society to be thin may play a role.

Risk factors

Women are more likely to have bulimia than men. Bulimia often begins in adolescence or young adulthood.

Factors that increase your risk of bulimia include:

  • The history of the family and of the genes. Having a family history of eating problems and weight control problems can increase the risk of an eating disorder. People with first-degree relatives, siblings, parents, or children — who are diagnosed with an eating disorder may be more likely to have an eating disorder. This suggests a possible genetic link.
  • Mental health and emotional problems. Mental health and emotional problems, such as depression, anxiety, or substance abuse, are closely linked with eating disorders. People with bulimia can feel bad about themselves, especially if they are bullied about weight or shape. In some cases, distressing events and factors that cause emotional distress may play a part, such as abuse as a child.
  • Slimming diets. People who diet are more likely to have eating disorders. Many people with bulimia severely limit the calories between binge eating sessions. This can cause you to binge eat again, and then purge. Other causes of binge eating may include stress, strong emotions, have a distorted view or a negative body image and boredom.

Complications

Bulimia can cause serious and even life-threatening complications, including:

  • Not seeing yourself as worthy and feeling hopeless or even suicidal.
  • Problems getting along with others or to be socially isolated.
  • Poor nutrition.
  • Not drinking enough fluids, which can lead to major medical problems, such as kidney failure.
  • Heart problems such as an irregular heartbeat, or heart failure.
  • Severe tooth decay and gum disease.
  • Not having a period or not having a period on a regular schedule.
  • Gastrointestinal problems, including tears in the tube that carries food, or a hole in the stomach or the small intestine. You may also have rectal prolapse, which is when a part of the large intestine slips out of the anus.

The conditions that often occur together with bulimia include anxiety, depression, personality disorders or bipolar disorder, and the use and misuse of alcohol or drugs. Self-harm, thoughts of suicide or suicide may also occur.

Prevention

Although there is no sure way to prevent bulimia, you may direct someone towards a healthier behavior or professional treatment before it gets worse. Here's how you can help:

  • Promoting and supporting a healthy body image in your children, no matter their size or shape. Helps them to have more confidence in many parts of their personality, not just how they look.
  • Regular, nice meal with the family.
  • Don't talk about weight or shape at home.
  • Discourage the diet. This is especially important when it involves unhealthy weight-control behaviors, such as fasting, the labelling of foods as good or bad, the use of the weight loss supplements or laxatives, or vomiting.
  • Talk with your primary healthcare professional to look for the first signs of an eating disorder.
  • If you notice a friend or loved one that seems to have issues with food that might lead to or suggest an eating disorder, think about talking with the person about these issues and ask how you can help. If you do, be supportive.

Diagnosis

To diagnose bulimia, your health professional will:

  • Talk with you about your eating habits, ways to lose weight, and physical symptoms.
  • Do a physical exam.
  • Request blood and urine tests.
  • Request an EKG or other test to detect problems with your heart.
  • To do a mental health evaluation, including talk about how you feel about your body and weight.

Your health care professional may also request further testing to pinpoint a diagnosis, rule out medical causes for the weight changes and check for any related complications.

A diagnosis of bulimia usually includes episodes of bingeing and purging at least once a week for three months. But none of binge eating and purging behaviors, even when performed with less frequency, it can be dangerous, and needs treatment. The higher frequency of episodes occur, the most severe bulimia.

Treatment

When you have bulimia, you may need one or more types of treatment. The treatment includes therapies and medications can help you feel better.

The treatment typically involves a team approach that includes you, your family, your primary healthcare professional, a mental health professional and, at times, a dietitian who knows how to treat the problems of power.

Here's a look at bulimia treatment options.

Talk therapy

Talk therapy, also known as talk therapy, involves talking with a mental health professional about your bulimia and related topics.

Studies show that these types of psychotherapy can reduce the symptoms of bulimia:

  • Enhanced cognitive-behavioral therapy, also known as CBT-E, to help teens and adults with bulimia create a healthy-eating patterns and replace unhealthy, negative beliefs and behaviors to healthy, positive beliefs and behaviors.
  • Family-based treatment, also known as FBT, to help parents of children and adolescents with bulimia learn about what to do with unhealthy, eating habits, and help their children to regain control over what you eat.
  • Dialectical behavioral therapy (dbt, to help people better tolerate distress, to be more balanced emotionally, be more aware and to get along better with others.

Ask your mental health professional which type of therapy is used and how the therapy helps to treat bulimia.

Medications

Specific antidepressants may reduce the symptoms of bulimia. The only antidepressant that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved specifically for the treatment of bulimia is fluoxetine (Prozac). This is a selective inhibitor of the reuptake of serotonin, also known as an SSRI. It may help with the symptoms of bulimia, even if you are not depressed. This medicine works best when used with talk therapy.

Nutrition education

Dietitians with special training in the treatment of eating disorders can help. You can design a meal plan to help you eat more healthy, handle the feeling of being too hungry or have too many cravings, and provide good nutrition. Eat regularly and not to limit the amounts or types of food you eat is important in overcoming bulimia.

Hospitalization

Generally, bulimia can be treated outside of the hospital. But if the symptoms are severe and have serious health complications, you may need to be treated in a hospital. Some programs for eating disorders may offer day treatment instead of a stay in the hospital.

Challenges of treatment of bulimia

Although the majority of people with bulimia improve, some find that the symptoms do not disappear completely. The periods of binge eating and purging may come and go over the years. For example, some people may binge eat and purge when you're under a lot of stress.

