Most girls and women are captive of stereotypes and, in pursuit of an ideal appearance and figure, are constantly trying to change themselves. This struggle does not always end in victory; often the consequence of such a war is; the disease is insidious, which, in turn, leads to irreversible health consequences.
People communicate less and less in reality; communication has been replaced by fashionable gadgets. No one discusses problems in private with each other, no one shares news, but life is “boiling” online. Here people fall in love, meet and even have affairs. People are exchanging real life for a ghostly virtual space.
Julia, 22 years old, says:
“I have few friends, and I don’t meet them often. But online I feel great. I come home from college and start surfing - wandering aimlessly through websites and pages. social networks. Sometimes I read some materials. I don't communicate much on forums; I mostly read other people's posts. One secret warms my soul: no one knows that I have been suffering from bulimia for 5 years. Do you know what this is? This is when you buy food for a week and eat it all at once. And then you need to vomit the food in order to understand that you have not harmed your body. No, I’m just causing harm, otherwise why in the morning I look like I’ve been drinking water or something stronger all night - my face and eyes are swollen, I’m swelling all over. But my weight is normal.
Only this is not the norm that it was at 15-16 years old, when my weight was ideal. And then, by the age of 17, with a height of 170 centimeters, I began to weigh 65 kilograms and panicked.
Yes, I started eating right, going to the gym, tightening my figure, but then I gave up everything, and the weight began to grow rapidly again.
And then I discovered this wonderful remedy. It’s probably not normal that I drink laxatives and diuretics by the handful, as well as tranquilizers and antidepressants, and sometimes such melancholy attacks me, even if I cry. My teeth are crumbling and won't go away. colds, sometimes I have cramps, but I can’t help it. My main activity is inducing vomiting, and so on from morning to evening.
I promise myself to improve my eating behavior starting tomorrow, but the next day nothing happens. I feel lonely and sad again, and only food becomes a source of pleasure for me, and even communication on the Internet.
I have lost my interests and friends, but I understand that I no longer want to live like this. There is information about bulimia on the Internet, but there is not very much of it. I'm starting to write a blog where I will tell people about how I became bulimic and what consequences it led to. I hope my advice will help someone."
What do you know about bulimia?
Most often, those who want to lose weight by restricting their eating habits suffer from bulimia. Sometimes bulimia is caused by failure, stress, feelings of loneliness and lack of positive emotions.
A person constantly worries due to real or imaginary reasons, and eventually begins to consume food in huge quantities. He swallows it quickly, most often without even chewing it.
Then the patient experiences burning shame, he begins to reproach himself and his body. He is afraid that he will get better, a desire appears at any cost to get rid of the food he has consumed, and he immediately fulfills this desire. The patient induces vomiting artificially, then begins to take laxatives and diuretics. To this, almost all bulimics add increased physical activity.
In this struggle, the body becomes a victim and hostage of the disease. The patient does not realize that the consequences of bulimia can be irreversible - up to the failure of some organs and his death.
Consequences of bulimia:
What happens to the body of a bulimic? The work of all internal organs is disrupted.
Let's name the main health consequences of bulimia.
- 1
Chronic dehydration (occurs due to constant artificial vomiting and prolonged use of diuretics) leads to an imbalance in water and electrolyte balance. This means that the body experiences a severe deficiency of calcium salts, sodium chlorine, and potassium, which can impair muscle contractility, including the heart muscle. Those who suffer from bulimia, due to disruption of the heart and kidneys, experience numerous edemas. They experience tachycardia, enlarged lymph nodes, shortness of breath and weakness.
- 2
Metabolism is disrupted, the endocrine system “fails.” Thyroid and parathyroid levels drop while levels of the stress hormone cortisol rise. The production of female hormones also decreases, which can lead to menstrual irregularities in women.
- 3
The digestive system begins to work incorrectly: gastritis and ulcers of the stomach and duodenum occur. Most of the beneficial enzymes that are necessary for the normal functioning of the body are excreted before they have time to be absorbed. The mucous membrane of the mouth and esophagus is constantly inflamed. The condition of tooth enamel deteriorates, up to complete tooth destruction. Ulcers form in the esophagus, which are difficult to treat and can lead to serious problems, including cancer.
- 4
The condition of hair and nails deteriorates significantly, hair falls out, thins, becomes dry, brittle and lifeless. Without timely treatment, bone and muscle tissue weakens.
- 5
The functioning of the nervous and cardiovascular systems is disrupted. Patients constantly feel anxious and cannot sleep. The biological rhythms of the body change.
Head of the Eating Disorders Clinic Anna Vladimirovna Nazarenko main reason Bulimia considers breakdowns that result from many years of “dieting.” All women want to be thin and slender, but when a woman constantly limits herself, she craves delicious (and forbidden) food. She begins to eat everything, becomes horrified at what she has done, and begins to vomit this food. This is how the disease mechanism starts.
Bulimics keep their illness a secret...
It is difficult to recognize patients with bulimia: they are no different from those around them, and they keep their disease a secret, and can only tell their closest friend about it (and more often than not, they do not trust this secret to anyone).
Their life becomes a “running in a vicious circle”, where a diet is followed by a breakdown, then a cleansing, and again all over again. After cleansing, the patient immediately begins to feel hungry, which means that the state of “food binge” is close.
Because of this rhythm of life, he constantly experiences remorse, hence melancholy and depression. At the heart of bulimia are hidden deep psychological experiences. Trying to transfer all feelings to food is a unique way to find answers to life's important questions, but food will not help find a way out.
We need to understand that bulimia is not a simple disorder. eating behavior. This disease hides a whole complex of problems, and it is impossible to solve them with one effort of will.
How to help with bulimia
If you have discovered this disease in yourself or your loved ones, do not panic, but act. Just don’t sit on the forum for years and read the advice of others.
When you have a toothache, you go to the dentist. Why are you hoping for a miracle for the hundredth time and thinking that tomorrow morning you will wake up and start eating right?
If the problem is serious, and you understand that you cannot cope with it yourself, you should not go into a new “round of weight loss/eating/vomiting/exhausting workouts”, but look for a specialist who will help you cope with the disease.
Specialists at the Anna Nazarenko Eating Disorders Clinic have many years of successful experience in treating bulimia. You can schedule an initial consultation to determine the severity of your bulimia and receive recommendations for further treatment.
The consequences of bulimia can be simply catastrophic. Few people lose weight with bulimia nervosa, and the reasons for gaining weight back are as follows:
- even when the stomach is emptied by vomiting, more than half of the calories still manage to be absorbed;
- the use of laxatives and diuretics also affects calorie absorption;
- due to impaired metabolism, metabolism slows down greatly, and therefore all unspent calories are converted into fats.
More serious consequences include:
- destruction of tooth enamel, frequent cases of caries, periodontal disease;
- enlargement of the salivary glands often develops;
- constant irritation of the throat mucosa due to frequent vomiting ;
- menstrual irregularities;
- problems with intestinal motility, constipation;
- endocrine disorders;
- sharp fluctuations in weight, it can change sharply within 15 kg (both in the direction of losing weight and, conversely, gaining weight).
