Friday, July 24, 2009

What is Bulimia?

Bulimia is an eating disorder that occurs in patients who are experiencing many problems in life. It usually starts in the adolescent stage. Patients who are suffering from this condition are very hard to distinguish because most of them have the average weight, unlike anorexia which can be easily noticed. And the sad thing about this is that the patients are denying the truth that they have this condition.

Patients with this disorder tend to eat a lot of food and then suffer pain in their stomach because of overextension. After suffering the pain in their stomach, they would vomit or take laxatives in order to get the food out. The binge eating would only be stopped if only another person intervenes with the victim’s out of control eating spree. Furthermore, repeated actions of binge eating and purging can cause harmful effects to the digestive system in the long run.

Bulimia has two types which can be determined with its own characteristics.

a. Non-Purging Type Bulimia

This type of bulimia causes the patients to perform strenuous exercise routines in order to eliminate the massive amount of calories that they have eaten. It has the lowest percentage of cases among patients worldwide.

b. Purging Type Bulimia

Patients with this type would do anything just to remove the food which was consumed right after eating. They would take diuretics and laxatives for faster results of removing the food out of their stomach.

Behavioral therapy, counseling, antidepressants, and group therapy sessions are the effective treatments for bulimia. The problem is more on the psychological aspect of the patients. Doctors and therapists focuses on the root cause of the problem and behavior. The patient’s condition must be constantly monitored, which is why encouraging them to keep in touch with their doctors and therapists would help them in the process of bulimia recovery.


0 comments:

Post a Comment