Long Term Effects of Bulimia Nervosa.

Bulimia affects different organs. And the longer you have bulimia the more organs get affected and damaged.

The organs that suffer the most are: heart, kidney, brain, digestive system, bones, skin and endocrine glands.

The heart gets damaged from the constant electrolyte imbalances caused by continuous purging and becomes weaker the longer the bulimia continues. Some people even can die from this complication when a weak heart goes into a "heart block". This is when the heart suddenly stops beating due to extremely low potassium or other mineral deficiency induced by vomiting and laxatives abuse.

Kidney damage is very common among long term bulimics. The kidneys are organs that normally correct mineral abnormalities in the body. But when a person's mineral balance is constantly disturbed, like in case of bulimia, the kidneys are under enormous strain to correct it and eventually they get damaged.

The brain suffers also from the moment bulimia starts. People have distorted thought patterns like depression and anxiety. The longer bulimia goes on for the stronger the addiction to binging and purging becomes. The long time effects of brain damage from bulimia are: suicidal thoughts, self-cutting and other self-harm symptoms. Impulsive behavior can occur and people can become less responsible for their action.

The digestive system also gets affected badly. The stomach experience delays in empting its food content and people suffer from pains in the abdominal area, bloating, acid reflux, stomach ulcers and esophageal problems.

In long standing bulimia cases sufferers loose the feeling of being hungry or full. Sometimes their taste distorts which makes them eat strange combinations of food or experience cravings (for example craving to eat very salty or sour things).

The bones become weak due to the development of low bones density after many years of suffering from bulimia. People can and do complain about their bone's aching plus they have lots of pain and the bones can break from even minimal strain or pressure.

Skin looses its youthful look even at a relatively young age. Dry skin, inflammation of the skin, abnormal irritation and ongoing pimples are common problems for bulimics.
Hair loss due to mineral and protein depletion is inevitable in long term bulimia.

The endocrine glands eventually stop working properly and produce fewer hormones than the body needs: this makes a person age quickly and loose muscle tone.

Menstruation becomes irregular or stops and because of this a woman is unable to conceive and have a baby.

To sum up, the long term effects of bulimia nervosa can be extremely dangerous. And treatment for this disorder becomes more complicated the longer it goes on.
The best way is to prevent these dangerous effects from happening is to treat the disease sooner rather than later.

The best thing is to start educating yourself and your family about what to do and what to change at home to help the sufferer. Home and family support are proven to be the best way of treating this condition. But it has to be the right help and the right support. To learn more about it go to http://www.bulimia-cure.com

Fluid Retention in Bulimia Nervosa.

Many bulimia sufferers complain about fluid retention in their body from time to time. The symptoms of this problem are: swelling of the legs and feet plumped up fingers and hands, feelings of puffiness over the whole body.

These problems are especially relevant to the people who vomit often, use diuretics and laxatives to control their weight. The reasons for the fluid retention in bulimics can be many. One reason is electrolyte disturbances like the loss of potassium, sodium, calcium and other minerals; this can be caused by their vomiting, diarrhea from laxative abuse and extreme urine output after taking diuretics.

The other reason for fluid retention is possible kidney damage and this happens more often among long time sufferers of bulimia. The kidneys get damaged mainly because of long time electrolyte disturbances in the blood stream. The kidney is the organ that normally corrects electrolyte abnormality in the body, but when their mineral balance is constantly abnormal it puts a lot of strain on the kidneys and they suffer.

The third possible reason for developing fluid retention is a low level of protein in the body. All eating disorders sufferers are at a high risk of developing low levels of protein as a consequence of constant dieting and not getting enough protein out of their food.

All three reasons can make the body retain abnormal amounts of water and can have serious consequences on your health. If you are a sufferer and notice signs of edema (fluid retention) anywhere in your body – immediately go to see a doctor or other medical professional. Don't wait until it gets worse, you have to understand that there are underlying reasons for the edema and can be really serious. Some kind of intervention should be done immediately (like correcting your electrolyte balance with medications that will help your kidneys cope better).

The other thing I should mention here is that some bulimics complain about heaviness and puffiness in their body that they think it is due to fluid retention but it is not. It is a perceptional problem they have that is called "broken eye syndrome". This is when a person perceives that they are bigger then they really are.
They feel that their body is expanding and getting bigger everyday but in reality there is no abnormal fluid retention. It is only the person's perception that there is: so they take more laxatives or diuretics and the problem gets worse.