Since bulimia is a complex mental disorder, treatment must be comprehensive. In addition to psychological discomfort, patients with bulimia nervosa are usually diagnosed with more than one concomitant disease, caused by regular forced vomiting.
Therefore, in the treatment of this disease it will be necessary to drug therapy, and conversations with the patient in order to identify the characteristics of his behavior and character, and psychotherapeutic assistance. It is especially important to understand the reasons that caused such a critical attitude towards oneself, to identify the peculiarities of the thought processes of a person suffering from bulimia and to correct them.
An important stage of therapy is control over the amount of food consumed. The doctor must identify the factors that provoke an increase in food consumption and find effective ways to eliminate such irritating moments. Diet therapy is carried out, in which the most rational diet is selected strictly individually for each patient.
It is equally important to adjust the patient’s self-esteem in the direction of increasing it, to evaluate the abilities and skills of a patient with bulimia to communicate with people, build interpersonal relationships, and develop a positive attitude towards himself and the people around him. They often resort to family psychotherapy: this is necessary so that close and dear people also become aware of the problem, help and support the patient on the path to recovery.
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Bulimia, the consequences of which can be simply irreversible, is a disease that requires compulsory treatment. Here are the main pathologies that accompany bulimia:
- Gastroesophageal reflux disease and pathologies of the esophagus.
- GERD is a chronic disease with severe relapses. The treatment is long-term.
- Chronic reflux Indigestion is a condition where the contents of the stomach and duodenum are thrown back into the lower esophagus without control. Symptoms of this disease: constant heartburn, sour belching, pain in the stomach is sharp and severe, pain radiates to the sternum, neck and left side chest.
Reflux can occur due to chronic overeating, when the stomach is constantly full, causing the contractility of the esophagus to not work properly. This condition causes a vicious circle when, due to the inability of the sphincter to close between the esophagus and the stomach, the acidic contents of the stomach flow back into the esophagus, thereby damaging the lining of the esophagus and causing further damage to the sphincter.
Esophagitis. This disease develops against the background of GERD. Characterized by inflammation of the mucous membrane of the esophagus. The patient experiences a feeling of constant presence of a lump in the throat, pain when swallowing, nausea and constant urge to vomit.
To the most severe consequences these two diseases can be attributed to rupture of the esophagus. In this case, its contents fill the chest cavity, which leads to severe pain and early death. Fortunately, this condition is extremely rare. The rupture occurs due to thinning of the walls of the esophagus due to constant inflammation and pressure from the stomach as its contents fill the lower parts of the esophagus.
Dehydration of the body. Dehydration occurs most often due to constant vomiting and diarrhea. Already with a fluid loss of 10%, a person feels a general malaise, and with a fluid loss of 20%, the patient’s life is threatened.
For chronic bulimia, especially in late stages anorexia, dehydration is necessarily present, which is characterized by:
- weakness and drowsiness;
- rapid fatigue and frequent dizziness.
Hypokalemia. A condition characterized by a lack of potassium, which is responsible for many physiological processes in the body. With bulimia, potassium is lost in the urine and with constant diarrhea, and little is supplied through food. Characteristic symptoms for potassium deficiency:
- Fast fatiguability.
- Muscle weakness.
- At night, seizures may occur.
- With a long course of the disease, temporary paralysis and paresis occur.
- The occurrence of shortness of breath.
- Chronic constipation.
Other consequences of bulimia:
- Injuries oral cavity, pharynx, larynx.
- Gastroparesis.
- Mallory-Weiss syndrome.
- Stomach ulcer.
- Disturbances in teeth and salivary glands, etc.
Face and mouth
- Purging by self-induced vomiting may causetooth damage: Strong stomach acids erode gums and tooth enamel over time, which can lead to tooth sensitivity.
- Cheek swelling : Puffy cheeks may be a sign of swollen salivary glands called sialadenosis.
- Red eyes : Severe vomiting can cause damage to the blood vessels in the eyes.
- Hoarse voice : Stomach acid from vomiting can damage your vocal cords.
- Cough : Continued irritation from acid in the throat can cause a cough.
- Bulimia can also cause sores, pain, and swelling in the mouth and throat.
Frequent vomiting can also cause problems throughout digestive system. Many people with bulimia have digestive problems, including acid reflux and stomach pain.
The sphincter that controls the esophagus becomes weaker, allowing acid to enter the esophagus and cause disease symptoms gastrointestinal tract. Other possible problems digestive problems include diarrhea, bloating and constipation.
Hematemesis may occur if the vomiting causes a rupture in the esophagus, which can cause life-threatening bleeding.
Frequent cleaning can also damage blood vessels near the anus, causing hemorrhoids.
People who use diuretics and laxatives for cleansing may have other digestive problems. Abuse of these drugs can lead to addiction, which disrupts intestinal motility without their use.
Diuretics, which reduce potassium levels and cause dehydration, can also damage the kidneys, which can lead to chronic kidney disease or kidney failure.
Bulimia can affect mental and emotional health.
The person develops feelings of guilt, shame, lack of control and a distorted body image.
Other problems mental health problems that commonly affect people with bulimia include:
- mood swings;
- depressive thoughts or actions;
- obsessive-compulsive behavior;
- general anxiety.
People with bulimia do not get enough calories and nutrients. Lack of nutrients can slow down processes in the body. Forced vomiting and diarrhea disrupt body chemistry, which can lead to the following problems:
- low heart rate;
- arrhythmia or disorder heart rate;
- difficulty regulating body temperature.
Bulimia can also affect the pancreas. This body functions as an endocrine and exocrine gland and secretes insulin, hormones and digestive enzymes. Bulimia can lead to inflammation of the pancreas, called pancreatitis.
Pancreatitis usually causes a number of signs and symptoms, including severe abdominal and back pain, nausea and vomiting, fever and dehydration. The condition can be life-threatening and requires emergency medical attention.
Over time, electrolyte imbalances in people with bulimia and other eating disorders increase the risk of serious cardiovascular complications. These complications may include abnormal heart rhythms and heart failure.
Loss of fluid, whether due to vomiting, overexertion, or use of diuretics, can cause severe dehydration. Dehydration can lead to extreme fatigue and dangerous electrolyte imbalances. If people do not replace lost electrolytes, they may be at risk of critical health problems.
Dehydration and poor nutrition can also affect hair, skin and nails. The skin becomes dry, while hair may fall out. Nails may become brittle.
Lack of calories and nutrients can cause hormonal imbalance in the body, which can lead to changes in the reproductive system.
When estrogen and progesterone levels are low, women may stop menstruating. The ovaries stop producing eggs, making pregnancy impossible. A person with bulimia may also experience a loss of sexual desire.
Pregnant women who vomit put themselves and their babies at risk for many more complications, including:
- low birth weight of the baby;
- miscarriage;
- anomalies;
- premature birth.
