Initially described in medical journals in the 1980s, bulimia is an eating disorder that makes a person alternately eat excessively and then goes on starvation diet.
The person afflicted with bulimia eats huge quantities of food and then induces vomiting. Although this disorder sometimes affects men, it most frequently occurs in adolescent or young women adults belonging to the middle and upper social strata. While some may tend to be a little overweight, many seem to look physically normal. Since bulimics usually keep their condition secret from their love ones and friends because of the shame and embarrassment attached to the disorder, their exact number is hard to determine. Despite this, there is prevailing thought that the practice is widespread and may involve as many as one in five women under the age of thirty.
People afflicted with bulimia often have low self-esteem and are easily prone to depression. While they are typically of normal weight, they love to eat but are terrified of gaining weight. Intense hunger does not trigger their food binge, but rather a response to a stressful condition and depression. They commonly consume so-called “comfort foods,” such as sweets, ice cream, cakes, pastries and other similar high calorie foods. Most bulimics attest that filling their stomach with food gives them a warm and euphoric feeling followed by episodes of self-loathing and an overwhelming sense of guilt and terror that drives them to induce vomiting as their way of regaining control.
Oftentimes, a person suffering from bulimia induces vomiting through the use of emetics or cathartics to evacuate bowel. This practice exacts a heavy toll on the body of the bulimic because aside from the possible toxic effects of the drugs that they use to induce vomiting or move bowels, the acidic gastric juices in the stomach will irritate the esophagitis or esophagus lining and erode the teeth enamel. Incessant purging and vomiting upsets the body’s electrolyte balance and causes swelling of the parotid gland.
Being a psychological condition, bulimia is treated similarly as anorexia nervosa. Unlike anorexics, however, bulimics do not experience severe weight loss and their long-term prognosis is slightly better and their recovery rate is comparatively higher. If you suspect a friend or a family member to be suffering from bulimia, suggest medical consultation or counseling by an expert but be ready for resistance, denial and even anger from the person concerned. Sound counseling, medical supervision and strong family support goes a long way in helping bulimics make appropriate social and psychological adjustments and overcome this deadly habit.
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