To conclude, fluid retention in bulimia sufferers can occur for a number of different reasons: some of them are more serious than others. One thing is for certain all of them need to be corrected sooner or later. The best way to do this is to get checked immediately by a medical professional to avoid serious complications. It is also important to work on your bulimia problem immediately. Try to get help to deal with it and change the way you think and feel about food, your life and everything else.
It has been shown that the best way to do this is with a family home treatment program that teaches you how to overcome your bulimia.
For more information go to http://www.bulimia-cure.com

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.

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 empting, 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. Read more about family treatment go to.
http://www.mom-please-help.com

Weight Gain For Anorexia Sufferers

Getting people with anorexia to gain weight and eat more is the number one thing in helping them get better. Increasing weight for anorexics improves their health and helps them think clearly. There is a strong connection in anorexia between weight and thoughts: the lower the weight goes their thoughts get vaguer about their body image and the whole of reality.

Many sufferers can't actually accept that they are ill until they put on a certain amount of weight; this extra weight gives their brain the ability to think more rationally.

So, how do we go about putting weight on anorexics?

For dangerously underweight people if you start to give them lots of food it can make them extremely sick. The risk is especially enhanced if the anorexic has been fed through a feeding tube.

This problem can be treated with injections of minerals and other substances they need for basic survival. This can be done in a hospital but is only recommended in extreme weight loss cases.

In the cases where a feeding tube is not been involved it is recommended to increase the amount of food the anorexic eats slowly, over time. It would increase something like from 100 to 300 grams of food a day (depends on the tolerance of the person).

It can be hard for people who have been starving themselves to just start eating again. That's why anorexics will need home counseling and support at the same time they start to change and all the time they are gaining weight.

It is recommended to gain between 0.5 and 1.0 kg (1 or 2 pounds) a week until the person's body mass index (BMI) returns to 18.5-19.

To gain this amount of weight, they will need to eat between 2,200 and 2,500 calories every day. That's not a lot of food. It's only about what a healthy adult eats every day, on average. But anorexics may start eating much less than this and slowly work up the amount until they feel comfortable with it.

Taking multivitamins and minerals is a great help in maintaining body biochemistry balance throughout all recovery stages.

In the early stages of gaining weight sufferers do need close monitoring of their weight to avoid significant weight fluctuations which can be dangerous for the heart and brain function that is why a home treatment method is essential.

After the body mass index (BMI) stabilizes and remains constant for a few months, monitoring is unnecessary and the person has been taught to live without focusing on counting calories and looking at the labels on the back of packages.

To conclude, gaining weight for the anorexic sufferer is a mandatory step to their recovery. It has to be done in a gentle non-forceful way, with lots of family support and help.

This also means that family education about the problem is as important as the education of a person suffering from anorexia especially in the early stages.
www.eatingdisorder-cure.com

Can you fight bulimia and other food addictions with natural medicine?

Bulimics and other food addicts eat compulsively. They can’t stop their compulsion if they have started eating and disregard the consequences of their behaviors.
These people are persistently preoccupied with buying, preparing, cocking and eating food. They also can sneak or steal food, hide the food in their bags, cupboards, draws and other places.

When the food supply is cut off, withdrawal symptoms can occur, including chills, dizziness, headaches, poor concentration, nausea and lethargy.

A food-related addiction can also be accompanied by co addictions. Many bulimics may also binge on alcohol or get addicted to prescription drugs or even over-the-counter medications like diuretics and laxatives.
Bulimics may be addicted to cigarettes to help moderate their food cravings.

The treatment for food addicts and bulimics is complex. Behavioral therapy, family therapy, nutritional therapy and even hospitalization can be used to treat sufferers.
But the most difficult things in the treatment process still remain the coping with cravings to binge or binge and purge during the recovery process.

If only you can stop the cravings to overeat! Some sufferers even describe it as little voices in the head which force them to binge. If only you can stop them or at least make them not that strong.

Many methods have been tried to kick a food addiction. The most beneficial methods are probably the ones which involved changing person’s way of thinking and dealing with emotions. But I also found that some herbal therapy can help you to fight your food addiction also.
These herbs seem to be useful for kicking food addiction:

Gymnema blocks the taste and metabolism of sugar if consumed before eating. It can quickly help your body stop sugar dependency.

Amla is rich in nutrients, especially vitamin C. Ayurvedic medicine uses it a lot to help people feel lighter and happier. It is also a mild laxative.

Alfalfa is also rich in nutrients, vitamins and minerals. But the main benefit is that it contains enzymes that helps digest the food (for bulimics it is necessary because bulimics have slow digestive processes).

Ginger stimulates circulation to all parts of the body. Also it improves digestion and gives body more energy.

Burdock improves fat metabolism and eliminates extra water from the body. It is very beneficial for kidney, liver and bowel function.

