 Bolemia
| Bolimia
(Misspelling of Bulimia)
WHAT IS Bolemia?
Bolemia (Bulimia
nervosa), commonly known as bulimia, is an eating
disorder in which the subject engages in recurrent binge eating
followed by feelings of guilt, depression, and self-condemnation.
The sufferer will then
engage in compensatory behaviors to make up for the excessive eating,
which are referred to as "purging". Purging can take the form of
vomiting, fasting, the use of laxatives, enemas, diuretics or other
medications, or overexercising.
Bulimia is related to deep psychological
issues and feelings of lack of control. Sufferers often use the
destructive eating pattern to feel in control over their lives. They
may hide or hoard food and overeat when stressed or upset. They may
feel a loss of control during a binge, and consume great quantities of
food (over 20,000 calories.)
After a length of time, the sufferer of
bulimia will find that they no longer have control over their binging
and purging. The binging becomes an addiction that seems impossible to
break. Recovery is very hard and often in the early stages of recovery
the patient will gain weight as they are still binging but no longer
purging, causing anxiety which will in turn cause the patient to
revert back to bulimia.
Bulimia Symptons
The criteria for diagnosing a patient with
Bolemia (Bulimia
nervosa), commonly known as bulimia,are:
- Recurrent episodes of binge
eating. An episode of binge eating is characterized by both of the
following:
- Eating, in a fixed period of time
(e.g., within any two-hour period), an amount of food that is
definitely larger than most people would eat during a similar period
of time and under similar circumstances.
- A sense of lack of control over
eating during the episode (e.g., a feeling that one cannot stop
eating or control what or how much one is eating).
- Recurrent inappropriate
compensatory behavior to prevent weight gain, such as self-induced
vomiting; misuse of laxatives, diuretics or other medications;
fasting,or excessive exercise.
- The binge eating and inappropriate
compensatory behaviors both occur, on average, at least twice a week
for three months.
- Self-evaluation is unduly
influenced by body shape and weight.
- The disturbance does not occur
exclusively during episodes of anorexia nervosa.
If any of these symptoms are noticed,
a doctor or psychologist should be contacted. However, these symptoms
are often difficult to spot. Unlike anorexia nervosa, the person must
be of normal or higher weight and is less likely to drop a significant
amount of weight on a continual basis.
Because bulimia carries a great deal of
shame, the bulimic desperately tries to hide the symptoms from family
and friends. Bulimia is more likely to span over a lifetime unnoticed,
causing a great deal of isolation and stress for the suffering
individual. Despite the frequent lack of obvious physical symptoms,
bulimia has proven to be fatal, as malnutrition takes a serious toll
on every bodily organ.
Bulimics go through cycles of
over-eating and purging that can be very destructive to the body.
These cycles often involve rapid and out-of-control eating, which may
stop when the bulimic is interrupted by another person or when his/her
stomach hurts from over-extension, followed by self-induced vomiting
or other forms of purging. This cycle may be repeated several times a
week or, in serious cases, several times a day.
Some bulimics eat secretly; others eat socially but are bulimic in
private. They also differ in "how much" they purge. Some can vomit
without gagging themselves after eating. Often when the urge hits,
they go to great lengths to purge, as if an uncontrollable urge is
making them do so. Medical evidence shows that the chemicals released
when purging may make a person feel "high". This can also lead to
extreme dehydration and electrolyte imbalances.
Some bulimics do not regard their cycles as a problem, while others
despise and fear the vicious and uncontrollable cycle. Bulimics may
appear underweight, normal weight or overweight. |
