And now in my next write up let’s talk about two disorder in which people tend to do binge eating, and they are Bulimia Nervosa and Binge Eating Disorder.

Article Contents

Bulimia nervosa

Bulimia Nervosa also called as Bulimia, which is an eating disorder determined by binge eating (eating large amount of food) the food which is followed by purging, and it means the attempts to get rid of the food consumed.

The term bulimia comes from Greek βουλιμία boulīmia, “ravenous hunger”, a compound of βοῦς bous, “ox” and λιμός, līmos, “hunger”. The literal meaning of the disorder, bulimia nervosa translates in to “nervous ravenous hunger”.

This might be done by forceful vomiting by putting fingers in the mouth or taking laxatives. They also try to lose weight by consuming diet pills, stimulants, water oils or by doing excessive exercise. The forced vomit in people with this disorder may have a thickened skin on the knuckle and can also have a breakdown of the teeth. Bulimia is frequently is associated with mental disorders like depression, anxiety.

Causes

The causes of bulimia nervosa are still unknown. There are so many factors that can become a cause of eating disorder including biology, emotional health, genetics, social pressure and many more.

Abnormal level of hormones can be seen responsible for a disorder like this. There can be a possibility of sex hormones that can influence the appetite and eating in women. People with relative issues like parent issues or sibling issues are more likely to develop bulimia nervosa, possibly there could be a genetic link. Being overweight as a child can also be an issue of developing bulimia nervosa.

Emotional and psychological problems like anxiety, depression is related to this disorder. People with bulimia nervosa may feel negative about themselves and their body, they normally are normal weight, but they may feel bad about their body. In some cases, some serious traumatic issues or environmental changes can be a cause for bulimia nervosa. People who diet are at a very high risk of developing bulimia nervosa.

The media portrayal of an ideal body image of a person has created so much social pressure on people, every next person you meet want to achieve somebody image or something, which is a big cause for disorders like this.

Symptoms

The most common symptom of this disorder is the non-stop and out-of-control eating, which can be stopped only if another person interrupts or their stomach aches or there is self-vomiting or some other kind of purging.

All this repeated cycle a few times a week can cause gastric reflux after eating, which is secondary to vomiting, dehydration and frequent vomiting, electrolyte imbalance may cause cardiac arrest, or even death sometimes.

There might be inflammation, frequent vomiting can rupture the esophageal wall.

Dental erosion of tooth enamel.

There can be swollen glands in neck and jawline.

There will be chances of constipation or diarrhoea.

There can be signs of hypotension, ulcers, infertility.

Weight fluctuations are common in this kind of disorder. Cholesterol, sugar levels can fluctuate frequently.

Some more signs for bulimia nervosa can be fixing the calories to be consumed. The person with bulimia can have low self-esteem or might have the tendency to do suicide or self-harm. Women with bulimia can have an irregular menstrual cycle. Anxiety and depression can also be sign or symptoms. Using laxatives, diet pills, or doing excessive or compulsive exercise. Exhaustion or fatigue can be a symptom. Dry hairs, skin, lips, nails can also be a symptom of bulimia.

Binge Eating Disorder

Binge Eating Disorder is an eating disorder determined by frequent eating episodes with negative psychological and social issues, but there is no subsequent purging, like forced vomiting.

In 1959, psychiatric and researcher, Albert Stunkard, first determined this disorder as “night eating syndrome”. The term “ binge eating” was described from the same bingeing-type eating pattern.

Individuals who have been suffering from binge eating disorder and bulimia nervosa are characterized to have almost the same kind of symptoms. We can say that binge eating disorder is a smaller or milder version of bulimia nervosa. It is the most prevailing disorder in adults and especially in the lockdown series. People have been eating frequently sitting at home.

Causes

Body size can be a cause of binge eating disorder, there are so many people who have less weight which can become a bigger dissatisfaction for them, so they may try to do binge eating.

The impact of traumatic events can also be a cause of binge eating disorder. One of the studies shows that a woman who experienced traumatic events the last year, had developed binge eating disorder, the frequent occurrence of negative events in that year of life became the cause of this disorder. Researches also found that people who have experienced physical abuse, body criticism, stress are more likely to have binge eating disorder. Another study shows that binge eating tend to run in families, Bulik Sullivan and Kendle shows “moderate heritability for binge eating” at 41 percent. It is also supposed that people who tend to do binge eating not always have binge eating disorder. The person can occasionally binge eat without having psychological or social effect of binge eating disorder.

Symptoms

The symptoms of binge eating disorder can be eating very fast than usual, and perhaps in a short period of time, eating until the person is uncomfortably full, eating a large quantity of food even when not hungry, loss of control on eating and what is being eaten, binge eating can be planned in advanced and there could be a special purchasing or selection of the special type of binge food, and it can be any time day night, evening.

People might also eat secretly due to embarrassment felt about the amount of food being consumed.

The mental state of the person might be dazed during the binge.

And also, not able to remember the food the person had after the binge.

There can be feelings of guilt, shame or disgust which is followed by food binge.

Assessment of Bulimia Nervosa and Binge Eating Disorder

The assessment of both the disorder is very similar.

When your doctor suspects disorders like bulimia nervosa or binge eating disorder, they might start by finding out your medical history, or find it out by some other way like through a questionnaire.

Then he goes on to check your current medical situation by physical examination like measuring your height and weight, then taking note of the heart rate, blood pressure and temperature, listening to your heart and lungs, and also examine your abdomen.

Also, he might interview the individual by asking about his eating pattern, also what type of food the individual likes to have when he/she binge eat.

He can also perform lab test, like he may take the blood count and more advanced and specialized tests to check up on the electrolytes and protein, as well as the liver, kidney and the thyroid functions in the body.

He may also ask for a urine test which is called a urinalysis.

He can also do other studies like, he would perform X-Rays to check the bone density of an individual or if there are any stress fractures or if there are any chances of a person having pneumonia or have any heart problem, tests can also be conducted to see how much energy the body uses, which helps to measure the number of nutritional values the individual is getting.

A mental health professional or a therapist is most likely to check up on the thoughts, feelings or emotions the individual is feeling, the individual can also be asked to fill the self-assessment questionnaire for proper evaluation.