Nervous bulimia

Bulimia, or kinoreksiya - a mental illness, manifested by increased appetite, which in people is called "wolf", and leading to uncontrolled overeating.

Eating disorder is most often due to nervous disorders, mental disorders, or disruptions to the endocrine system.

Patients with bulimia tend to keep their weight under control at all costs, this becomes the main idea for them. Therefore, often after eating, they cause vomiting and drink diuretics and laxatives.

What is bulimia: causes, symptoms, effects ^

The main symptom of bulimia is an increased appetite with a strong sense of hunger, often accompanied by pain in the stomach.

The sick person does not feel saturation, therefore for one sitting can eat as much food as the healthy one could not eat under any conditions. Then, as a rule, he has a feeling of guilt for what he has done and a desire to get rid of what he has eaten.

The symptoms of bulimia also include:

• frequent visits to the toilet room after a meal;
• occurrence of problems with teeth;
• on the fingers can be wound;
• there may be spasms in the joints;
• increased weakness and fatigue, dizziness;
• periodic fanatical compliance with diets and exhaustion of oneself with physical loads;
• deterioration of complexion, brittle hair and nails;
• hemorrhage from small vessels of the eye, etc.

Kinorexia is a nerve disease that is attributed, along with anorexia, to common eating disorders. Suffer them, mostly women, especially the young. The main cause of bulimia is panic fear of getting better and a huge desire to lose weight at any cost.

But, unfortunately, even with the greatest desire, a person can not limit himself for a long time in eating. Severe restrictions invariably lead to food disruption and uncontrolled binge eating. Some women mistakenly believe that if they get rid of by vomiting from food, they will lose weight.

But in the end it happens often the other way around and they get better, which worsens their psychological state even more. This happens for the following reasons:

• a significant part of the calories consumed with food, about 60 - 70%, is absorbed even when cleaning the stomach by vomiting, and when taking laxatives and diuretics this percentage may be even higher;
• with a prolonged course of kinorexia is disturbed and metabolism worsens, and even sport, which is often abused by patients with bulimia, does not help to lose weight.

Therefore, if you lose weight from kinorexia, then, in most cases, slightly. Also to the causes of bulimia often include many mental disorders - hidden fears and anxieties, depressive states, etc.

The effects of bulimia can be very serious, up to cardiac arrest. This is because the constant vomiting and intake of diuretic and laxative drugs dehydrate body tissues and disrupt water-salt metabolism, which affects the work of muscles. With significant dehydration, muscles can not fully decrease, and in fact the heart, as is known, is our main muscle.

Main effects of bulimia:

• deterioration of hair, nails, skin;
• disorders in the digestive system( constipation, diarrhea, impaired absorption of nutrients in the stomach and intestines, in severe cases - rupture of internal organs from overgrowing with a large amount of food);
• disorders in the work of the cardiovascular system( low blood pressure, dizziness, fainting, weakness, arrhythmia, until cardiac arrest);
• changes in the work of the endocrine system( hormonal disorders and disorders of the menstrual cycle, hypoglycemia, diabetes mellitus);
• because of acid from the stomach into the oral cavity, teeth can decay, swollen gums, sores appear on the oral mucosa and jaundices( cracks in the corners of the mouth);The
• bulimia disease seriously affects the nervous system. The person becomes extremely irritable, nervous, there are problems with memory and concentration of attention, there can be an obsessive sense of anxiety, fear, bad sleep, depression.

It is necessary to recognize and treat bulimia in a timely manner, as a sick person can bring himself to death.

Diagnosis and treatment of kinorexia ^

Patients with bulimia always try to hide their disease from others. Therefore, being among people, they eat moderately, and overeat and cause vomiting alone, which often makes it difficult to diagnose the disease in a timely manner. Unfortunately, in particularly severe cases of the disease, patients with kinorexia have periods when they can completely give up food and bring themselves to death.

Therefore, if you see that something is wrong with your loved one, pay special attention to the details of eating behavior. Suspected signs and symptoms of bulimia, it is very important to sound an alarm in time and turn to a competent specialist. You can not treat bulimia yourself, the treatment should be comprehensive( medication, psychoanalytic and cognitive-behavioral therapy) and under the supervision of a qualified psychotherapist.

The main goal in the treatment of kinorexia should be to revise the patient's eating behavior and bring to normal its psychological state. A person must realize his dependence on food and decide for himself the main question: "What is more important - food or life?".Most often, patients are treated as outpatients, hospitalized only in especially difficult situations, when bulimia is accompanied by anorexia and weight loss reaches over 20% of the baseline.

In most cases, medication involves taking antidepressants and supporting therapy for exhaustion. In addition, patients necessarily work individually or in groups with a psychotherapist, in many cases family therapy provides a good effect. People who have undergone bulimia or anorexia are in great need of advice and assistance from a nutritionist, including the development of proper nutrition and optimal diet.

How to deal with bulimia: advice and counseling by psychologists ^

Psychologists have developed a series of "behavioral" recommendations that help to successfully control food behavior after the bulimia and form rational nutrition skills:

• never eat anywhere, horrible and hastily;
• not to swallow a lot of excess, do not eat in front of the TV or monitor screen;
• count each eaten piece, especially fatty foods( sour cream, butter, mayonnaise, etc.);
• when making a menu, give preference to vegetable fats instead of animals, cereals, dairy products, greens, fruits and vegetables containing a large amount of fiber;
• if you really want a sweet, eat some dried apricots, raisins or figs;
• regularly attend classes with a psychotherapist to understand the true causes of your illness, in yourself and your feelings;
• do not expect immediate success and do not scold yourself for possible disruptions.

To summarize, I want to bring the main advice of psychologists - a person who has undergone kinorexia, should always remember his problem. In any case, do not tolerate binge eating, even once. You should know that this disease is extremely insidious and can return. Do not give yourself favors, do not be tempted, and you will necessarily succeed.

We also recommend you to watch a video of the famous psychotherapist Elman Osmanov about symptoms and modern methods of depression treatment: