Transcript
Bulimia
• Alternate names include bulimia nervosa and binge-purge behavior
• Bulimia is a disease where a person binges on food and then uses vomiting or laxative abuse to prevent weight gain
What is Bulimia?
Who suffers?
• 9 times more women than men suffer from Bulimia
• Most common in teenage girls and young women
• Sufferers are usually aware of the disorder but feel guilt or fear
• There is no specific known cause of Bulimia but a number of different factors seem to be involved and not one specific factor despite heritability anywhere from 54 to 83%
• Bulimia is a chronic illness that is very hard to recover from even with treatment and rehabilitation
Causes?
Symptoms• Eating binges• Compulsive exercising• Going to the bathroom immediately following
meals• Use of laxatives, diet pills, emetics, or diuretics
Signs
• Dry mouth
• Rashes
• Pimples
• Broken blood vessels in eyes
• Cuts and calluses on fingers from forcing self to vomit
• Cavities and enamel erosion from acid in vomit
Treatment
• Support groups for minor cases• Cognitive-behavioral therapy• Nutritional therapy• Antidepressants• Serotonin-reuptake inhibitors• Number of different treatments likely until
patient finds one that works• Relapse is very common
Complications
• Cavities• Dehydration• Pancreatitis• Esophageal tears• Hemorrhoids• Constipation• Throat inflammation
Numbers don’t lie
• The media is among the top causes for bulimia because of the portrayal of the ideal size
• A study of high school girls in Fiji showed that the rate of self-purging rose from 0% to 11.3% a few weeks after the province began the use of television
• Bulimia is most common among Caucasians• Also most common among people in groups
involved with ideas of a slim appearance such as gymnastics, dance, figure skating, modeling, acting, running, cheerleading and rowing
• Studies in 11 countries of 44,798 people, over 16 years showed that on average 0.42% of males suffer from bulimia and 2.73% of females suffer
• I feel guilty when I eat too much and I feel that I have to throw it up and go to the gym to look like my friends and all the beautiful people in the media
My bulimia
• When I look in the mirror I see how fat and ugly I am, that makes me want to go to the gym and throw up
• I hate going to school because everyone else is so skinny. I don’t eat lunch because I don’t want people to judge me on how much I eat
• I struggle greatly in school because my body is exhausted from not eating lunch, going to the gym, and throwing up every morning
• I go to the bathroom frequently to do my make up and my hair so I look pretty. I always look in the mirror and see that big fat girl staring back at me. I hate myself
• I finally told my doctor
about my Bulimia and he confirmed that I suffer from it. He told me that I need to think positive thoughts about myself and not worry about my size because I am at a healthy weight.
• Summer is getting close and this makes me even more self conscious because all my friends will be beach ready so I have to work extra hard to lose extra weight before summer starts.
• All of this extra stress is overwhelming. I cant concentrate in school because I am so tired all the time and I am now smoking a pack of cigarettes a day. I didn’t go to my high school dance because everyone would stare at me the whole time and it wouldn’t be any fun.
• My life is miserable. Bulimia has ruined any joy that I ever had or hope to regain. It is pointless to even keep living when I will never live a normal life or have normal friends ever again. My life is over because of this disease. I cant get better
• I would never wish this upon my worst enemy. It caused me to lose all my friends, rely on substances and hate myself. I live in a prison inside my body.
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