Bulimia is an eating disorder caused by factors affecting a person's mental health. Women are more at risk of bulimia than men. The peak age for bulimic attacks in women is between 15 and 35 years of age. The main negative ones are violations of the physical health and somatic condition of the patient.

Symptoms that indicate the presence of bulimia

The most noticeable symptoms of bulimia are: eating a lot of food (large portions, a wide variety of dishes), poor chewing of food, a fast pace of eating. These signs should alert others, the earlier the disease is detected, the faster and easier the recovery process will be and the less harm the patient will have time to do to his health.

The characteristic signs of bulimia also include:

• negative attitude towards their appearance;
• excessive preoccupation with the appearance of one's body;
• frequent and excessive fluctuations in weight;
• acute bouts of excessive appetite;
• psychological disorders (depression, insomnia, stress);
• uncontrolled use of diuretic and emetic drugs;
• inability to control your feelings.

Bulimia is characterized by the wrong attitude of a person to food intake, namely overeating. In the course of the disease, a person experiences periodic bouts of uncontrolled hunger. It would seem that there could be something wrong with good and nutritious nutrition, but at such moments the patient absorbs an incredibly large amount of food, which leads to disorders of the food system, which manifest themselves in the form of abdominal pain. That is why the patient carries out various, as it seems to him, useful cleansing procedures. This may be artificial vomiting, taking diuretics or laxatives, fasting, excessive physical activity, etc.

Varieties of bulimia

In medical practice, bulimia is divided into two types:

• nervous;
• pubertal.

Bulimia nervosa most commonly affects patients between the ages of 25 and 30. The reasons are psychological disorders of a person. Most often, constant stress, huge psychological stress, and depression lead to bulimia. All his failures and dissatisfaction a person begins to "jam". It is in food that such a person begins to see the possibility of relieving stress, psychological stress. Food becomes a kind of medicine for all mental suffering and experiences. Quite often, the development of bulimia nervosa leads to:

• lack of personal life;
• dissatisfaction in personal life;
• dissatisfaction with their external data;
• low self-esteem.

Pubertal bulimia is common in adolescents. Bulimia in children can also be caused by dislike for oneself, for one's body, etc. Against the background of hormonal changes in adolescence, children, especially girls, are too sensitive and emotional. In order to have a beautiful, in their opinion, appearance, many resort to various eating disorders. Teenage bulimia is characterized by alternating prolonged fasting with uncontrolled overeating.

The insidiousness of bulimia

Such an insidious disease as bulimia can manifest itself in completely different ways. The nature of the manifestation of symptoms of bulimia depends, as a rule, on the factors that influenced the development of the disease. Sometimes bulimia manifests itself paroxysmal, the patient may feel an uncontrollable feeling of hunger one or more times a week, and the rest of the time have a normal healthy diet. There are cases when the patient feels hungry all the time and needs to eat food permanently. In the course of the disease, the patient ceases to enjoy food and is practically unable to enjoy its taste and smell. At the same time, he actively develops a gnawing state of guilt for the fact that he cannot stop and stop eating food in large quantities.

Ways to deal with bulimia

How to deal with bulimia on their own want to know many who observe the presence of symptoms of the disease. Of course, without the desire of the person himself, it will be extremely difficult to defeat the disease. Therefore, if you find symptoms of bulimia in yourself or your relatives, the first thing to do is to see a doctor.

At the doctor’s appointment, you should honestly talk about what kind of lifestyle you lead, how often you are haunted by hunger, what and in what quantities you eat. First of all, the doctor will look for and establish the root cause of the development of the disease. After identifying the underlying cause of the development of the disease, the doctor will determine the methods and methods of treating bulimia.

Having studied in detail the symptoms of a patient's bulimia, the doctor may prescribe an additional examination. Based on the results of laboratory tests, it will be clear whether the patient requires hospitalization or not. If the patient's health condition is not satisfactory, he will be offered inpatient treatment. Inpatient treatment for bulimia includes:

• a course of treatment of organs that have suffered as a result of malnutrition;
• diet therapy;
• psychotherapy;
• taking vitamin preparations;
• taking antidepressants;
• physiotherapy procedures.

How to get rid of bulimia on your own?!

This question would be more correctly reformulated as follows: How to prevent the development of a mental disorder in the form of bulimia? Because getting rid of bulimia on your own is almost impossible. Not everyone who suffers from this insidious disease can honestly admit that he is sick, which means that a person cannot get rid of the disease without outside help.

