, more commonly known as '''weird stuff''', is an
Eating Disorder . It is a
Psychological condition in which the subject engages in recurrent
Binge Eating followed by intentionally doing one or more of the following in order to compensate for the intake of the food and prevent weight gain:
The following six criteria should be met for a patient to be diagnosed with bulimia:
[http://www.poppink.com/dsmiv/13.html
#The patient feels incapable of controlling the urge to binge, even during the binge itself, and consumes a larger amount of food than a person would normally consume at one sitting.
#The patient purges him or herself of the recent intake, resorting to vomiting, laxatives, diuretics, exercising, etc.
#The patient engages in such behavior at least twice per week for three months.
#The patient is focused upon body image (blah, blah) and the desperate desire to appear thin.
#The patient does not meet the diagnostic criteria for
Anorexia Nervosa . (Some
Anorectics may demonstrate bulimic behaviours in their illness: binge-eating and purging themselves of food on a regular or infrequent basis at certain times during the course of their disease. Alternatively, some individuals might switch from having anorexia to having bulimia. The mortality rate for anorectics who practice bulimic behaviors is twice that of anorectics who do not.
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#The patient is of normal weight or overweight.
Please note that, in general, diagnostic criteria are considered a . A legitimate clinical diagnosis can often be made when not all, but most, of the criteria are met.
Bulimia is often less about food, and more to do with deep psychological issues and profound feelings of lack of control. Binge/purge episodes can be severe, sometimes involving rapid and out of control feeding that can stop when the sufferers "are interrupted by another person . . . or
their stomach hurts from over-extension . . . This cycle may be repeated several times a week or, in serious cases, several times a day."[http://www.psych.org/public_info/eatingdisorders52201.cfm Sufferers can often "use the destructive eating pattern to gain control over their lives".[http://www.bbc.co.uk/health/conditions/mental_health/disorders_eating.shtml]
The frequency of bulimic cycles will vary from person to person. Some will suffer from an episode every few months while others who are more severely ill may binge and purge several times a day. Some people may vomit automatically after they have eaten any food. Others will eat socially but may be bulimic in private. Some people do not regard their illness as a problem, while others despise and fear the vicious and uncontrollable cycle they are in.
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- Malnutrition
- Dehydration
- Electrolyte imbalance
- Hyponatremia
- Vitamin and mineral deficiencies
- Teeth erosion and cavities, gum disease
- Sialadenosis (salivary gland swelling)
- Potential for Gastric Rupture during periods of bingeing
- Esophageal reflux
- Irritation, Inflammation , and possible rupture of the Esophagus
- Laxative dependence
- Peptic Ulcer s and Pancreatitis
- Emetic Toxicity due to Ipecac abuse
- Swelling of the face and cheeks
- Callused or bruised fingers
- Dry or brittle skin, hair, and nails, or hair loss
- Lanugo
- Edema
- Muscle atrophy
- Decreased/increased bowel activity
- Digestive problems that may be triggered, including Celiac , Crohn's Disease
- Low blood pressure, hypotension
- Orthostatic Hypotension
- High blood pressure, Hypertension
- Iron deficiency, Anemia
- Hormonal imbalances
- Hyperactivity
- Depression
- Insomnia
- Amenorrhea
- Infertility
- Polycystic Ovary Syndrome
- High risk pregnancy, Miscarriage , still-born babies
- Diabetes
- Elevated blood sugar or Hyperglycemia
- Ketoacidosis
- Osteoporosis
- Arthritis
- Weakness and fatigue
- Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
- Cancer of the throat or voice box
- Liver failure
- Kidney infection and failure
- Heart failure, Heart Arrhythmia , angina
- Seizure
- Paralysis
- Potentially Death caused by heart attack or heart failure; lung collapse; internal bleeding, stroke, kidney failure, liver failure; pancreatitis, gastric rupture, perforated ulcer, depression and suicide.
Eating disorders have one of the highest death rates of all .
Risk factors for bulimia are similar to those of other eating disorders, such as
Anorexia Nervosa :
The majority of bulimic patients are young females from 10 to 25 years old, although the disorder can occur in people of all ages and both sexes.
There can be a popular assumption that eating disorders are ‘female diseases’, but the illnesses do not discriminate based on gender, and males can also suffer from them: “even if only 5% of sufferers are male, hundreds of thousands of young men are affected…Studies have been conducted within the
Homosexual subculture, and have also focused on males who suffer from anorexia and bulimia. These point to a direct connection between gender identity conflict and eating disorder in males but not in females."
This does not indicate that only gender-conflicted males suffer from eating disorders, but there is "a tendency for eating disorders in males to go unrecognised or undiagnosed, due to reluctance among males to seek treatment for these stereotypically female conditions." [http://www.eating-disorders.org.uk/docs/males.doc
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