Low levels of reproductive hormones can lead to bone loss, increasing the risk of osteoporosis and bone fracture.
The consequences of bulimia can be very serious, the most minor being difficulty concentrating, and the severe - heart attacks. Bulimia is a disease characterized by constant overeating, after which a person is artificially relieved of the food he has eaten by inducing vomiting or taking laxatives.
At the same time, calories in the body are still retained; a person is freed from only 75% of all calories eaten. Taking laxatives can cause:
- Dehydration of the body.
- Intestinal dysfunction.
- Loss of fluid, but not calories.
- Getting used to the drug and the need to increase the dose, which leads to intestinal damage and frequent constipation.
- If a person suffering from bulimia takes diuretics, then over time he will develop kidney problems, and the body will become dehydrated without losing calories.
Causes of pathology
The causes of bulimia can be divided into 3 groups:
- Psychogenic reasons. Personal problems, low self-esteem, frequent depression, loneliness, increased anxiety, obsessive actions and thoughts.
- Organic reasons. Problems with endocrine system, disturbances in the functioning of the brain responsible for the balance of hunger and satiety. Some diseases lead to dysfunction of the system that controls appetite, such as diabetes, tumors in the central nervous system, hyperthyroidism, etc.
- Social reasons. Setting standards perfect figure, mistakes of parents in raising a child, sedentary lifestyle, seclusion, lack of interests in life, frequent snacking due to lack of employment.
Types of bulimia:
- Bulimia nervosa. Most often, this type of disease is characteristic of people aged 25-30 years, when food becomes the main way of relaxation. The causes of bulimia nervosa are psychological problems, stress, and low self-esteem. But sometimes this type can be affected by health problems - endocrine disorders, central nervous system diseases or genetic predisposition. This type of disease is characterized by its periodicity, periods of active absorption of food are replaced by restraint in eating. Therefore, such people either gain or lose weight.
Any of these types of pathology can be successfully treated, the main thing is to start therapy on time and follow all the doctor’s recommendations.
For a long time, doctors could not come to a consensus: is bulimia a disease of the digestive system or a psychological disorder? The answer depends on the causes of kinorexia in a particular case: they can be physiological and psychological. The former are characterized by the presence of hormonal and metabolic pathologies that are hereditary in nature or appear in connection with brain injury.
However, doctors often have to deal with bulimia caused by psychological reasons. In this case, the disease can be considered as a type of drug addiction: the bulemic becomes dependent on food. Eating is physiologically associated with the production of endorphins (hormones of happiness). When experiencing negative experiences or depression, a person often resorts to food as a simple, accessible way of escaping problems into positive feelings. It becomes a drug. As with other types of addiction, over time a person wants to get more and more pleasure.
He concentrates not on the taste of food, but on its quantity and frequency of intake. The mechanism of appetite control is disrupted - hunger appears not when the body needs food, but under a certain emotional state. Including immediately after eating. Bulemic realizes that he eats too much and feels guilty.
If we rely on statistics, then most often women under the age of 35 suffer from bulimia in Russia. Only five percent of all patients are men. With this disease, people suffer from two main obsessions - food and weight loss. A woman, even if she has a good physique, is sure that she is fat and strives to lose weight through a variety of strict nutrition programs and diets.
It is important to understand how to deal with bulimia on your own. More on this below.
In fact, a person finds himself in a vicious circle and is in constant stress. Under certain circumstances, a breakdown occurs, which is expressed in uncontrolled and excessive consumption of food. Eating a large amount of food, the patient feels euphoria, which is then replaced by panic and fear. The result is a rapid increase in body weight, which provokes the development of new stress and breakdown in bulimia. What kind of disease this is is of interest to many.
There are a number of other reasons why bulimia may develop:
- Excessive desire for ideal appearance.
- Lack of nutrients in the body that occurs as a result of strict diets.
- Increased feelings of anxiety, frequent stress.
- Low self-esteem, which arose as a result of real or fictitious shortcomings.
- Genetic predisposition.
Typically, people who suffer from bulimia are unable to independently determine the cause of their own overeating. Only specialists can do this, but the patient often avoids consultation in every possible way.
We figured out what kind of disease it is – bulimia.
Bulimia is a condition of a person when he eats a lot of food, practically without feeling full, after which all possible ways tries to get rid of stomach contents by inducing vomiting. Other methods aimed at preventing calories from being absorbed include enemas, the use of diuretics and laxatives, grueling physical activity and other methods hazardous to health.
The vast majority of patients are women who have an unhealthy desire to lose weight or an insane fear of gaining extra pounds, but at the same time they do not want to switch to a balanced diet. Instead of choosing an individual diet, it seems easier to them to overeat on sweets, hamburgers, rolls and the like for pleasure, and then they can simply induce vomiting and get rid of all the calories eaten at once.
Many women are confident that this way of eating does not cause any harm to their health, and, of course, to their shape. But it’s not for nothing that bulimia has other names – bulimia nervosa or bulimia neurosis. After all, this condition is directly related to psychological problems that women solve by eating.
But if bulimia is not treated, then the hour is not far off when the girl or woman who has suffered from it will be overtaken by depression, complete self-doubt, constant feelings of guilt, and severely low self-esteem. Agree that such consequences of bulimia cannot in any way be recognized as a positive outcome of deliberate overeating and then forced disposal of the same food.
Unfortunately, the exact causes of bulimia remain a mystery today. But predisposing factors may be fashion trends in society, excessive focus on one’s own appearance, looking for flaws where there are none, peculiarities of cultural traditions, unresolved family problems, problems in relationships between people, some problems associated with disorders of biochemical processes in the brain, any genetic disorders.
- Bulimia nervosa. Most often, this type of illness is characteristic of people in their old age, when food becomes the main way of relaxation. The causes of bulimia nervosa are psychological problems, stress, and low self-esteem. But sometimes this type can be affected by health problems - endocrine disorders, central nervous system diseases or genetic predisposition. This type of disease is characterized by its periodicity, periods of active absorption of food are replaced by restraint in eating. Therefore, such people either gain or lose weight.
- Bulimia of puberty. This type occurs in teenage years in girls, when puberty occurs. At this moment, there is also an alternation of attacks of increased appetite with periods of complete aversion to food.
Any of these types of pathology can be successfully treated, the main thing is to start therapy on time and follow all the doctor’s recommendations.
GERD is a severe chronic disease characterized by long-term treatment and frequent relapses. Chronic gastric reflux is a disease in which there is a reverse, uncontrolled release of the contents of the stomach or duodenum into the lumen of the lower esophagus.
Clinically, GERD manifests itself as chronic heartburn and frequent sour belching against the background of sudden severe pain in the area of the stomach, extending into the chest area, neck and left side of the chest.
The manifestation of reflux is facilitated by many factors, the main of which are overeating, a constantly full stomach, and a decrease in the contractility of the esophagus. The disease is characterized by a certain vicious circle - the damaged sphincter between the stomach and the esophagus is in a loosely closed state, which contributes to the return of acidic contents to the esophagus, the mucous membrane of which is irritated, causing additional harm to the sphincter.
