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Eating disorders affect up to 24 million people in the United States. Currently, only 35 percent of them are in treatment. The number is astonishing, given that eating disorders have a higher mortality rate than any other mental illness, including depression. Anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa and binge eating disorder are not limited to teenage girls. They take over the lives of women, boys and men, too.
Anorexia nervosa is defined as being 15 percent or more below ideal body weight. Excessive weight loss, accompanied by a terrible fear of being fat and an obsessive need to control weight are its hallmarks. Anorexics have a distorted body image and think they are fat even when they have clearly become malnourished. Abnormal behaviors include compartmentalizing and rationing food, compulsive exercising and continual dieting. Physical symptoms manifest with emaciation, hair loss and missed periods. In extreme cases, organ failure, abnormal heart rhythms and death can result.
Unlike anorexia, bulimia nervosa can affect people of any size and shape. Bulimics follow an endless loop of binging compulsively, then purging as punishment for the binge. A typical behavior is to consume a huge meal of more than a thousand calories, then trigger the purge by vomiting or consuming laxatives. Because the behavior is self-destructive, feelings of guilt force bulimics into a cycle that grows increasingly out of control. Physical damage resulting from bulimia includes wild swings in body weight, loss of tooth enamel and broken blood vessels in the eyes caused by vomiting.
People afflicted by binge eating disorder have a compulsion to eat, but do not purge afterwards. They have the same psychological suffering of guilt and shame as bulimics, but these feelings only lead to more eating. Binge eating can result in morbid obesity, Heart disease and Diabetes, but is more easily treated than bulimia nervosa.
Fortunately, help is available for those with eating disorders. Psychiatric, nutritional and pharmaceutical therapies can do much to treat and even cure the most severe cases of anorexia, bulimia and binge eating disorder. Knowledge of the signs and symptoms of each is the first step toward diagnosis and treatment.
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Names of eating disorders in mental illness?
anorexia nervosa and bulimia which are opposite when it comes to signs and symptoms
Where can I find more information about eating disorders?
A detailed booklet that describes the symptoms, causes, and treatments of eating disorders. Also there are many other websites that obtain this information.
What prevention methods are there to avoid symptoms of esophageal disorders?
Many symptoms of esophageal disorders can be prevented or alleviated by lifestyle changes that include: weight loss to control obesity, eating slowly and chewing food well, eating smaller and more frequent meals.
Who else. Could eating disorders effect?
Aside from the sufferer, eating disorders can affect family and friends, who struggle to understand the causes and symptoms they are suffering. Eating disorders can make a person very stressed and angry, therefore this can put a huge strain on their relationships with the people around them.
How do you determine you have an eating disorder?
It depends upon the eating disorder. There are different signs for each of the eating disorders. Anorexia, Bulimia, bing eating disorder, and compulsive overeating are all different.
What are the common signs and symptoms of disorders of the blood and blood-forming organs?
Extremity bruising,pale gums and skin,exhaustion
What symptoms accompany anxiety disorders?
The symptoms of common anxiety disorders are feelings of apprehension or dread, trouble concentrating, feeling tense and jumpy, anticipating the worst, irritability, restlessness, watching for signs of danger and feeling like your minds gone blank.
What do you call someone who shows symptoms of Anorexia and Bulimia?
I normally just document that they show signs and symptoms of an eating disorder, without a specific term.
What is the study of eating disorders is called?
the study of eating disorders
What are the signs and symptoms of superhydration?
What are the signs and symptoms of superhydration?
When was Eating Disorders Association created?
Eating Disorders Association was created in 1989.
When was Eating Disorders Coalition created?
Eating Disorders Coalition was created in 2000.