So, in order not to become a victim of bulimia, you should:

• lead a healthy lifestyle;
• love yourself and your body the way it is;
• do not seek solace in delicious food (sweet, salty);
• do not abuse alcohol;
• in cases of severe stress or depression, seek help from a psychotherapist;
• do not abuse drugs for weight loss;
• do not use diuretics and laxatives without a doctor's prescription.

The very first step to recovery from bulimia is to admit that the patient has symptoms of bulimia. As soon as the patient understands that he is sick and he has real problems associated with his attitude to food, immediate treatment should be started.

Successful recovery can take a long time. The recovery process can take months or even years. Of course, the main key to recovery is a stabilized psycho-emotional state of the patient.

A patient suffering from bulimia at certain stages of recovery may think that he is already healthy or, conversely, that recovery will never come. But this is not so, if there is a strong desire, the disease can be defeated and the occurrence of relapses in the future can be prevented. And the most important thing must never be forgotten - life and health are worth fighting for.

I want to talk about what helped me cope with bulimia. The methods are simple, the main thing is to turn off the autopilot. Start to peer into the world around you, listen to your feelings. To ask questions. And feed yourself - with laughter, play, care and love. Then one day everything will fall into place again: food - for the sake of energy and pleasure, and not to drown out fear, sadness, resentment and anger.

PRESENT

"I'm mad?"– you ask yourself in desperation after another attack of gluttony-vomiting. A person suffering from bulimia is well aware that his relationship with food is not normal. One of the strongest fears is that the body will eventually not withstand the hellish regime of gluttony-vomiting and will fall ill with some terrible disease. Ignorant well-wishers on the forums scare: "You are sick, you need to see a psychiatrist." They think that they help, but in fact they only increase the horror and provoke new attacks. You would like to stop, but there is no strength. In principle, an intelligent psychotherapist could come in handy here - how useful it is to your neighbor who cannot live without a cigarette for more than two hours, or to a friend if she is terribly afraid to ride the subway. What I mean is that bulimia is just a neurosis, just like nicotine addiction or panic attacks, it doesn't make you crazy.

Moreover, your bulimia is, in fact, a godsend. I know, it sounds mocking now, when your throat is wildly sore, your stomach is bursting from tons of food, your tooth enamel is melting before your eyes and it’s scary to look at your swollen face in the mirror. But one day you will look back and realize that bulimia saved you. Gave me a chance to understand myself, showed what you are afraid of and what you would like more than anything in the world. Helped to discover the inner strength that you did not realize in yourself - so that you believe in yourself and start making your dreams come true.

I like Mary Oliver's short poem: “Someone I loved once gave me a box full of darkness. It took me years to understand that this, too, was a gift". (“Someone I loved once gave me a box full of darkness. It took me years to realize that was also a gift.”) A box full of darkness that is actually a gift is what bulimia is. Remind yourself of this as often as possible. Try to look at her as a friend, not an enemy.

THE TRUTH PROTECTS

Bulimics are subtle and impressionable people, creative people with a rich imagination. They feel the mood of others well, they know how to inspire and support others, but they themselves easily fall into a state of panic and hopelessness. Food is an opportunity to satisfy the need for tenderness and security, which they lack, to relax and forget about fear, at least for a while. You behave like a child who is afraid of thunderstorms - draw exaggerated scary pictures in your head and dive under the covers or hide from it in the closet.

Go into your fear. Do at least one thing every day that scares you. I'm serious. You can’t imagine life without morning weighing - don’t weigh yourself for at least a couple of days. Afraid to call on the phone - call and talk, even if your voice trembles. If you don't know the answer to a question, say so. You turn off the road because you don't want to meet an unpleasant person - go straight to him and say hello first. These little feats do not seem to be related to food, but they are great for boosting self-esteem. And with high self-esteem, you will feel confident and happy – you don’t need to comfort yourself with food.

Also: you are used to eating secretly, because you are ashamed of the scale of what you eat. Plan your meals so that you only eat in company with someone. The more fears you “bring out of the dusk” in this way, the less you will want to overeat. Salvation is to stop lying to yourself. Try not to induce vomiting after a bout of overeating. Yes, it will be hard and scary, but you will take responsibility for your act and honestly go through the consequences. Next time, remember your feelings from a full stomach: they will help you to hold on. Remind yourself that the more often you choose to be honest (not induce vomiting), the stronger you are, and the bulimia is weaker and less common. To face the truth is your protection.