If you are new in the binge-purge cycle, for help. Follow-up sessions with your primary healthcare professional, nutritionist, or mental health professional can help you before your eating disorder is out of control again. Positive learning to cope with the situation, find a healthy way to interact with others, and managing stress can help to maintain a power problem to return.

If you've had an eating disorder in the past and you notice that your symptoms come back, seek the help of your health care team right away.

Lifestyle and home remedies

In addition to professional treatment, the use of these self-care tips:

  • Follow your treatment plan. Don't skip therapy sessions. Also, try to follow what you and your therapist plan for the period of time between sessions, even if those plans are made to feel uncomfortable.
  • Learn about the bulimia. To know more about your condition can help you to continue with your treatment plan.
  • Getting the proper nutrition. If you are not eating well, or you are bleeding a lot, your body is probably not getting all the nutrients you need. Talk with your primary healthcare professional or dietitian about what supplements of vitamins and minerals that you need. But you should try to get most of your vitamins and minerals from food.
  • Stay in touch. Don't stay away from caring family members and friends who want to see you get healthy. They know that they have your best interests at heart. And you have people that care about you in your life is healthy for you.
  • Be gentle with yourself. Try not to weigh-in, or check yourself in the mirror a lot. These actions can fuel the drive to maintain unhealthy habits.
  • Be wary of the exercise. Talk with your primary healthcare professional about what type of physical activity is right for you, especially if you do a lot of exercise to burn the calories after binge eating.

Alternative medicine

People with eating disorders are at risk of abuse of dietary supplements and herbal products designed to make you less hungry and help you lose weight. Weight loss supplements or herbs that can have serious side effects and be even more dangerous when taken with other medications.

The FDA does not require the approval of the weight loss supplements and diet to go on the market. And "natural" does not always mean security. If the use of supplements or herbs, consult your primary healthcare professional about the risks.

Coping and support

You may find that it is difficult to deal with bulimia when the media, coaches, family, and maybe your own friends or colleagues who are giving mixed messages. How do you cope with a disease that can be deadly when you're also getting message that being thin is a sign of success?

Be sure to:

  • Remember what is a healthy weight for your body.
  • Try not to diet or skipping meals, which can lead to binge eating.
  • Don't skip therapy sessions.
  • Do not visit websites that support or praise of the eating disorders.
  • Work with your treatment team to find out what situations, thoughts, or behaviors that may play a role in bulimia. Create a plan to deal with those situations.
  • Make a plan to deal with the difficulties of any setbacks.
  • Look for positive role models that can make you feel better about yourself.
  • Find activities and hobbies that you enjoy to distract the attention of the thoughts of binging and purging.
  • Feel better about yourself by forgiving yourself, focus on the positive, and the accreditation and self-acceptance.

Get support

If you have bulimia, you and your family can find support groups to be a source of encouragement, hope and advice on how to cope. The members of the group can understand what is going on, because I've been there. Ask your health care professional if a group in your area.

Coping tips for parents

If you are the parent of a child with bulimia, you can blame yourself for your child's eating disorder. But, eating disorders have many causes, and it is known that parents do not cause eating disorders. Parents play a very important role in helping their children recover from these diseases.

Here are some suggestions:

  • Make sure that your child receives treatment. Take part in the plan of treatment for you to know how you can better support your child.
  • Listen. Be an active listener. Give your child a safe space to talk and share feelings without judgment.
  • The regular family meals. Eat in the routine of the times, it is important to reduce binge eating.
  • Let your teenager know of your concerns. Not blaming anyone. An eating disorder is not an option or something to your child. It is a complex disease that affects the brain of your child and how your child takes the decisions.

Remember that eating disorders affect the entire family. You need to take care of yourself too. If you feel that you are not coping well with his son, bulimia, professional advice can help you. Or ask your child's primary healthcare provider about support groups for parents of children with eating disorders.

Preparing for your appointment

Here's some information to help you prepare for your appointment, and what to expect from your health care team. Ask a family member or friend to go with you, if possible, to help you remember the key points and to provide a more complete picture of what is happening.

What you can do

Before your appointment, make a list of:

  • Their symptoms, even those that do not seem to be related to the appointment.
  • Key personal information, including any major stresses or recent life changes.
  • All medicines, including those available without a prescription, as well as vitamins, herbal products or other supplements you are taking, and their doses.
  • Questions to ask your health care professional, so that you can make the most of their time together.

Some questions to ask your primary healthcare professional or mental health professional include:

  • What kinds of tests do I need? What do I need to prepare for these tests?
  • The treatments that you recommend?
  • Is there a generic alternative to the medicine you're prescribing for me?
  • How will treatment affect my weight?
  • Are there brochures or other printed material I can have? What sites do you recommend?

Do not hesitate to ask questions during your appointment.

What to expect from your doctor

Your primary healthcare professional or mental health professional will likely ask a number of questions, such as:

  • How long have you been worried about your weight?
  • What do you think about food often?
  • Do you ever eat in secret?
  • Have you ever thrown up because you were too full?
  • Have you ever taken medication for weight loss?
  • Do you exercise? If so, how often?
  • They have to find other ways for you to lose weight?
  • Do you have any physical symptoms?
  • Have any of your family members had symptoms of an eating disorder or have been diagnosed with an eating disorder?

Your primary healthcare professional or mental health professional will ask more questions based on your responses, symptoms, and needs. Prepare and anticipate the questions will help you make the most of your appointment time.

Symptoms and treatment of Bulimia nervosa