At the core etiological factor Reflux, with bulimia nervosa, is a constant fulling of the stomach due to overeating and stimulation of the artificial gag reflex.
Esophagitis – inflammatory disease mucous membrane of the esophagus, which is a companion of reflux, which complements the overall clinical picture with a constant feeling of a lump in the throat, pain when swallowing and moving a food coma, nausea and persistent vomiting.
Spontaneous rupture of the esophagus occurs extremely rarely, when its contents fill the free lumens of the chest cavity, which is accompanied by severe pain and leads to sudden death. The cause of rupture of the esophagus is the thinning of its walls due to chronic inflammatory reactions who are exposed strong pressure at the moment of a gag reflex and they, unable to withstand the load, burst.
Frequent vomiting processes provide constant contact of the oral cavity with the acidic environment of the stomach contents, which, with regular exposure, causes damage to the enamel and then dentin of the teeth.
Gastroesophageal reflux disease and esophageal pathologies
In acute digestive disorders caused by frequent overeating and subsequent vomiting, favorable conditions are often created for the development of peptic ulcer and duodenum.
Even during physiologically normal digestion, the gastric mucosa always experiences serious stress due to mechanical pressure from food volumes, irritation by small particles of indigestible particles, high acid concentration gastric juice and pepsin reactivity - digestive enzyme produced in the stomach.
With bulimia nervosa, patients, trying to empty their stomach once again, do not think at all about possible consequences digestive disorders, which in 99% of cases manifest themselves in the form of peptic ulcers.
Digestive juices, which were secreted to digest the volume of newly received food, begin to actively destroy the mucus and mucous membrane of the stomach, due to the lack of food after artificially induced vomiting. Thus, the most important protective factor is damaged, which ultimately leads to deep damage to the mucous epithelium and underlying layers.
Pathological microorganisms Heliobacter, one of the few representatives capable of surviving and actively reproducing in the highly acidic environment of the stomach, begin to accumulate in the formed pathological foci.
The activity of microorganisms, an acidic environment and constant trauma from contents and vomiting create conditions for the active development of an ulcer, which, without timely and correct treatment, will result in perforation of the stomach wall and the spread of gastric contents into the abdominal cavity.
Constant exposure to the acidity of gastric contents has a serious pathological effect on the activity of the salivary glands, primarily due to chemical irritation of their excretory lumens. In addition, the acidic environment in the oral cavity promotes active secretion, and with longer exposure, suppression of saliva production.
- damage to the esophagus from stomach acid;
- gastritis and stomach ulcers.
It should be understood that a person suffering from this pathology does not consider himself sick, and that is why he does not consult a doctor. Most people think that eating disorders are just a bad habit that needs to be broken. This is precisely what can explain the fact that a person hides the symptoms of the disease in every possible way and is not treated.
In almost all cases of bulimia, it is accompanied by other disorders, for example, severe depression, problems in the sexual sphere, and alcoholism. Medical practice indicates that half of people suffering from this disease can be completely cured. However, the risk of relapse is very high. The success of therapy depends to a large extent on the desire of the patient himself and his willpower. Your doctor will tell you how to treat bulimia.
How to deal with bulimia?
There is no quick way to get rid of bulimia. Bad habits and food addictions have been formed over a long period of time, so the treatment will be just as long.
The first thing to do is to try to convince the sick person that he is really sick and needs to start being treated. You will need a competent psychological help and possibly antidepressants.
But these drugs provide temporary relief. Success in treatment depends not even on the choice of the right drug, but on the patient’s desire to get rid of his condition.
Sometimes neither relatives nor friends of the patient even suspect the presence of the disease, since bulimia does not manifest itself with pronounced symptoms. A person can be normal, overweight, or even underweight.
When you start fighting bulimia, you need to have patience and willpower. The support of loved ones is also necessary during this period.
The first thing to do is to try to convince the sick person that he is really sick and needs to start being treated. You will need competent psychological help and, possibly, antidepressants.
Signs of illness
There are several main signs characteristic of this psychological disease:
- A desire to eat food that is uncontrollable. This is what makes the patient overeat.
- Sudden fluctuations in weight.
- Taking certain measures that, according to the patient, can help him avoid weight gain. Such measures may include cleansing enemas, the use of diuretics, and artificial induction of vomiting.
- A person evaluates himself by his weight.
- The first and most a clear sign sick people have a fanatical attitude towards their figure. Most patients have NORMAL WEIGHT, but worry about gaining weight drives them crazy. By the way, the disease usually begins with a seemingly innocent hobby, to watch your figure and control your own weight. But, gradually it turns into mania. Such people continuously measure their parameters, step on the scale at the first opportunity, and constantly look at themselves from all sides in the mirror;
- The next key to solving the disease should be constant stay on all kinds of diets, daily inventing new restrictions for yourself. Such people
And also such unpleasant signs of bulimia as sharp fluctuations in weight, from exhaustion caused by anorexia, which is an extreme manifestation of bulimia, to obesity.
By the way, we should make a small digression and explain why, despite all the measures taken to prevent food from being absorbed, patients with bulimia eventually end up obese if they do not die earlier from their zeal!
- The absorption of food begins in the stomach. And, despite artificially induced vomiting, 70% of the absorbed calories have time to be absorbed. And if getting rid of food occurs through laxatives, then even more is absorbed;
- Metabolic processes gradually fail and the body's metabolism slows down sharply. This leads to the fact that the food eaten almost entirely becomes fat;
- Exhaustive exercise leads to increased muscle mass and dehydration. At the first opportunity, the body, trying to regain lost moisture, builds up a fat layer
Patients are not aware of their situation and do not think about how to get rid of bulimia.
Attention! Very typical: many patients try to carefully hide their obsessive behavior.
You can distinguish a bulimic from an ordinary person by periodic uncontrollable bouts of overeating, when the refrigerator can be completely cleared of available products. People suffering from bulimia are very sensitive to even minimal changes in weight; they often go on all sorts of diets with strict calorie counting, which most often do not produce any results, because bulimics resort to “glutton days,” when all foods prohibited by the diet are swept off the table.
Signs of bulimia
Very often, any (even the smallest) nervous experiences, when food is used to calm down, end in gluttony. Over time, completely insignificant incidents cause a desire to absorb food, thereby calming down, and the amount eaten increases with each new episode.
External signs by which bulimia can be traced include the following:
- an overly critical attitude towards any of your actions and towards your personality as a whole;
- hatred of one's body, constant feelings of guilt, depressive state;
- the desire to receive approval from others for any of your actions;
- excessive exaggeration of one's own weight;
- decreased or complete lack of self-control.
Main symptoms of bulimia
The pathology is difficult to diagnose, since the manifestations of the disease are not obvious, but bulimia nervosa can be suspected based on the following physiological symptoms:
- painful, painful feeling hunger, which has a paroxysmal character. After eating - stomach pain, nausea. There is no satiety reflex.