NEURAL TRACKS

At your worst moments, you feel like a zombie - as if the food controls you, does not let you stop, even despite the pain. This is the great illusion of bulimia: you are like a sleeping Gulliver, whom the Lilliputians are trying to tie. In fact, the desire to eat is just a conditioned reflex. It arose due to the fact that you did the same thing many times (the children are angry - I will eat a chocolate bar; I walk past the store in the evening - I will go in and buy food; I sat in front of the computer after dinner - I started throwing everything out of the refrigerator). New routes have formed in the brain - they are called neural pathways. These neural pathways connect a stimulus (such as sitting in front of a computer after dinner) with a desire to eat. Over time, a particular situation already automatically arouses the desire to snack.

The good news is that neural pathways are created and “overgrown” by our thoughts. When you don't go to the candy store despite your strong desire, or stay in front of the computer instead of running to the kitchen, you are weakening old neural pathways and making new ones, without the goodies involved. Forbid, distract, run away - will not work. The only way to break free and take control of food is to go through temptation (an old habit) and thus create a new one. Therefore, next time, rejoice when an attack of gluttony rolls - this is your chance to erase the conditioned reflex. Do not be afraid, do not tear your hair out - calmly say: “Yes, now I want to give myself free rein and eat. Yes, I can do it, no one can stop me. Then this conditioned reflex will become stronger. And I can give myself free rein and create a new one - I don't overeat in the evenings. I DON'T buy loads of food in the store."

All you need to do is to sit quietly with an unpleasant feeling of tension and anxiety (created by the anticipation hormone dopamine, which makes you feel like something is pushing you to eat). Wait it out, like a summer rain without an umbrella - the wave washed over and passed. More details can be found in the book. Gillian Riley Eat Less. Stop overeating."

HEALTHY AGGRESSION

Bulimics usually give the impression of being very gentle, approachable, pleasant people. This softness is deceptive and expensive for them: anger, resentment at injustice, humiliation, they first drown out with food, and then splash it out with vomiting. They are afraid to say no, to express what has boiled over, to fight back - even in self-defense. Hence the sudden mood swings from which loved ones suffer - I just was a sweet, caring girl and suddenly a monster is rude, rude, beats in hysterics. As if a good and an evil twin live in the same body, and then one comes out, then the other.

Start expressing not only your positive but also your negative feelings. This is absolutely natural and does not make you a bad person - if from time to time you experience anger, disappointment, hatred, jealousy, panic, envy, resentment. Recognizing means in a moment of stress to say to yourself or out loud: I'm angry because... This person pisses me off because... I'm jealous... I'm sad... I'm offended... You will see, it will become easier and the mood will even out. If you have the opportunity, directly tell about your feelings not only to yourself, but also to the person who causes them. “I feel unpleasant/offended/angry when you say/do this and that…” The more often you practice openly expressing your feelings, the higher your self-esteem will be, the easier it will be to connect with people and build relationships without resorting to food as a self-defense.

NO ERRORS, EXPERIENCE

Allow yourself to be wrong. Fall down and get up again. When you learned to skate or ride a bike and hit a couple of good flops before you started to succeed, did it ever occur to you to blame yourself for inexperience and mistakes? Same with bulimia. Accept as if twice two is four, that it is impossible to lose weight once and for all and eat “perfectly”. For the simple reason that we are not robots, but humans. You need to understand and accept periods of overeating, gluttony, mood swings. THEY WILL. Just honestly saying to yourself: “I feel bad, I have a breakdown, an attack of gluttony” at the moment when they occur is to gradually reduce them to a minimum.

ENJOY NON-EDIBLE TREATIES

An immoderate craving for sweets and pastries is also our longing for smells, colors and sounds. Imagine that the 5 senses (sight, touch, hearing, taste, smell) are the five colors on the windowsill. They need to be watered every day, make sure that there is enough light and heat in cold weather. You mercilessly pour a flower called "Taste", gobbling up chocolates and cakes, and the rest wither away from thirst.