Nettle is a traditional remedy for cellulite. Also eliminates extra water from the body and stimulates blood circulation.

Dandelion Root improves liver function and metabolism of fat. The leaf is a natural diuretic and is rich in trace minerals, especially potassium.

Fennel Seed is a natural appetite suppressant and helps to control your cravings for specific foods.

Cola Nut is a stimulant. It contains caffeine and theobromine. It can be used to suppress hunger and mental exhaustion.

Cinnamon is naturally sweet. It can lower the desire for other sugars. It also improves circulation.

Cardamom helps to digest grains and dairy products. It also improves circulation in the digestive system itself.

St. John’s Wort is a natural antidepressant and anxiety reliever. It can help to stop emotional eating.

Valerian Root is a natural sedative. It also can be used to stop emotional eating.

Yerba Mate works as an appetite suppressant, an antidepressant and a mild stimulant. It can stop a binging cycle. It is also rich in nutrients, minerals and vitamins.

Flaxseed oil can help to stop cravings for fatty food. Take a one tablespoon of this oil daily to stop fat cravings.

This is only a few of many other herbs that can help to fight food addictions and bulimia.
For more information go to www.mom-please-help.com

Media and influence on women body image.

It has become obvious now that the media advertises and promotes a very unhealthy trend of extreme dieting and other bad eating habits to women. Most of media sources put on their covers images of skinny emancipated females. Doing this they influence the subconscious mind of the masses. And women continue to spend their money trying to achieve this unattainable look they constantly see in media advertising.
To try and solve this problem let’s answer the next questions. 1. What is body image? 2. What kind of trends in the media industry are we noticing now? 3. How do the media influence our perception of body image? 4. What could be the reasons behind this? 5. What are the consequences of this kind of trend? 6. What are some real suggestions on how to improve your body image?
Your body image is how you perceive, think and feel about your body. This may have no bearing at all on your actual appearance. For instance, it is common in Western nations for women to believe they are larger and fatter than they really are. Only one in five women is satisfied with their body weight. Nearly half of all normal weight women overestimate their size and shape. A distorted body image can lead to self-destructive behavior, like dieting or eating disorders. Approximately nine out of 10 young Australian women have dieted at least once in their lives.
So, the basic trend in the media industry at the moment is to promote slim, even skinny unnatural looking women’s bodies as being beautiful.
Women of all ages but especially young women look at magazines, TV, movies and other media products full of images that show skinny women’s bodies. And these are perceived by the subconscious mind of young women as being a role model to follow and aspire to be like. Achieving this skinny look does not come naturally; it inevitably leads to practicing some kind of dieting, excessive exercising or abnormal eating behaviors.
Twenty years ago, the average model weighed 8 per cent less than the average woman—but today’s models weigh 23 per cent less. Advertisers believe that thin models sell products. When the Australian magazine New Woman recently included a picture of a heavy-set model on its cover, it received a truckload of letters from grateful readers praising the move. But its advertisers complained and the magazine returned to featuring bone-thin models.
What could be the reason behind all this? Why has this fashion trend occurred now? Why are standards of beauty being imposed on women, the majority of whom are naturally larger than any of the models?
The reasons for this according to some analysts, is an economic one. By presenting an ideal look which is difficult to achieve and maintain the cosmetic and diet product industries are assured of growth and profits. It is estimated that the diet industry alone is worth $100 billion (U.S.) a year. This is a lot of money and certainly worth their while to continue to foster emancipated women as being the norm.
And the consequences of this trend are huge. On the one hand, women who are insecure about their bodies are more likely to buy beauty products, new clothes, and diet pills or other diet supplies.
On the other hand, research indicates that exposure to images of thin, young, air-brushed female bodies is linked to depression, loss of self-esteem and the development of unhealthy eating habits in women and girls.
The level of eating disorders like anorexia and bulimia are increasing rapidly every year. It is estimated that around 5 per cent of women and 1 percent of men have an eating disorders like anorexia or bulimia or binge eating some time in their life.
And about 15 per cent of all young women have significantly distorted eating attitudes and behavior that can lead to developing anorexia or bulimia in the near future.
So, what would be some real suggestions on how to improve your body image without resorting to unhealthy eating habits?
The First one is to change your goal from weight loss to just improving your health. Second, is to focus more the internal beauty like improving your self-esteem, self-confidence and internal strengths of your character. Get informed by reading up on body image issues and self-improvement books. And give yourself a break from women’s magazines and the mass media advertising for a while if you feel you maybe prone to this kind of false perceptions.
To sum up, the media does impact on women’s body image significantly and it can affect women’s physical and mental health in a negative way. And the only way to stop these negative effects coming from the media is to teach women not to judge themselves by the beauty industry's standards and learn not to compare themselves to the cover girls. And also it is important to promote a healthy life style with emphasis on internal beauty like improving self-esteem and self-confidence. Not on being a stick like model.
http://www.eatingdisorder-cure.com

Cause of Bulimia Nervosa.