- Constant fluctuations in weight and body volume in the abdominal area.
- Irritation of the throat, pharynx, esophagus, oral mucosa (as a result of regular vomiting).
- Swelling of the parotid gland.
- The pancreas produces more juice than necessary, and blood sugar levels decrease, which leads to constant fatigue, weakness, decreased activity, and increased sweating.
It is very difficult to recognize kinorexia, since a person carefully hides his condition from others and does not perceive it as a disease. However, the disease is usually indicated by the following behavioral signs of bulimia:
- A person eats abundantly, hastily, chewing poorly and swallowing food in large pieces.
- Bulemics, as a rule, eat alone, hiding regular meals from others and family. The person becomes withdrawn and secretive.
- Night gluttony, accompanied by complete absence appetite, aversion to food in the morning.
- Immediately after eating, bulemics tend to retire in order to remove food from the body. As a rule, they carry with them a set of necessary medications: emetics, diuretics, laxatives.
In addition, there are several additional symptoms of psychological bulimia that will help recognize the disorder. loved one.
- regular use of diuretics;
- excessive concern about one's body;
- debilitating physical exercise for weight loss;
- the patient is in constant fear of gaining extra pounds;
- abuse of laxatives and emetics;
- destabilization of behavior, inability to control emotions;
- uncontrolled eating to the point of abdominal pain;
- taking all kinds of dietary supplements to promote weight loss;
- inducing vomiting after eating;
- strict diet or fasting;
- frequent attacks of despondency and nervous tension.
How to treat bulimia? If you find similar symptoms in a loved one, you should immediately contact a specialist. A bulimic will never do this on his own. When an attack occurs, a person experiences a strong feeling of hunger, even though this moment the stomach may be full of food. Often, obsessive ideas appear that are related to food; a person may have dreams in which he will see a variety of dishes.
As a result, the patient cannot concentrate on school or work, and the ability to lead a normal life is lost. In those moments when a person is left alone, he immediately begins to consume food. Due to the fact that the patient eats very quickly, he practically does not feel taste. As a result, the patient may eat foods that are completely incompatible with each other. It is important to note that in such cases the total energy value of consumed products is very high.
When the stomach becomes full of food, it begins to put pressure on the diaphragm and internal organs located nearby. As a result, breathing becomes difficult and pain occurs in the abdominal area. However, the feeling of euphoria from eating food is quickly replaced by a powerful feeling of guilt and remorse. The early stages of the disease are characterized by rare manifestations of breakdowns that occur after a person has experienced stress. However, as the disease progresses, the situation does not change for the better, and attacks occur much more often.
Bulimia effects on the body
Frequent vomiting and diarrhea lead to disruption of the flow of water into the body, which leads to its general deficiency - dehydration, or dehydration. Severe painful sensations begin to appear already with a general water shortage of 10%; when the level of losses decreases to 20%, death occurs.
Chronic bulimia, especially in the later stages of anorexia, is always accompanied by dehydration, which is characterized by general weakness, increased drowsiness, rapid physical fatigue, dizziness, nausea, headaches and discomfort in the heart, as well as dry skin.
- sores and wounds in the mouth;
— leaching of calcium from bones (osteoporosis);
- excessive stimulation of the pancreas;
- diarrhea, leading to loss of minerals and weakening of intestinal activity;
- numbness of fingers and toes;
- swelling of the feet and ankles;
- increased urination due to leaching of potassium from the body.
Ask yourself the following questions. The more “yes” you say, the more likely you are to suffer from an eating disorder.
- Are you obsessed with your body and your weight?
- Does food dominate your life?
- Are you afraid that once you start eating, you won't be able to stop?
- Do you feel unhealthy after eating?
- Do you feel guilty, ashamed, or depressed after eating?
- Do you use laxatives or diuretics for weight control?
Vomiting immediately after eating can eliminate, at best, only 50% of the calories consumed. This is because calorie absorption begins the moment you put food in your mouth. Laxatives and diuretics are even less effective. Laxatives get rid of only 10% of the calories eaten, and the use of diuretics does not lead to anything at all. You may weigh less after using them, but only as a result of water loss, not true weight loss.
Patients try to refrain from eating in the presence of strangers; they hide diuretics and laxatives from relatives and friends. These are the main reasons why pathology has a negative impact on a sick and weakened body. Such consequences are sometimes irreversible; they contribute to the development chronic diseases, even lead to death.
- Dehydration of the body;
- Kidney failure;
- Infertility;
- Cessation of menstruation or disruption of the menstrual cycle;
- Intestinal motility disorders;
- Ulcer, gastritis, gastrointestinal diseases;
- Caries, destruction of tooth enamel;
- Panic disorder;
- Deterioration of the condition of hair, skin and nails;
- Diseases of the esophagus due to regular exposure of the esophagus to stomach acid.
Almost all patients experience these consequences. However, the disease can affect various organs person depending on the individual characteristics of the organism.
Hypokalemia
The pathological condition of hypokalemia is characterized by an acute lack of potassium in the body, an essential trace element involved in many physiologically important processes in the body.
Significant losses of potassium in bulimia nervosa occur due to its copious discharge with urine and with diarrhea, as well as with insufficient intake from food.
When the level of potassium ions in the blood decreases below 3 mmol/l, symptoms of fatigue, muscle weakness, and night cramps, characterized by severe pain, begin to appear. With prolonged potassium deficiency, temporary paralysis or paresis, shortness of breath, and chronic constipation may occur.
With the uncontrolled use of diuretics and laxatives, in 98% of cases a water-electrolyte imbalance occurs, which is characterized not only by a deficiency of water and potassium, but also by other vital important microelements regulating metabolism in the cells of the body. Chronic course disorders of water and electrolyte metabolism often result in serious disturbances in the functioning of the heart and end in death, which is one of the main reasons for the high mortality rate among patients with bulimia nervosa.
How to treat bulimia?
Therapy for this disease is the responsibility of doctors such as a psychotherapist and a psychiatrist. They will tell you how to treat bulimia at home. In difficult situations, when a person has thoughts of suicide or symptoms of severe exhaustion and dehydration, he may be sent to hospital for treatment.
Only complex therapy, which combines the use of necessary medications and the help of a psychotherapist, will allow you to achieve maximum results. Hypnosis is also often used for bulimia. Basically, drug therapy has the same scheme, but the help of a psychiatrist is always individual.
Injuries to the mouth, pharynx and larynx
Very often, when examining the oral cavity in patients suffering from bulimia nervosa, numerous injuries are discovered to the mucous membranes of the oral cavity, pharynx and larynx, due to mechanical damage to the fingers and nails during the artificial induction of the gag reflex. Damage, as a rule, is of a chronic inflammatory nature, which is complicated by constant exposure on wounds by the acidity of the vomit and low level secretion of saliva, which has disinfecting properties that accelerate the healing of damage in the oral cavity.