We distinguish about 10,000 smells, millions (!) shades of color, symphonies of sounds. We feel a touch on the skin: gentle, quick, rough, encouraging, timid, passionate, loving.. All this is wasted - you are used to extracting joy only from food. You live like in a deaf pantry: woke up, ate, broke out, and so on in a circle. There is a huge beautiful world around and it is full of inedible pleasures. Learn to enjoy them. What smells immediately cheer you up? I love the scent of freshly washed laundry, peonies, earth after rain, apple pie, freshly brewed coffee.

Every day try to experience new sensations. Wear more bright juicy shades (clothes, manicure, berry makeup, flower hairpins). Fill the space around you with color: colored paper, a notebook, a pen, funny stickers, rhinestones, a lamp in the bedroom. Choose floral and sweet body creams, perfumes, aroma oils and candles. Go to the artist's shop, musical instruments - buy little funny gizmos. I already wrote about how important it is for well-being to hug relatives, friends, pets - at least 6 hugs a day!

LAUGH

Try to look at your gluttony with humor. Laughter awakens a child in us - it is easier to accept the paradoxical nature of life, to give vent to emotions. Believe in the best and in spite of any problems continue to live. For example, imagine yourself in the place of the girl in the picture eating a cake. “Yes, I want and I will eat until I burst!” Look for a reason to laugh heartily. It can be a video (here, dad figured out how to quickly make his daughter's hair, but it's better not to repeat after him) or a funny picture, an anecdote, a song, whatever.

Collect photos of laughing people, animals that warm and delight you: view them from time to time. Keep a funny talisman toy handy (how do you like my cheerful pink llama with stylish glasses?) Another source of positive energy is films / series where situations related to food and being overweight are shown with humor. One of the best is the tragicomedy "Muriel's Wedding" with Toni Colette.

Set a goal to smile at least once a day - to a funny kid who was met on the way to work, a salesman, a colleague, a passer-by chewing popsicle in a 20-degree frost, an unfamiliar elderly woman with tired eyes in the subway. Before going to bed, ask yourself: what made me the most happy today? why exactly this? if the day turned out to be difficult - what was funny about it after all? Every time you manage to see the funny side of a difficult situation, you emerge victorious from it.

If you have a question about bulimia/weight loss or feel that it is very difficult and you need support, write to:

Mental disorders, accompanied by a violation of the norms of habitual nutrition, are the scourge of modern youth. Bulimia and anorexia are two girlfriends that often occur in the same person. Bulimia is gluttony, when an unbearable and irresistible hunger is felt, despite the fact that a huge portion of food has already been eaten. After eating, a bulimic person experiences a feeling of guilt and shame for the food they have eaten, as they are afraid of gaining weight. To remedy the situation, he tries to induce vomiting, takes laxatives. The circle closes and everything repeats again.

How to recognize bulimia

Very often, a person with bulimia does not admit to himself and others that he is addicted. He doesn't even consider it an addiction or a disease. But it is still possible to recognize this mental disorder. Here are some signs that are characteristic of the behavior of a person with bulimia.

1. A huge, incredibly huge amount of food that a person can eat. Bouts of gluttony may occur at night. Sometimes a person with bulimia tends to constantly chew on something. After so much food eaten, there are pains and cramps in the abdomen, various disorders of the digestive system occur.
2. - the constant companion of bulimia. After an attack of gluttony, a person tries to correct the situation and conducts various “cleansing” procedures for the intestines - puts an enema, induces vomiting, takes laxatives and diuretics.
3. Often bulimia is accompanied by various psychological disorders - depression, stress, anxiety, poor sleep quality.
4. A person with bulimia is obsessed with their weight. Weight loss, diets and nutrition are all that are of interest to him. In fact, maintaining the desired weight becomes the main life goal.
5. Bulimia alternates with anorexia. For a long time, a person exhausts himself with hunger strikes and loses weight. But at some point, his brain simply turns off, and the patient eats a portion of food that is equal in calories to the weekly diet of an ordinary person.
6. A patient with bulimia cannot be distinguished from healthy people. He has a normal average weight, in eating he does not stand out among others. Overeating occurs only in solitude, usually he hides his inclinations from friends and family members.

This disease haunts teenagers, mostly girls. During puberty, their psyche is unstable, they are unhappy with their appearance. Very often, girls think that they are overweight. For lack of experience in losing weight and proper nutrition, they simply refuse to eat, which often leads to anorexia. Prolonged fasting causes exhaustion of the body, followed by an uncontrollable attack of gluttony. This is bulimia nervosa, which needs to be treated by a neurologist.

