Both anorexia and bulimia are eating disorders. Anorexia nervosa is self imposed starvation due to an unhealthy view of the body. Bulimia is also an unhealthy view of body size, but a person afflicted with it will eat a ton of food and then purge it from their system. Both illnesses become an obsessive psychological disorder with very serious physical and mental consequences.
Eating disorders are the most perfect psychiatric illness of these modern times. We have become so obsessed with beauty that we have become fanatic about food and dieting. We glorify thinness in every magazine and movie we see. Unfortunately, we are finding it harder to keep off weight because we are no longer “farmers, hunters or gatherers”. We are the most sedentary generation than ever before. And, since we are extremely interested in the opinions that others have of us we obsess over our weight. In that obsession and the fight to get thin we sometimes slip into the psychiatric illness of eating disorders.
These two extreme eating disorders have been increasing continually in the past 20 years. Anorexia and bulimia occur much more frequently among young girls than boys, but the number of boys afflicted with it has been increasing each year. Both diseases are potentially fatal. One in every 150 girls between the ages of 12 and 18 have been affected with anorexia. Anorexia is typically a disease of young girls, bulimics are usually older and both male or female. Both disorders begin when a person becomes unhappy with their body size or shape and begins dieting. Dieting is common among teenagers, but most diets do not develop into anorexia or bulimia.
Teenagers who do get caught up in an eating disorder are usually battling low self esteem, family upheavals and / or depression. Many teenagers who develop one of these eating disorders are in a family where there are power struggles with a parent. The child wants to control something, and eating may be the only option. In very few instances a girl who is a dancer or gymnast who feels she needs to be thin for her sport will develop one of these diseases.
Anorexia and Bulimia have the same root, wanting to be thin, but they are somewhat different psychologically.
Psychological Motivation of Anorexia: Studies are showing that people with anorexia actually get a euphoric feeling when they are hungry and denying themselves food. As they continue to starve the brain releases hormones that give them a “high” feeling, similar to the “high” that runners get when running long distances. The thinner they are; the more control they exert over their hunger, the more successful they feel. Anorexics are unaware of their problem with food; they feel normal.
Psychological Motivation Of Bulimia: People who suffer from bulimia are also afraid of being fat. Most often they will weigh a normal size because they still enjoy eating. People with bulimia over eat; they consume huge quantities of food in one sitting. The food is usually junk food or comfort foods. They know they will get fat if they don’t get rid of the food they just consumed. So to control the weight gain, they take laxatives, diuretics, and induce vomiting. Bulimics understand that they have a problem with food, they just are unable to control it. They usually have impulsive, addictive personalities.
Symptoms of Anorexia: The physical symptoms of anorexia are extreme thinness with a distorted view of body size. Other symptoms are always feeling cold, leg swelling, weakness, growth of fine body hair, irritability, unable to concentrate, thinning hair, distended stomach, decreased muscle tone, slow heart beat, low blood pressure, dizziness, dehydration, and menstruation may stop. In addition, strange behaviors may develop due to starvation. A person with anorexia may enjoy cooking and baking for others, but will eat nothing herself. She may also take small portions of food (like half a piece of bread) and cut it into really tiny pieces and spend a really long time chewing each piece. A person with anorexia often will eat only one food for days at a time, such as canned green beans. The more she can control her food the more in control she feels. Exercise may become an obsession. Most anorexics never know they have a problem.
Symptoms of Bulimia: The physical symptoms of bulimia are often hidden for a long time. The bulimic will often be of normal weight, but sometimes fat or thin. After of period of bingeing and purging signs of the breakdown of the body will occur. If they self induce vomiting, their teeth will often decay and erode due to stomach acid reaching the teeth on a daily basis. The esophagus and throat will get raw and irritated. The salivary glands will swell and the bulimic will look like a chipmunk. Dehydration can occur and severe abdominal and colon damage may done if using diuretics or laxatives. A sudden heart attack or damage to the heart can be done due to the imbalance of electrolytes in the body caused by vomiting or using laxatives or diuretics. Behaviors will include spending a lot of money buying huge quantities of food. Eating in secret, sometimes as much as 20,000 calories at a time. Lying and denial about the foods they eat. Turning on the water in the bathroom so no one knows they are vomiting.
Treating both of these illnesses will need to include psychological counseling to address the underlying issues that are contributing to the disease. Intervention with a medical doctor to restore and maintain the patient’s diet and nutritional needs will need to be done also. The entire family will need to be involved in therapy, behavior modification and nutritional counseling. Both diseases have national help hotlines and other community resource programs to help if you think you have an eating disorder, or a friend or family member.
More Articles in "Diseases & Conditions, Allergies"