However, the stomach is not a storage canister made of inert material. Its walls continuously secrete juice, which contains hydrochloric acid. When vomiting, the acidic contents along its sad journey pass through the mouth, in which a slightly alkaline environment is normal. Accordingly, the entire oral mucosa, taste buds and teeth are accustomed to it.
The level of alkali in the mouth is not enough to adequately neutralize the hydrochloric acid of the gastric juice. Therefore, with frequent vomiting, destructive changes in the oral cavity begin to progress. Sometimes, in addition to acid, bile with its enzymes also adds fuel to the fire; during severe vomiting, it enters the stomach from the duodenum, and from there, again, into the mouth.
Acidity disorder is one of the many consequences of bulimia.
The normal acidity level (pH) for the oral cavity is 7.2; for the stomach 1.5-2; for the duodenum 5-7.
The most popular consequences of frequent vomiting are caries and periodontal disease, the level of development of which correlates with the frequency of vomiting. In advanced cases, you may be left without teeth altogether - your gums will no longer be able to hold them in place.
The most common consequence of bulimia is periodontal disease.
Again, due to vomiting, harmful contents may enter the laryngeal ligaments. Even a small amount is enough for a long-term and sometimes irreversible change in the voice, which “sits down”, becomes hoarse and changes in tone.
Particularly painful and difficult to treat is nonspecific (i.e. caused not by bacteria, but by something else, including in this case aggressive reaction of the environment) inflammation of the salivary glands - mumps.
Psychotherapy methods
The following psychotherapy techniques are actively used in the treatment of bulimia:
- Psychoanalysis allows us to establish the main reasons that caused bulimia.
- Cognitive behavioral therapy is very effective method treatment of this disease. It involves carrying out specific work that is aimed at changing the patient’s attitude towards the world around him and food in particular.
- The use of group psychotherapy allows a person to understand that he is not alone in his own problem.
- Family psychotherapy allows you to strengthen and improve relationships within the family. This is very important for bulimia in children.
- Interpersonal therapy is a very effective method in the fight against depression.
- The Maudsley technique is used to treat patients adolescence with the involvement of parents.
- To eliminate the problem of constant overeating, you should seriously adjust your food intake. Nutrition monitoring allows you to do this.
It should be noted that psychotherapeutic treatment is much more effective if the patient is subject to constant physical activity. As for drug therapy, experts most often recommend taking antidepressants (for example, Fluoxetine is often prescribed for bulimia), anti-vomiting drugs and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors. It is important for the patient and his relatives to understand that this is a very serious disorder, and treatment is a complex and lengthy process.
Gastroparesis
The term gastroparesis refers to a digestive disorder characterized by a decrease in muscle tone the walls of the stomach and, as a result, its rapid overflow even with a small amount of food eaten.
Normally, the walls of an empty stomach are in a tight, static state. With the first portions of food, the walls of the stomach begin to stretch, increasing its usable space, the secretions of the digestive glands begin to be released, acid is produced, and peristalsis starts, ensuring the further advancement of the food coma partially treated with pepsin and hydrochloric acid further - for digestion in the small intestine.
With gastroparesis, this complex of digestive processes starts very sluggishly or does not start at all for a long time. With every sip of food, a rapid overflow of the unprepared stomach occurs and, as a result, rejection in the form of a gag reflex - the protective functions of the digestive system are triggered, which mistakenly consider food to be a toxic, foreign environment.
The cause of gastroparesis is often overload of the smooth muscles of the gastric walls, due to regular invocations of the gag reflex among patients suffering from bulimia nervosa.
Treatment for Bulimia Nervosa
It is a mistaken belief that you can get rid of a disease by limiting the amount of food you eat and the frequency of your meals through willpower. Treatment for bulimia must be professional and comprehensive to prevent complications. It begins with the bulemic’s recognition of the fact that he is sick, and can be accompanied by a correction of the patient’s entire lifestyle. According to statistics, only 50% of patients manage to completely recover from kinorexia, but with the right approach the prognosis is favorable.
Since the basis of most cases of bulimia is psychological disorders, good therapeutic effect antidepressants are given in the form of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors. They not only relieve depression and neurosis, but also reduce appetite. Popular drugs in this group: fluoxetine, fluvoxamine, paroxetine, sertraline, venlafaxine.
Reduce pathological attacks of gluttony, simultaneously normalizing emotional condition, drugs for the treatment of convulsive pathologies help: maxitopir, topreal, topamax, topsaver. A good effect is achieved by means recommended for the treatment of alcohol and drug addiction (naltrexone, nalorex, Vivitrol). Antiemetics can be used to restore a feeling of satiety and fullness in the stomach (ondansetron, zofran).
Psychotherapy
The main goal of treatment for bulimia nervosa is to teach the patient to accept himself as he is. Cognitive behavioral therapy helps with this, the course of which is divided into three stages:
- Building a working relationship with the therapist. Motivating the patient to work on himself. Forming an understanding of the causes of overeating and an adequate response to stress. Correcting a person's self-image.
- Development of a new model of eating behavior and proper diet. Accustoming to eating in company and public places.
- Creating an individual relapse prevention strategy.
Patients are advised to record all acts of eating, identify external factors that spur the appearance of attacks of hunger, in order to avoid them in the future. In addition, behavioral, psychodynamic and family therapy can be used. The famous Twelve Steps program, used in the treatment of alcoholism and drug addiction, is often effective.
ethnoscience
Can be used as an adjunct to classical therapy alternative medicine, which offers several methods on how to get rid of bulimia:
- Biofield treatment. The therapist interacts with the patient’s energy and, using visualization, corrects the distortion of the aura, restoring the destroyed biofield.
- Acupuncture. Helps the patient establish energy metabolism, normalize appetite, get rid of stress and anxiety.
- Art therapy. The patient is asked to depict his fears and their reasons to achieve an antidepressant effect.
- Massage. Relieves stress by relaxing muscles, improves metabolism.
All methods used in therapy receive positive reviews. Psychotherapy is especially helpful. Teenagers confirm that the cause of the disease is discord in the family or in relationships with peers. Working together with parents can help in the fight against the disease. In severe cases, medications cannot be avoided.
We looked at how to treat bulimia.
So, how to get rid of bulimia?
Treating bulimia is difficult because it requires at least:
- psychiatrist;
- gastroenterologist (nutritionist);
- endocrinologist;
- as well as a cardiologist and nephrologist
It takes a long time to treat this disease, and some of its consequences - complications - will have to be treated FOR LIFE.
Treatment begins with finding out the causes of the disease. European countries have adopted a three-pronged approach to the problem. The patient is immediately affected in the following areas:
- Psychological impact;
- Individual diet;
- Normalization of physical activity.
The first and most important point is the patient’s psyche. Doctors pay the most attention to this moment of treatment. In addition to working on a person’s problems, his interests and passions other than food are established. The specialist recommends everything free time engage in your favorite hobbies so as not to leave a single minute for unnecessary thoughts.