Often eating disorders come from childhood. Many families have a cult of food, when a child is forced to eat, regardless of his desire. “You won’t get up from the table until you eat all the contents of the plate” is a completely wrong behavior of adults in the family. Usually in families where there is a cult of food, the majority suffers from excess weight. The child himself feels when and how much he eats. If you want him to eat a serving of soup, you need to increase his exposure to the fresh air, give him the opportunity to play outdoor games and limit access to sweets, cookies and other sweets until lunch. And then he will eat the treasured plate without persuasion and with appetite.

There are frequent cases of bulimia at a more mature age, at about 25-30 years. This type of bulimia occurs against the background of various psychological problems, stress at work, failures in personal life. The patient simply “eats” the problem. Temporary taste joy helps to move away from life's failures, but everything is imaginary. Indeed, with the advanced form of bulimia, a person simply does not feel the taste of products.

When an adult sees in food only consolation and salvation from emotional experiences, this often leads to eating disorders. Bulimia harms more than just the digestive system. From frequent eating, teeth deteriorate, bad breath appears, and the thyroid gland organs suffer. All this is accompanied by memory impairment, impaired sleep quality and prolonged depression.

To cure this disease, you need to remember that bulimia is a mental disorder. First you need to direct your thoughts in the right direction, and only then take up the treatment of the body itself. If you suspect that you, a friend, or a family member may have bulimia, you need to take immediate action. Curing bulimia is possible, it requires patience and discipline.

1. First, accept and acknowledge your problem. Denial will not lead to anything good. To defeat the disease, you need to recognize its presence with your head held high. And then see a doctor. Self-medication in this case is highly undesirable and even dangerous.
2. The doctor does not need to be ashamed of his illness. Tell the specialist honestly and frankly about your bulimic attacks - how often they occur, against the background of what emotional state. The doctor will prescribe a course of drugs that will cure organs affected by malnutrition. Along with this, you will receive a prescription for antidepressants. They will help you not feel the anxiety that you seize. They will also write out a detailed diet for you, indicating the size of the portion and the time of eating.
3. As for self-treatment, psychological motivation is important here. You need to love yourself for who you are. Look at yourself in the mirror. There is no need to compare yourself with skinny girls and model-looking girls. In life, men often like radiant health, and not emaciated women. Love yourself just like that. Find and list all your virtues - there will be many of them.
4. To get rid of bulimic attacks, try to plan your day. Lead a healthy lifestyle. You need to eat healthy foods, follow a diet and not violate it. Before eating, put on a plate exactly as much as you plan to eat. No additives. Do not stay at the common table. As soon as you have finished the last piece of your plate, you need to get up from the table. It is better to communicate with relatives in a different setting, for example, in the living room.
5. Don't look for comfort or reward in food. For example, you go to an important exam and make a promise to yourself that if you can pass it, you will allow yourself to eat a cake. This is fundamentally wrong. You can’t reward yourself with food, because you are a person, not an animal. Tell yourself that if the exam is successful, then buy yourself that fashionable handbag that you have been dreaming about for so long or give yourself a subscription to the pool. Learn to look for joy in more than just food.
6. Keep yourself occupied by not thinking about food. Often we experience an imaginary feeling of hunger, just because we are bored and have nothing to do. We just think we're hungry. In fact, you just need to keep yourself busy. Sign up for language courses, go in for sports, meet friends more often. It will take your mind off the food.
7. Stop taking weight loss drugs. Train yourself not to induce vomiting even after a bulimic attack. Come to terms with the fact that the foods you eat are already in you and there is no way to get them out of there. Throw out all laxatives and diuretics from the house - they should not be used so often. It is better to work off the calories you eat on the simulator than to induce vomiting.
8. If you feel that you are experiencing stress that you cannot cope on your own, you need to seek help from a specialist. An experienced psychotherapist will identify the root of your problem and help you overcome it.
9. Find a purpose in life and go for it. Understand that weight loss, diets and nutritional rules are far from the main thing. You already look great, let the correction of nutrition and diet be your usual norm, which you do not need to think about. After all, you brush your teeth every day, but do not think about it all day? So here. If you intend to lose weight, you just need to eat right and move more. But you can't think about it every second. Find yourself a more interesting target. Maybe you want to get a second education, buy your first car, or learn Spanish. Dare! There are so many interesting things in the world besides worries about food.
10. To cope with wolf appetite, you can use decoctions of herbs. Alfalfa, aloe vera, chickweed, burdock, licorice root, fennel, nettle, green tea, psyllium. All of these plants have excellent properties to suppress appetite. They can be used singly or in combination with each other. A few tablespoons of herbal flock should be poured with a liter of boiling water and let it brew. Then the broth should be filtered and drunk 200 ml each with an approaching attack of bulimia. If you feel unbearable hunger, although you have eaten recently, just drink this warm decoction. In a few minutes you will feel better.

