Bulimia Nervosa

Bulimia is slightly more complicate to define than Anorexia. Generally bulimia is defined as Bingeing and Purging, but the reality is that bulimia can be bulimia with or without the bingeing, so perhaps the better definition would be the act of intentionally inducing vomiting or other method of purging after eating. The definition of the word purge according to the Miriam Webster Dictionary is

 1 a : to clear of guilt b : to free from moral or ceremonial defilement
2 a : to cause evacuation from (as the bowels) b (1) : to make free of something unwanted <purge a manhole of gas> <purge yourself of fear> (2) : to free (as a boiler) of sediment or relieve (as a steam pipe) of trapped air by bleeding c (1) : to rid (as a nation or party) by a purge (2) : to get rid of <the leaders had been purged> <purge money-losing operations>

In the clinical sense it means to attempt to expel food that has already been taken in from the body through inappropriate methods such as vomiting and laxative abuse. for the clinical criteria from the DSM-IV see Definitions

Bulimia is also harder to recognize than anorexia, because weight loss is not as dramatic, and the bulimic is very secretive in general about their behaviour and embarrassed and ashamed of it. Most bulimics do not enjoy throwing up, but they feel as if they  have no control over their need to engage in the behaviour. This is just another example of how eating disorders  take control over our life, a rather ironic situation since often we develop eating disorders in attempts to regain control over something, but we end up losing even more control in the end. Bulimia is not just about losing weight or being pretty and thin, it is about something else something that is different for each sufferer. For some it is a release, it mimics self injury, for others it is a way to take control over there bodies, because of a lack of control elsewhere in life, for others it is compulsive in nature. There is no single form of this illness, but all forms are equally bad. bingeing without purging is known as Binge Eating Disorder.

Bulimia is also a Very deadly illness, intentionally purging causes many physical effects from tooth erosion, to tears of the esophagus to life threatening potassium imbalances and more.  Fewer than ten percent of all bulimics are in treatment. more than 20% die from complications relating to their eating disorders. 

Bulimia thankfully has been found to be responsive to treatment with anti depressant medications, something which cant be said for anorexia. If you or someone you know is suffering from bulimia - get help soon. Go to your doctor, counsellor, parents, and find the right treatment options for you. your health is not something to play around with. Eating disorders are a slow suicide... and when the time comes that one is sick enough to die from the illness it is not a painless death in fact it is very painful, especially if it is from an esophageal tear. 

Bulimics come in all shapes and sizes, some are underweight others overweight and everything in between. 

I get a lot of email from people who are not quite ready to step into therapy but really want help. although I am a strong believer in therapy, I recently read a well written book, quite interesting I might add about treating bulimia from a self help, or guided self help perspective. It essentially uses the same methods that many treatment programs use to treat bulimia but adapts them to be more user friendly so that the lay person can do them at home sorta like eating disorder therapy for dummies ;). It starts with a psycho-educational section which the author emphasizes as being very important, and finishes with a step by step program which you can follow alone or with graded amounts of help from a therapist or other qualified professional with or without specialized experience with eating disorders. and what I liked is this apparently is based on some studies done in a university setting where he and his colleagues work and study. The book is available at Amazon, and called Overcoming Binge Eating by Christopher Fairburn

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Appearances can be deceiving.

Some related site pages:

Signs and symptoms | Beauty of a Woman  | Body Satisfaction Test   | Books From Amazon | Anorexia Nervosa | Children | Conformity | Definitions | Preschoolers and Body Image | 10 thing  | Books On Eating Disorders From | Symptom Explanations | Males | Music and ED's | Mini Me-ographies | Works by Sufferers | Pro | Online Self Tests | Some Stats on Eating Disorders | Things too Consider | University | Whats on TV