Treatment for bulimia is most effective if family members participate. Bulimia will not go away so easily and relatives of patients, especially parents of girls, are advised to keep under control:
- Amount of available food;
- Visiting the toilet (it is advisable to remove the locks so that a person with bulimia does not have the opportunity to retire for a long time!);
- You should especially watch out for going to the toilet 2 hours after eating.
The diet is developed in such a way that the patient can be satisfied and at the same time receive all the useful components.
Physical activity can radically solve the problem of how to get rid of bulimia. A competent approach to training will help you cope with stress and get back to normal faster.
Mallory-Weiss syndrome
The disease is sometimes called Mallory-Weiss tears. The pathology is characterized by superficial cracks and tears upper layers mucous membrane of the abdominal esophagus and cardial part of the stomach, due to regular vomiting during full stomach. A very common pathology in bulimia nervosa.
The cracks have a characteristic shape, reminiscent of a flowing tear, which is why the disease was given the corresponding name.
Clinically, the disease is characterized by pain in the epigastrium, behind the sternum, frequent vomiting, vomit often contains lumps of bloody mucus and black, coagulated blood.
Bulimia nervosa is a serious eating disorder with psychological reasons.
People with bulimia eat large amounts of food and then vomit or take laxatives and diuretics to rid their bodies of the food. They may also starve themselves or overexert themselves to compensate for periods of overeating.
This eating behavior leads to negative consequences for mental and physical health in both the short and long term.
After completing the course, you will be able to eat small portions and enjoy food, instead of being tormented by guilt after overeating and looking for ways to “cleanse” your stomach.
The program lasts 2-6 weeks and is compiled individually by psychologists after diagnostic testing.
List of sources:
Diagnostic And Statistical Manual Of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition .
Fichter, M. M. and Quadflieg, N. (2016), Mortality in eating disorders – results of a large prospective clinical longitudinal study. International Journal of Eating Disorders.
Ulfvebrand, S., Birgegard, A., Norring, C., Hogdahl, L., & von Hausswolff-Juhlin, Y. (2015). Psychiatric comorbidity in women and men with eating disorders results from a large clinical database. Psychiatry Research, 230(2), 294-299.
Most people have encountered the word bulimia at least once in their lives. Moreover, in recent years, a lot has been said about the problem that this definition conceals, almost at every turn.
It is also quite obvious that many people, usually mostly females, are familiar with the problem of bulimia, unfortunately, firsthand. But even if you happily avoided such a fate, it is necessary to have, albeit a small, but more in-depth understanding of this issue. At least, as they say, for general development.
Bulimia is a word of Greek origin, literally translated it means “bull hunger.”
From a medical point of view, bulimia is a mental disorder caused by factors such as:
- a sharp excessive increase in appetite, accompanied by bouts of gluttony;
- constant preoccupation with food;
- a huge fear of the possibility of gaining a little weight, as a result of which, after eating food, a person tries to rid the stomach of it by any means (induces vomiting, takes laxatives, uses enemas, weight loss medications, etc.).
According to statistics, approximately 10% of women aged 15 to 35 years suffer from a disease such as bulimia. But in reality, this percentage is much higher, because women, who are usually the overwhelming majority of patients, know how to carefully hide their illness from others.
The presence of this disease is quite difficult to detect: patients try not to show their increased addiction to food, especially in front of their loved ones.
Bulimia is divided into 2 types:
- Classical- a person suffering from this disease tries at all costs to cleanse his body of the food that has entered it: for this purpose, attacks of vomiting are regularly provoked, various laxatives and diuretics are used, and the body is cleansed with an enema. The main symptoms of this type are:
- deep depression of the patient;
- constant feelings of guilt and self-hatred;
- unreasonably harsh self-criticism and a feeling of loss of control over oneself;
- a completely distorted idea of one’s own weight and its compliance with the norm;
- a painful need for all actions performed by the patient to be constantly approved by the people around him.
- Severe bulimia (as stage II anorexia)- the patient also abuses enemas, laxatives and diuretics. In addition, he tries to use behavior that compensates for his actions - he actively engages in physical activity until he is completely exhausted, or he starves intensely. This form of bulimia requires urgent hospital treatment. Characteristic symptoms of severe bulimia include the following:
- strong and sharp fluctuations in body weight (up to 10-15 kg up and down);
- increased soreness and fatigue of muscle tissue;
- gum inflammation and tooth loss;
- chronic irritation of the throat area;
- inflammation and swelling of the parotid glands.
General signs of this disease are:
- in one meal a person tries to eat a very large amount of food. Moreover, the food taken is absorbed very quickly, practically not chewed, and swallowed in whole pieces;
- immediately after eating, you should go to the toilet in order to induce vomiting as soon as possible and get rid of what you have eaten;
- the patient becomes lethargic and lacks energy;
- problems with digestion appear, general dehydration of the body occurs;
- frequent, sometimes completely causeless, changes in mood, as well as increased isolation and secrecy;
- skin problems appear, partial destruction of tooth enamel occurs, salivary glands on the cheeks enlarge;
- The most important thing is that the patient stubbornly refuses to admit that he has a problem.
The consequences of a disease such as bulimia can be very unpleasant and detrimental to health.
If a person does not stop in time, he may develop diseases such as:
- periodontal disease, caries, erosion of tooth enamel;
- gastritis, stomach ulcer, kidney and pancreas dysfunction;
- menstrual irregularities, ovarian dystrophy;
- various metabolic and endocrine disorders, esophageal bleeding.
You should realize that getting rid of bulimia is not so easy. There will be no effect of treatment until a person suffering from bulimia admits that he has this disease. He must fully understand the situation: the desire to be healthy must come from within.
But dealing with this problem alone is very difficult and almost impossible. The patient must be “fueled” by powerful support coming from friends, relatives or “colleagues in misfortune.”
Since the basis of bulimia lies deep psychological problems, the treatment of this problem is based on psychotherapy. The best results are achieved by a combination of individual and family psychotherapy, diet therapy and medication (sedatives and antidepressants). Moreover, the earlier treatment is started, the higher its effectiveness will be.
Bulimia - common neuropsychiatric disease characterized by eating disorders. More often they suffer young women aged 15 to 30 years, but over the past 10-15 years the number of men suffering from this disease has increased.
Prejudice about bulimia
Many people have heard about bulimia, but often this the diagnosis is misinterpreted. Most people mistakenly believe that bulimia is either gluttony, excessive thinness, or a banal indigestion.
Bulimia is often talked about as a relatively new disease caused by the fashion for extreme thinness in women. But that's not true.
Bulimia may occur as a result of any dietary control. There have been recorded cases of bulimic behavior for religious reasons, for example, in violation of strict fasting. In these cases, the guilt also has a religious connotation.
Many people believe that bulimia is a whim due to the fact that a person simply does not know how to control himself. But that's not true.