If you suffer from bulimia, you do not need to torment yourself and worry about this. Like any other disease, bulimia is highly treatable. However, for an effective and accurate result, you will have to be patient - only a year after the absence of bulimia attacks, you can consider yourself completely healthy. Love and accept yourself for who you are, because you are truly beautiful!

Video: how to recover from bulimia

Bulimia (bulimia nervosa, kinorexia) is an eating disorder associated with loss of control over the amount of food consumed, combined with a desire to maintain current weight. Bulimia is characterized by overeating, regular cleansing of the gastrointestinal tract (vomiting, taking laxatives) and psychologically unstable dependence of self-esteem on body weight and the opinions of others.

Nutritionists note that today bulimia is even more common than anorexia (refusal of food) and compulsive overeating (consumption of excessive amounts of food), which are often precursors of bulimia. Despite this, we do not know enough about the disease. Fill in the gaps that can be of vital importance when it comes to someone from your loved ones, we offer right now.

Bulimia is an obsession

Essentially, bulimia is an obsessive desire. Eat as much as possible, get rid of what you just ate or get the perfect figure. Often, "bulimics" tend to secret alcohol addiction, about which they later experience a huge sense of guilt. In addition, with bulimia, a person does not feel the measure, so that suddenly he can refuse food altogether, and then just as suddenly return to his usual diet, but start going to the gym seven times a week. In general, obsession with striving is one of the most obvious signs of bulimia, helping in its identification.

Bulimia is a mental disorder

Bulimia is not just an eating disorder, but also a serious mental disorder. According to the US National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Related Disorders (ANAD), eating disorders lead to the most fatal mental conditions. This fact is explained by long-term health problems and constant stress associated with suicidal thoughts. In addition, bulimia makes people feel ashamed of their inability to control compulsive behavior, which can lead to severe depression.

Social pressure is one of the causes of bulimia

The causes of bulimia are still a subject of debate in the professional community. However, many experts believe that there is a direct correlation between glossy beauty standards and eating disorders. According to researchers, it is the desire to become like cover models that leads girls to an unhealthy relationship with food.

Against this background, the American Vogue cover scandal (March 2017) seems especially interesting. The issue, called Model Behavior: The Great Beauty Shakeup and dedicated to the most popular modern models, caused a flurry of criticism on the Web. Reason - double standards. Although magazine editor Anna Wintour put plus-size model Ashley Graham on the cover, along with Kendall Jenner, Gigi Hadid and other girls of "traditional" model parameters, she did it in such a way that to determine where the plus-size model is in the picture, decidedly impossible.

Bulimia may be genetically determined

Social pressure and mental disorders are just two of the possible causes of bulimia. Some scientists believe that the disorder may be genetically determined. So, you may be more likely to develop bulimia if one of your parents had this eating disorder. However, it is still not clear whether this is due to genes or an unhealthy atmosphere in the family.

Men get bulimic too

While women are more likely to develop eating disorders, this type of disorder is not gender specific. Experts point out that up to 15% of people receiving professional treatment for bulimia are male patients. At the same time, men are less likely to show symptoms that are noticeable to others, and they react more aggressively to psychological help. That is why treatment in this case can be difficult.

Bulimics are most often of normal weight.

If you think that a person with bulimia should be thin, then you are wrong. This anorexia causes a calorie deficit, resulting in rapid and obvious weight loss. At the same time, people with bulimia, although they may experience episodes of anorexia, tend to consume more calories overall through overeating. This explains why the vast majority of "bulimics" maintain a normal weight without arousing any suspicion.