Cause of Bulimia Nervosa.

Bulimia is one of the most rapidly increasing psychological problems around nowadays. But what causes bulimia? Is it an extreme response to Western society’s pressure on young girls and women to be slim?
Or are there other factors contributing to the problem?
Can we influence these factors and change their effects on people?

Genetic, environmental, biological are all common factors that have to be looked at when we talk about the causes of any diseases or disorders.

Let’s look at these things in the case of Bulimia.

Scientific research recently has shown that people are born with an inherited predisposition towards developing bulimia, particularly where susceptibility to addiction is in the genes. It reveals that bulimics inherit a gene responsible for the addiction from their ancestors. This addiction can appear in different forms: alcohol addiction, drug addiction, food addiction, nicotine and the like. That’s why many bulimics also suffer from addictions to other substances also, making recovery difficult.

So a genetic predisposition to bulimia may be there but it is not a single bulimia gene itself that is the culprit but a general addiction gene. And in many bulimic families we can trace backwards to past members of the family who suffered from other kinds of addiction in their lives.

But on the other hand not all people who get an addiction gene suffer from bulimia or other addictions. So we have to look at other things like environmental factors.

Environmental factors can contribute to triggering the onset of bulimia. These include peer pressures, family attitudes, the influence of the media creating a need for thinness, poor self-esteem and a lack of acceptance of self and body shape.

Bulimia often begins with a dissatisfaction of the person's body. The individual may actually be underweight, but when that person looks in a mirror they see a distorted image and feel heavier than they really are. At first, this distorted body image leads to dieting. As the body image in the mirror continues to be seen as larger than it actually is, the dieting escalates and leads to bulimia. The bottom line however, is that bulimia is the misuse of food to try to resolve emotional problems. When a person is unable to face their feelings, define problems, and resolves them effectively, that person is more prone to become susceptible to the onset of bulimia.

A significant correlation between the development of clinical bulimia nervosa and sexual abuse has also been proven. Other forms of abuse (physical, emotional or combination of both of them) also link to developing of dissatisfaction with the person’s body that can lead to bulimia any time in the future.

Strict and cold parental attitude and luck of showing love to children from parents can become a trigger for developing a wrong body image in children that can turn into bulimia in susceptible people. That is why you should never tease your child if they are a little bit over weight as this could just be a normal growing process for that child’s body shape. But a wrong word from a parent or family member may inadvertently send that person down the track to bulimia.

The next factor which can cause bulimia is biological or biochemical factor. This happens when one or a few biological processes in the human body have gone off track. Some research has shown that an insufficiency of a special hormone in the brain called serotonin can cause depression and bulimia at the same time. This is probably why many bulimics also suffer from depression.
Some antidepressants that work on restoring the level of serotonin in the brain can help some sufferers stop their binges while taking them. This could also mean that many sufferers, who manage to stop their bulimia for a short while, go back to binging again when they stop the antidepressants.

Anyone who has been on antidepressants and has stopped should look for other supplements where they can substitute the loss of serotonin; I believe you can get serotonin in the health food stores in capsules form. Although taking serotonin on its own will not automatically stop your bulimia, as it is a much deeper psychological problem that a single chemical imbalance: but it would not hurt either.

As you can see, many factors can contribute to the development of bulimia. For some sufferers it is the environmental factors that come into play, like desire to be thin, peer pressure to be thin or influence from the media to be thin. Some people may have a strong genetic influence that can be traced to past relatives who may have suffered from bulimia or other addictions.

Depressed sufferers will blame their low serotonin level in the brain for their bulimia. But the majority of people probably have a combination of factors that has caused their bulimia.

In conclusion, the causes of bulimia could be many: genetic, biological and environmental. So far we can’t change the genes we are born with but we can manage to control certain behaviors brought on by defective genes, with the correct methods.

To change biological factors like low serotonin levels in the brain, it is possible with certain drugs or supplementation, but it does not work for everyone. The only bulimia factor we can change easily is the environmental factor. This includes changing our attitude to body image, our perception of real beauty and our eating habits.

By promoting a healthy environment we can eradicate or significantly diminish one of the main causes of bulimia - the environmental factor. The other causes can also be controlled if we are aware of their existence.

Dr Irina Webster
www.womenhealthsite.com