Bulimia Nervosa

Mostly known as bulimia is an eating disorder in which the subject engages inrecurrent binge eating followed by feelings of guilt, depression, andself-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.

An episode of binge eating is characterizedby both of the following:

Eating, in a fixed period of time, anamount of food that is definitely larger than most people would eat undersimilar circumstances. A lack of control over eating during theepisode: a feeling that one cannot stop eating or control what or how much oneis eating.

Recurrent inappropriate compensatorybehavior to prevent weight gain, such as: self-induced vomiting; misuse oflaxatives, diuretics or other medications; fasting; excessive exercise. Self-evaluation is unduly influenced by bodyshape and weight.

Bulimia is related todeep psychological issues and feelings of lack of control. Sufferers often usethe destructive eating pattern to feel in control over their lives. They mayhide or hoard food and overeat when stressed or upset. They may feel a loss ofcontrol during a binge, and consume great quantities of food (anywhere from1,000 to over 20,000 calories) After a length of time, the sufferer of bulimiawill find that they no longer have control over their binging and purging. Thebinging becomes an addiction that seems impossible to break. Recovery is veryhard and often in the early stages of recovery the patient will gain weight asthey are still binging but no longer purging, causing anxiety which will inturn cause the patient to revert back to bulimia.