Bulimic attacks occurin a state of darkened consciousness , and questions of control or will are generally irrelevant here. The issue of control is when a person on a diet looks sadly at the candy and decides whether to eat it or not, and after eating it, he thinks how delicious it is, but he can’t eat it anymore. With bulimia, a person does not hesitate and does not think about what to do more wisely, since reason has no power over him at all during attacks. Bulimic seizures are close to a state of panic, they even have similar somatics: tachycardia, dizziness, shaking hands, fog before the eyes and an animal feeling of fear.
What is bulimia really?
The presence of bulimia is confirmed by the following: signs: uncontrolled consumption of food followed by a desire to get rid of it (usually by vomiting, using laxatives and/or diuretics) due to feelings of guilt.
In the absence of any of the above components, a diagnosis of bulimia cannot be made. For example, gluttony without subsequent release from what was eaten may be a sign of some kind of neurosis or stressful condition, but is not a sign of bulimia. It may be quite natural to be freed from what you have eaten due to food poisoning, and this also has nothing to do with bulimia.
Bulimia is a compulsive disorder, that is, it is characterized by the presence of so-called attacks or fits with subsequent normalization of the condition. For example, compulsive disorders also include panic attacks. That is why many, even close people, may have no idea about a person’s illness.
Psychiatrists for many years looking for the root cause the emergence of bulimia, but still have not agreed on a common opinion.
To date, it has been revealedtwo contributing factors, characteristic of those suffering from bulimia. Thishormonal imbalancesand lack of serotonin. Therefore, as a rule, psychiatrists prescribeantidepressants(fluoxetine is still in first place in popularity)and hormonal agents .
What are the similarities and differences between bulimia and anorexia?
It is necessary to distinguish between bulimia and anorexia. The main characteristic feature of anorexia- almost complete or complete refusal of food and a feeling of disgust for it on a psychological level (not to be confused with a temporary lack of appetite due to stressful conditions, since an anorexic person may experience hunger). But at the same time, bulimia is often a consequence of anorexia (but not vice versa).
Clinical psychologists and psychoanalysts who study the problem of bulimia usually conclude that bulimia and anorexia occur when a person begins to dominatethanatos- or, in other words, a program of self-destruction. Everyone has such a program, but in a healthy person it is compensated forlibido- the will to live.
The psychological portrait of both bulimic and anorexic is approximately the same- this is a perfectionist, a person with an “excellent student complex”, who has low self-esteem, a tendency towards masochism and hatred of his body, combined with a biased assessment of it (for example, with anorexia, a person, even after achieving dystrophy, continues to consider himself fat).
At the event level, bulimia often develops against the background of a passion for dieting for the purpose of losing weight. But not everyone who goes on a diet is susceptible to this disease.
Indeed, a bulimic is usually impossible to identify. Unlike an anorexic, he is not dystrophic, and his behavior may be the most unremarkable. Is it possible to note increased nervousness, but nervous people now the majority.
How does bulimia manifest itself in a person’s lifestyle and behavior?
Most often, bulimia is associated with binge eating, but this is not always the case. Bulimia can manifest itself in a person’s behavior in different ways:
1. As a rule, it begins with the fact that a person decides to allow himself to eat something that is allowed in his food system. For example, an apple. But that's it can't stop. The bulimic opens the refrigerator and, dumping out all its contents, begins to eat, without thinking about combinations of tastes and the quality of food. He may even set food to prepare, but without waiting, start eating it half-raw. Even if after this there is no more room in the stomach, the bulimic runs to the store and buys more food and continues to eat it until he begins to experience severe pain in the stomach.
2. People struggling with bulimia often try to train themselves to eat beautifully and of high quality. This is what psychologists often recommend: “Learn to make a little holiday out of food, love yourself.” But this also leads to nothing. All the same things as in the previous paragraph can take place by candlelight, with porcelain plates and expensive gourmet food, but this does not relieve a person of guilt.
3. A person may not overeat at all, but actually stop at one apple. But an apple may be enough to feel guilty for what you have eaten and hurry to get rid of it.
Doses of laxatives and diuretics who use bulimics after eating disorders, terrifying. This can be up to 20 tablets of Senadex and up to 20 tablets of Furasemide in one sitting. After such a “cleansing of the body,” a person experiences terrible pain throughout the body and every time he swears to himself that “this breakdown was the last.” But soon everything repeats itself in the same vicious circle.
Usually bulimic and from family members trying to hide his illness, because it does not find understanding even among loved ones. This manifests itself in the fact that the patient carefully hides food and medications and develops entire techniques for unnoticed and silent vomiting.
Often with bulimia, sharply decreased libido both men and women. Moreover, in women this is often associated with vaginismus And anorgasmia.
Against the background of bulimia, a man prone to fouling bad habits - most often, this is smoking and alcoholism. The bulimic tries to get rid of constant stress and tension, despite the fact that he is able alcohol intoxication the likelihood of an eating breakdown increases many times.
How dangerous is bulimia?
Bulimia is a dangerous disease becausecan lead to death. Because regular vomiting and taking laxatives and diuretics leads to exhaustion of the body and cardiac arrest due to lack of potassium and dehydration.
Methods for treating bulimia and difficulties along the way
Bulimia is curable. But the trouble is that, unlike Western countries, where methods of treating eating disorders have already been put on stream, in the CIS countries there are still few specialists ready to take on this problem, and, as a rule, these are psychiatrists in expensive private clinics . In our country, most psychiatrists and psychologists still refuse to help bulimics..
As mentioned above, psychiatrists usually offer drug treatment antidepressants. But the problem is that Antidepressants do not cure, they only provide temporary improvement while the person takes them. Therefore, it is worth stopping taking the drugs; a sharp deterioration is possible and, as a result, relapses of bulimia.
There are cases of spontaneous recovery from bulimia - for example, under the influence of severe stress. What is popularly called “wedge wedge”. But this is more likely to be an accident, and therefore cannot be a method of treatment. Moreover, new stress can only make the problem worse.
When treating bulimia psychotherapeutic support is necessary, as a person has to relearn how to eat and enjoy food without feeling guilty.
But even in cases of recovery from bulimia, the human psyche remains torn forever, and the threat of relapse will haunt him for the rest of his life. In addition, due to a weakened psyche and a shattered nervous system, new mental disorders- already on a different basis and with completely different symptoms.
Advice for bulimics: learn to live being who you are - whether you are a former bulimic or in the active phase. Remember that you will never become like “normal” people - you need to build your life based on this. Don't close your eyes to your problem. The “last” breakdown is never the last if you are still alive. Find ways to cope with breakdowns.
Advice to everyone else: Perhaps someone close to you suffers from bulimia, and you don’t know about it. Perhaps you have already encountered such people and turned away from them without trying to understand their problem. Perhaps you would like to help them, but don't know how. In any case, do not reject people if they have trusted you. Don't judge your loved ones - they are not to blame for what happened. You don’t judge those who have a weak heart or poor eyesight. And let communication with people who have mental disorder, is not always pleasant, do not forget that these are also people who require support and attention.