Bulimia causes serious harm to health

This eating disorder causes more consequences than just unhealthy weight loss. All of the systems in our body depend on nutrition, and last but not least, a healthy diet to function properly. When you disrupt normal metabolism, you cause serious damage to your body. So, bulimia can provoke:

• Anemia (anemia);
• low blood pressure;
• irregular heart rhythm;
• Excessive dryness of the skin;
• Rupture of the esophagus (in case of excessive vomiting);
• Diseases of the gastrointestinal tract;
• irregular menstrual cycle;
• Renal failure.

Bulimia affects reproductive function

Women with bulimia often experience irregular cycles, but this is not the worst thing. Bulimia can have serious reproductive consequences, even if the cycle returns to normal. But the danger is even greater when it comes to episodes of bulimia during pregnancy, as the consequences can include the risk of diabetes, birth defects of the fetus, and the risk of miscarriage and stillbirth.

Antidepressants - a way to cope with the disease

According to research, antidepressants have the most powerful potential in terms of treating bulimia. The optimal option is always selected by a psychotherapist, who determines both the dosage and the regularity of the use of the chosen remedy. It is important that the data of recent years allow us to talk about an increase in the effectiveness of the treatment of bulimia by about two times when antidepressants are combined with cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT).

Cured bulimia may return

The good news is that bulimia is treatable. However, her symptoms return, sometimes without warning. According to ANAD statistics, only 1 in 10 patients with bulimia seek medical help, recognizing that they have an eating disorder, and only half of them manage to cope with bulimia completely. Maintaining a normal psychological state is most correct with moderate physical activity and containment of stress factors (for example, with the help of hobbies or meditation). But, perhaps, the main role here is played by the support of relatives and friends.

Bulimia attacks are episodes of compulsive eating during which a lot of food is consumed in a short time.

An attack of bulimia is characterized by a complete loss of control over what and how much is consumed. The food consumed is usually sweet and high in calories, but it can be anything, that is, everything that is in the refrigerator is eaten, or 5-6 plates of some dish at a time.

The average duration of a bulimic attack is 1 hour, with a maximum of 2 hours. The criterion for bulimia is usually considered to be the presence of at least two such attacks per week, but they can be less frequent - once a week or two and last 3-4 days in a row.

Bulimic attacks are usually carefully hidden from others and occur in the absence of other people. During and after an attack, a bulimic feels intense discomfort, both physical (stomach pain, nausea) and psychological (guilt, self-loathing, despair, and powerlessness). Often there is no feeling of fullness during an overeating attack.

How to deal with bulimia attacks?

It must be borne in mind that an attack of overeating is only one side of the problem. Inducing vomiting or other ways to get rid of calories consumed during an attack are equally important symptoms of bulimia and are not at all healthy behavior.

On the contrary, bouts of overeating are most often the body's reaction to prolonged abstinence from food. Often, bulimics try not to eat for half a day or more to compensate for what they eat during attacks, but in fact it is this fasting that provokes a new bout of overeating.

To cope with binge eating, you need to start treating bulimia in general with psychotherapy and normalizing the diet and stop starving or not eating enough, since it is diets and fasting that lead to binge eating.

What to do with a bulimia attack

If you have already experienced a bulimic attack, you are unlikely to be able to cope with it, but as part of a comprehensive treatment for bulimia, the following recommendations are often given on what to do during an attack of bulimia.

1. Take a few minutes before you start eating, ask yourself how you feel, if you are sad, lonely, or if you feel a strong lack of something (usually not food).

2. Remember your feelings and thoughts and after an attack, write them down in a food diary in this way: date, feelings, thoughts.

3. Eat if you still feel like it.

4. Record your feelings and thoughts after a bout of overeating and write them down in a diary.

5. Write down also the amount eaten during bouts of bulimia, as well as at normal times. This will help track that when you keep yourself half-starved, it leads to bouts of binge eating.

Over time, analyzing your feelings and thoughts, as well as rationalizing your diet, will help you reduce the number of bulimic attacks or even get rid of them.

As an illustration of an attack of bulimia, I will cite an excerpt from Paula Aguilera Peiro's novel "Room 11".

When I left the hospital, everything was already decided. Too bad, because I've been bulimic free for so long, so many good days. But the decision has been made, I will not return to work today. I was suddenly filled with this familiar feeling, this desire to eat non-stop all these things that I love so much and that I forbid myself. I know that now is the moment when I MUST give up these harmful thoughts, think about something else, call someone to keep me company. But deep down I know that once such thoughts come into my head, I can almost never get rid of them. Free time, loneliness and harmful thoughts are almost always bad for me.

