People with Bulimia

The female population makes up a large percentage of people who suffer from bulimia. Those who are mostly affected are the ones in the late stages of adolescence. Of course, not all bulimics come from these specified groups or classifications.

What is bulimia?

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Bulimia is an eating disorder. Bulimics are afraid that they are not thin enough. They are extremely conscious of their bodies and how they might be carrying around excess fat. People who have bulimia often indulge themselves in binge eating, or taking in huge quantities of food within a short period of time. However, after these binges, they often disappear to the bathroom to purge their bodies of the food that they have just ingested. In purging their bodies, they often resort to self-induced vomiting.

What are the characteristics of people with bulimia?

The effects of bulimia are often felt after a long period of time. Bulimics often suffer from complications that arise from the illness itself. Due to the lack of nutrition and sustenance in their bodies, people with bulimia are mostly malnourished and look unhealthily thin. They have a skewed self-image, feeling that they are too fat, when in fact, they are not. Other bulimics also suffer from a nagging sore throat that doesn't improve over time, very low blood pressure, swollen glands in the throat and mouth area, tooth decay, dizziness, weakness, cramps, pain in the chest and abdomen and variety of other problems.

Who are some famous people who struggled with bulimia?

Anyone can suffer from bulimia. Famous people such as the late Princess Diana suffered from this condition. She claimed that the condition actually started during her troubled marriage with Prince Charles. Another person with bulimia is the author and comedian Joan Rivers. She developed the disorder right after the tragic death and suicide of her husband. Fitness expert Jane Fonda also suffered from bulimia.

People with Bulimia

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Dangers in Bulimia

Bulimia affects the whole body. But the most obvious effects it has is on the nervous system, mental state, gastro-intestinal, cardio system, kidney, skin, bones and the hormonal system.

The most common and the most dangerous is mineral depletion (Potassium, Sodium, Calcium etc). This has an negative effect on the heart, bones and skin of the sufferer. As a result of the mineral depletion a person develops weakness of the heart, low pulse, low blood pressure, dehydration and dizziness. A sufferer can faint easily, get tired quickly, and feel lethargic during the day.

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The most serious of all is electrolyte disturbance that can lead to cardiac arrest, when the heart of the sufferer stops beating as a result of extremely low levels of Potassium and other electrolytes.

The digestive system is also badly affected. What happens is the gastric acid from the vomiting cause erosions of esophagus and throat. This could cause the stomach to experience a delay in emptying, making the person feel abnormally full even after eating a very small amount of food.

The bowel then becomes sluggish making a sufferer constipated. The other symptoms are blood in the vomit, abdominal cramps, bloating and sore throat. The teeth of bulimics get eroded quickly and salivary glands become inflamed which makes their face look swollen.

Mental aspects of bulimia also becomes obvious virtually straight away in the early stages of the disorder. People appear to loose a sense of normal appetite. They have difficulty understanding their feelings whether they are full or hungry and can't control their eating behavior in most cases.

Bulimics also have high levels of anxiety and depression in some cases. Because of binging -purging episodes sufferers withdraw into themselves and move away from their friends and other people.

Feelings of guilt often goes to the extreme in bulimics and they suffer enormously from it. The other organs that will become affected as the disease progresses is the bones. Low bone density and osteoporosis at a relatively young age can be a serious problem for the sufferers.

People often complain about aches and pains in their bones and joints. The spine has to be checked regularly because weakening of the spine can cause severe back aches and other problems. Skin complications can occur like a change in skin color. Also poor nourishment can cause circulation problems in the skin.

After years of suffering from bulimia women notice that their skin becomes dry and grey, signs of inflammation and irritation can appear from time to time and the radiance of youth disappears completely.

To conclude, bulimia nervosa has a lot of dangers. Some women will develop more and worse complications then others. But the best way to eliminate complications is to avoid them. Bulimia can be treated successfully especially with family support and understanding .

Dangers in Bulimia

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5 Symptoms of Bulimia That Can Make You Look Hideous

I experienced a range of symptoms of bulimia during my 10 year battle with this evil illness. Some were scary, some drained my bank account (like my expensive bulimia teeth!) others were just plain embarrassing.

I had dry skin, a heart murmur, grey bags under my eyes and teeth that were crumbling like old buildings.

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Yes, bulimia ravages your body. It affects you in so many negative ways. But in this article I'm only going to focus on those symptoms of bulimia that ruin your physical looks...

1. Chipmunk Cheeks

The regular binging and purging that bulimics do causes their lymph nodes, salivary glands and parotid glands to swell. This makes their cheeks look puffy and swollen like a chipmunks.

Although it has a cute name, these definitely aren't cute. I felt so self conscious when I used to have them. I was terrified that they would give away my bulimia secret.

2. Anemia

Bulimics often don't absorb enough iron from the food they do digest. Over time this leads to anemia.

Anemia is draining on your body. It feels like everything is such an effort, and you have no energy.

But low energy is not the only symptom. Sickly pale skin is common and also grey bags under your eyes. It makes you look - and feel - like a zombie.

3. Lanugo (Growth of Bodily and Facial Hair)

Of all the symptoms of bulimia, lanugo has got to be the most embarrassing. Your body begins to grow more hair to keep itself warm. And when I say "more hair" I mean lots more. It grows on your face, arms, back and legs. Anywhere that it can so that your body is kept as warm as possible.

I remember looking back at photos the other day from my bulimia days. My eyebrows almost joined up to my hairline! This could have been the early stages of Lanugo. Yuk! Thank goodness I discovered an amazing lady from Iraq who did eyebrow threading... She was my saving grace!

4. Red eyes or blood in the eyes

The high pressure from forcing yourself to vomit can rupture blood vessels in your eyes. This looks horrible and will make you feel like a bit of a freak.

When this happens, it will happen quickly and give you a massive fright. It can also take ages to heal if you do actually burst a blood vessel.

5. Mouth Sores

Mouth sores look disgusting. They are sore, red and angry. I had plenty of mouth sores when I was bulimic and they made me feel so ugly... But worse than the ugly appearance of them is the excruciating pain they cause. Imagine trying to binge and purge when you've got a weeping sore the size of a dollar on your mouth!

Bulimics get mouth sores for 2 main reasons.

The first is stomach acid. When you purge, stomach acid comes up your throat and onto your mouth and lips. It burns all the soft tissue in this area starting painful sores. The more purging that occurs, the more damage gets done and the bigger the sores get.

The second reason is poor nutrition. Bulimics often binge on foods which have almost zero nutritional value. They lack vitamins and minerals and they don't support the body. On top of that, the nutrients they do swallow just end up being vomited up again. This is a recipe for disaster and leaves the body in a weakened state - perfect for these painful sores. (Geez, you would think we have enough to deal with already!)

Those are 5 of the visible symptoms of bulimia. They look horrible and make you feel just the same. I suffered from all of them - and if you're bulimic - chances are that you can relate!

The good news is, all of these symptoms are reversible. Once I started my recovery journey, I began to look much healthier. My skin became more vibrant and my eyes began to sparkle again. For the first time in 10 years I began to see that I was pretty.

5 Symptoms of Bulimia That Can Make You Look Hideous

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