This vicious circle of binging and purging carries a toll for the body,
and it's even harder on mental well-being. All the same the cycle may
be broken.
Effective bulimia treatment and support may help you develop a
healthier relationship with food and defeat feelings of tension, guilt,
and shame.
Bulimia nervosa is an eating disorder qualified by commonplace
episodes of binge eating, followed by frenzied efforts to avoid putting
on weight
If you're fighting with bulimia, life is a ceaseless battle between the
want to slim down or remain thin and the overpowering obsession to
binge eat.
You don't prefer to binge-you understand you'll feel guilty and
ashamed subsequently-but again and again you buckle under.
During an average binge, you might devour from 3,000 to 5,000
calories in a single short hour.
After it stops, terror sets in and you turn to drastic measures to
- undo- the binge, like taking ex-lax, inducing vomiting, or going on a
ten-mile run. And all the time, you feel more and more out of control.
It's crucial to note that bulimia doesn't inevitably involve purging-
physically doing away with the food from your body by throwing up
or utilizing laxatives, enemas, or diuretics. If you make up for your
binges by fasting, working out to excess, or going on crash diets, this
likewise qualifies as bulimia.
As the stress, hunger, and feelings of want build, the compulsion to
eat gets too powerful to resist: a "taboo" food is eaten; a dietary rule is
gone against. With an all-or-nothing mentality, you feel any diet trip
up is a complete failure. After consuming a bite of ice cream, you may
think, "I've already wasted it, so I may as well go all out."
Regrettably, the relief that binging bestows is exceedingly transitory.
Soon following, guilt and self-loathing kick in. And so you purge to
make up for gorging and regain control.
Regrettably, purging simply reinforces binge eating. Although you
might tell yourself, as you launch into a fresh diet, that this is the last
time, in the back of your brain there's a voice telling you that you are
able to always throw up or utilize laxatives if you lose command
again. What you might not recognize is that purging doesn't come
close to wiping the slate clean following a binge.
When you're living with bulimia, you're putting your body-and even
your life-at risk. The most life-threatening side effect of bulimia is
dehydration due to purging.
Throwing up, laxatives, and diuretics may cause electrolyte
imbalances in the body, most generally in the form of low potassium
levels. low potassium levels trigger a wide range of symptoms
ranging from lethargy and cloudy thinking to atypical heartbeat and
death. Chronically low levels of potassium may also result in kidney
failure.
In many cases, individuals suffering with bulimia-and eating
disorders as a whole-have trouble managing emotions in a sound
way. Eating may be an emotional release so it's not amazing that
individuals binge and purge if feeling angry, blue, strained, or
anxious.
One thing is sure. Bulimia is a complex emotional problem. Major
causes and risk factors for bulimia include:
Pitiful body image: Our culture's accent on thinness and beauty may
lead to body dissatisfaction, especially in young women bombarded
with mass medium images of an unrealistic physical ideal.
The idealization of slenderness has resulted in a malformed body
image and unrealistic measures of beauty and success. Cultural and
mass medium influences, like television, magazines, and movies,
reinforce the notion that women ought to be more concerned with
their appearance than with their own ideas or accomplishments.