I feel guilty for not going to work, but a strange force keeps me walking down the street. I walk very fast, I have only one goal - to stock up on food for my plan. First stop: bakery. I take two types of cakes: puff pastry and others, horseshoe-shaped, sprinkled with almonds and stuffed with "angel hair" (I salivate, my heart beats in an accelerated rhythm). In an attempt to hide my intentions, I ask for two more loaves of bread to make it look like I'm doing normal shopping, not for a compulsive fit. I look at the window, I would take a lot of different cakes, but I notice that the saleswoman looks at me questioningly. I'm paying. I put bags in my backpack, my eternal ally, always in crumbs, with chocolate stains melted from the sun.

Second stop: supermarket. When I enter, I have the feeling (perhaps paranoid) that everyone is looking at me and guessing my intentions. I am lost between countless shelves, burning with desire. I turn into the sweets section and it takes me two or three minutes to think about what I can take without looking too suspicious. If not for these thoughts, I would have carried away everything. I take a bag of nut-filled chocolate chip cookies, a bag of white chocolate-covered biscuits, a triangle-shaped plum cake filled with strawberry marmalade and covered in delicious chocolate. This cake reminds me of my childhood. My grandfather often brought it to me when I was still innocent and could eat whatever I liked and wanted without regrets.

I head to the refrigerators to stock up on a bottle of liquid yogurt to make everything I buy more liquid and, very importantly, a carbonated drink that will help me clear everything with more ease. I put the products on the belt and the cashier looks at me in bewilderment. I'm sure she guesses my intentions, but I don't care. Next time I will go to another supermarket. In addition, I am sure that they face such situations all the time. I load everything I bought and head to the train station to drive home.

On the way, unable to resist the temptation, I reach into my backpack. I fumble for something that looks like puff pastry and tear off a piece. I put it in my mouth with the greed of a man who hasn't eaten in a month. Crumbs fall on my shirt, but I don't care, I keep walking. My only goal is to get home as early as possible to make my feast alone. I quickly climb the platform. I look at the monitor and see that the train I am waiting for will only be in 10 minutes. Great, I'm starting to devour the angel hair cake. Glazed sugar and almonds from the surface of the cake drip onto my blouse and remain around my mouth. A woman in her forties sitting next to me looks at me askance. I try to munch silently in an attempt to make things less wild. Once again I feel that everyone is looking at me. I get on the train and continue to eat. Now I get the seats dirty too.

When I finish eating a cake, I hesitate to get another one out of my backpack and continue eating, at least in front of these people who witnessed how I dealt with the previous sweetness. So I get off at the next stop. I continue my self-destruction by gulping down two brownies and drinking plenty of sparkling water before climbing off the next train car.

Now people are new, they have not seen me in action yet, they believe that I am a normal person, so I can afford to continue eating. I take out the bag of cookies and open it. The sound of the package being torn off seems scandalous to me, people look at me, maybe not, but I have a feeling. I eat cookies. So tasty! One more, and one more. I continue to eat and eat all the cookies in the package, but I must seem normal. For a few moments, I think about whether I should get off again at the next station, but I decide it's best to finish all the houses that have a bathroom nearby.

As soon as the train has reached its destination, I head towards the house. I walk fast, the world that surrounds me does not seem real to me, cars are driving next to me and I can barely hear them, the surrounding landscape is familiar to me, but I'm not sure exactly where I am. And then what I feared happens: I run into an acquaintance who greets me and starts a conversation while I try to get rid of him so that he does not understand my goals. He asks me about Pablo, about work and family. Typical polite questions. I'm nervous and loss. I get very impolite to this person like it's not me, but I want to be left alone, nothing else matters to me right now.

Finally, just when I thought it would never happen, I close the door of my house behind me. I look at my watch: I have another hour of freedom before my husband returns. I throw my backpack on the floor, take what interests me from it, and finish off the thousands of calories it still has. Another cookie, the last puff pastry, a glass of liquid yogurt, white chocolate biscuits, a glass of Coca-Cola, another cookie ... And so on until I ate everything. I look up and see one of the neighbors across the street looking at me through the window in confusion. I think that he watched me eat for about half an hour without stopping. Thousands of stains on my shirt, on the floor, on my face. I do not care. This is my moment.