Eating disorders
Description
Eating disorders are serious illnesses. A person with an eating disorder has an unhealthy focus on eating, dieting, losing or gaining weight, and body image.
A person may be obese, have an unhealthy diet, and have an eating disorder all at once. Obesity and eating disorders often occur at the same time in teenage girls and young-adult women who are unhappy with their body image.
It isn't easy to find helpful treatments for people with all of these problems. For example, trying to prevent obesity may cause or worsen an eating disorder. That's why it's important for a health care provider to know if a patient has an eating disorder before treating obesity.
Bulimia nervosa
People with bulimia nervosa (bulimia) will eat large amounts of food. While overeating, the person feels out of control. They then try to make up for overeating. They try to "undo" the eating by making themselves vomit or by using laxatives, enemas, diuretics, or by over-exercising. This is called binging and purging.
People who have bulimia often have a normal body weight. But their image of their body is that they are overweight. A person with both bulimia and anorexia may have a very low body weight.
Some other behaviors often seen in people who have bulimia are:
- Weighing themselves often
- Overachieving behavior (trying to do everything perfectly and feeling bad if something does not turn out perfectly)
Bulimia can be dangerous. It may lead to serious medical problems over time.
Binge eating disorder
Binge eating is eating large amounts of food quickly at one time. Most often, the food is high in calories. The eating usually takes place over 2 hours or less. During a binge, the person feels out of control.
After binge eating, the person feels ashamed and embarrassed. Unlike those with bulimia, binge eaters do not try to make up for the binge by vomiting, using laxatives, or by other methods.
In the past, binge eaters were often called compulsive overeaters, emotional overeaters, or food addicts.
Anorexia nervosa
Those with anorexia nervosa (anorexia), have an intense fear of gaining weight or becoming fat, even though they are often very underweight. Their body image is distorted. They often can't see how serious their weight loss has become.
A person with anorexia severely limits the amount of food they eat. Some may try to undo any eating by making themselves vomit or by using laxatives, enemas, or diuretics.
Some people with anorexia also exercise an extreme amount to burn off the little food they do eat and to avoid gaining any weight.
Anorexia nervosa can cause serious health problems. Some of these are:
- Bone weakening
- Decrease in white blood cells, which leads to increased risk of infection
- Low potassium levels in the blood, which may cause dangerous heart rhythms
- Severe lack of water and fluids in the body (dehydration)
- Lack of protein, vitamins, minerals, and other important nutrients in the body (malnutrition)
- Seizures due to fluid or sodium loss from repeated diarrhea or vomiting
- Thyroid gland problems
- Tooth decay
Reviewed By: John E. Meilahn, MD, Bariatric Surgery, Chestnut Hill Surgical Associates, Philadelphia, PA. Review provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, Brenda Conaway, Editorial Director, and the A.D.A.M. Editorial team.
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