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Eating Disorders Continued…

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Bulimia Nervosa
People with bulimia nervosa binge (eat large amounts of food in a short time). They then purge the excess calories by:
• Vomiting
• Using laxatives, diuretics (water pills), or emetics (pills that cause vomiting)
• Fasting
• Exercising to extremes

People with bulimia sometimes eat 20,000 calories in a single binge. They often feel out of control and know that what they are doing is not normal.

Bulimia is harder than anorexia to detect because the person’s weight often is normal or just above normal. They may quickly go up or down 10 pounds.

Bulimia can cause severe medical problems such as:
• Dehydration
• Damage to the bowels, liver, and kidney
• Damage to the throat, esophagus, and stomach (caused by self-induced vomiting)
• An irregular heartbeat or heart failure
• Problems with teeth and gums

People with bulimia know their eating is out of control, but they are afraid of being fat and of not being able to stop eating. Ridding the body of excess calories may help them feel they have regained control over their bodies.

They often feel very depressed, guilty, and shameful after they binge. They may feel that they must hide the problem from others.

Binge Eating Disorder
Binge eating (also called compulsive eating) may be the most common of the eating disorders. About 2 out of every 100 American adults have this disorder.

Binge eating involves eating large amounts of food. In this way, it is like bulimia. Binge eaters do not purge after binging, though. Binge eaters may eat regular meals and snacks throughout the day. Sometimes they may overeat all day rather than binging.

Binge eaters usually become overweight or obese. In fact, up to 40 percent of obese people may be binge eaters.

Binge eaters often do their binge eating in secret. They then feel depressed, guilty, or shameful.

Anger, sadness, boredom, or anxiety may trigger a binge. Dieting may worsen binge eating in some people.

The causes of binge eating are not known. However, as many as half of all people with this problem have a history of depression.

Binge eating may cause severe medical problems:
• High blood pressure
• High cholesterol levels (which can cause the arteries to harden and can cause heart disease and heart attacks)
• Gall bladder disease
• Diabetes
• Certain types of cancer

Many of these problems are caused by the weight gained from binge eating.
ACOG Patient Education