Bulimia Overview

Bulimia is an eating disorder. Someone with bulimia might binge on food and then vomit (also called purge) in a cycle of binging and purging. Binge eating refers to quickly eating large amounts of food over short periods of time. Purging involves forced vomiting, laxative use, excessive exercise, or fasting in an attempt to lose weight that might be gained from eating food or binging.

The strict medical definition used by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV) requires 2 binge-eating episodes a week for at least 3 months to make the diagnosis, but it’s likely that some people with symptoms of bulimia may not fit these exact criteria.

A person with bulimia often feels a loss of control over their eating as well as guilt over their behavior. They are usually aware that their behavior is abnormal. Bulimia is most common in adolescent and young adult women. People with bulimia are often of normal or near-normal weight, which makes them different from people with anorexia (another eating disorder in which the person does not eat).

Understanding Bulimia - Symptoms

What Are the Symptoms?

How Do I Know If I Have Bulimia?

According to the National Institutes of Health, you are suffering from the eating disorder bulimia if you experience these binge-purge symptoms at least twice a week for three months:

• You eat much more food than usual, in just a short time — especially snacks or other foods high in calories. This episode is called a binge, and while it lasts, you feel like your eating is out of control.
• After a binge, you use aggressive purging tactics to try to prevent gaining weight from all the food you just ate. You might make yourself vomit or take laxatives, diuretics, enemas or other medications. You also might use fasting or excessive exercise as part of this harmful strategy.
• Your thoughts about your bodyweight and shape dominate how you feel about yourself overall.

If you have bulimia, you probably share some common feelings that people with anorexia may have. For example, you may fear gaining weight, and you always want to lose weight. However, bulimics are not as concerned about their weight as anorexics are.

But unlike anorexia, which is a different eating disorder, you might be able to keep your body weight in the normal range, which helps to keep your bingeing and purging a secret. But to you, bingeing can make you feel ashamed, while purging brings a sense of relief.

Other Symptoms Include:

• Recurrent episodes of binge eating and purging.
• Weight fluctuation (although people with bulimia may have a relatively normal weight).
• Food cravings.
• Overuse of laxatives.
• Depression.
• Tooth enamel erosion, gum infections, cavities, and tooth discoloration (caused by stomach acids from frequent vomiting).
• Gastrointestinal upset.

Call Your Doctor If:

• You find yourself secretly binge eating, then vomiting or using laxatives.
• You avoid eating in front of other people.
• Your child has an unreasonable fear of being fat and thinks she’s fat when she’s not.
• Your child avoids eating with others or frequents the bathroom immediately after meals.

source: WebMD