What do you need to know about bulimia nervosa?

What do you need to know about bulimia nervosa?

Bulimia nervosa. Overview. Bulimia (boo-LEE-me-uh) nervosa, commonly called bulimia, is a serious, potentially life-threatening eating disorder. People with bulimia may secretly binge — eating large amounts of food with a loss of control over the eating — and then purge, trying to get rid of the extra calories in an unhealthy way.

Why did I keep bulimia a secret for so long?

There’s an enormous amount of shame attached to an addiction to eating uncontrollably and then making yourself sick numerous times a day. It is for this reason that I kept my illness a secret only until very recently. 22. The comfort in knowing celebrities have suffered from it too

What does purging mean in bulimia nervosa?

Bulimia nervosa. Bulimia nervosa, also known as simply bulimia, is an eating disorder characterized by binge eating followed by purging. Binge eating refers to eating a large amount of food in a short amount of time. Purging refers to the attempts to get rid of the food consumed. This may be done by vomiting or taking laxatives.

How often does bulimia occur in young women?

About 1% of young women have bulimia at a given point in time and about 2% to 3% of women have the condition at some point in their lives. The condition is less common in the developing world. Bulimia is about nine times more likely to occur in women than men.

Can a middle aged woman have bulimia nervosa?

A man wasn’t feeling well, left work early, and came home to his wife of many years. He quietly unlocked the door to find his wife vomiting in the powder room sink. She had been doing this before they began their marriage 30 years ago. Now she is one of the growing groups of middle-aged adults with bulimia.

What happens when you have bulimia nervosa 5?

Today we describe bulimia nervosa 5 as a serious, potentially life-threatening eating disorder. People with bulimia may eat large amounts of food and then try to get rid of the extra calories in an unhealthy way. For example, someone with bulimia may induce vomiting or excessively exercise.

When was bulimia thought to be in the past?

How Eating Disorders Were Thought to Be in the Past. The first clinical documentation of bulimia was a paper published in 1979, the result of research that overeating and self-induced vomiting may have been common practices among otherwise normal female students attending North Americans universities.

Are there studies on the brain of bulimics?

Two separate studies on bulimia and the brain published in the Journal of Abnormal Psychology this month shed new light on the eating disorder, as it relates to feelings of acute stress and hunger or satiety .