After the introduction to eating disorders in the last post, i will now go further to discuss the three main types of eating disorders.
Anorexia Nervosa
People with anorexia typically starve themselves, even though they suffer terribly from hunger pains. One of the scariest aspects of the disorder is that people with anorexia continue to think they are overweight even when they are bone-thin. People with anorexia nervosa don’t maintain a normal weight because they refuse to eat enough, often exercise obsessively, and sometimes force themselves to vomit or use laxatives to lose weight.
The person usually experiences an intense and overwhelming fear of gaining weight or becoming fat, regardless of the person’s actual weight, and will often continue even when the person is near death from starvation. It is related to a person’s poor self-image, which is also a symptom of this disorder. The individual suffering from this disorder believes that their body weight, shape and size is directly related to how good they feel about themselves and their worth as a human being. Persons with this disorder often deny the seriousness of their condition and can not objectively evaluate their own weight.
Over time, the following symptoms may develop as the body goes into starvation:
- Menstrual periods stop (Amenorrhea)
- Osteopenia or osteoporosis (thinning of the bones) due to loss of calcium
- Brittle hair/nails
- Very dry skin
- Mild anemia
- Severe constipation
- Decreased blood pressure, slowed breathing and pulse rates
- Internal body temperature falls, causing person to feel cold all the time
- Depression, and lethargy
Muscle wasting
Bulimia Nervosa
Patients with bulimia nervosa binge eat frequently, and during these time sufferers may eat a ridiculous amount of food in a short time. They can eat very rapidly, sometimes gulping down food without even tasting it.
During an eating binge sufferers feel out of control. After a binge, stomach pains and the fear of weight gain are common reasons that those with bulimia nervosa purge by throwing up or using a laxative. This cycle is usually repeated at least several times a week or, in serious cases, several times a day. Many people don’t know when a family member or friend has bulimia nervosa because sufferers almost always hide their binges. Since they don’t become drastically thin, their behaviors may go unnoticed by those closest to them. The major difference from anorexia is that individuals with bulimia nervosa can be slightly underweight, normal weight, overweight or even obese but never as underweight as anorexia patients.
Some warning signs more specific to bulimia are mainly related to the constant vomiting and include:
Chronically inflamed and sore throat
- Swollen salivary glands in the neck and below the jaw. Cheeks and face often become puffy, causing sufferers to develop a “chipmunk” looking face
- Tooth enamel wears off, teeth begin to decay from exposure to stomach acids
- Constant vomiting causes gastroesophageal reflux disorder
- Laxative abuse causes irritation, leading to intestinal problems
- Diuretics (water pills) cause kidney problems
- Severe dehydration from purging of fluids
Binge-eating disorder
People with binge eating disorder have episodes of binge eating in which they consume very large quantities of food in a brief period and feel out of control during the binge. Unlike people with bulimia nervosa, they do not try to get rid of the food by inducing vomiting or by using other unsafe practices such as fasting or laxative abuse. The binge eating is chronic and can lead to serious health complications, particularly severe obesity, diabetes, hypertension and cardiovascular diseases.
When an eating disorder is noticed and diagnosed, treatment usually involves a lot of psychotherapy to help the sufferers deal with the poor body image or other psychosocial factors which may have led to the eating disorder in the first place. In many cases, especially with anorexia there is need for hospitalisation and even intravenous feeding to correct the electrolyte imbalances and get the person to at least start eating. And then follow up with nutritional counselling and management.
Hopefully this post has given you some insight to eating disorders generally. If you’re interested in actually seeing what these disorders may look like, there’s a show on TLC called Supersize vs Superskinny that might be helpful.
