Bulimia what to do. All about bulimia

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.

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.
- 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.
Often bulimia is accompanied by various psychological disorders - depression, stress, anxiety, poor sleep quality.
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.
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.
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.

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.
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 the 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Stop taking weight loss drugs. Train yourself not to induce vomiting even after a bout of bulimia. 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.
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.
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.
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

This article is a short encyclopedia of bulimia from Svetlana Bronnikova. Symptoms, course, consequences of the disorder, and most importantly - specific advice on what to do to get out of it all.

Katya's story

Katya is 27 years old. Katya starts every morning with black coffee, an egg and a cucumber. No bread. She is a successful PR person, passionate about her work... and "You understand, we work with celebrities, it's very important to look good." Katya easily catches fire, gladly takes on everything new, and understands nutrition no worse than a professional nutritionist.

She professes a healthy lifestyle and proper nutrition: she drinks two liters of water a day, gets on the treadmill three times a week. At lunch, Katya also tries to eat properly - steam fish, salad, no, no, no dessert!

The hardest part starts at about 4 o'clock, when the strength is already running out, but the end of the working day is still far away. Katya decides to treat herself to a cup of coffee with candy. She does not always manage to resist - sometimes, with a cup of coffee, she starts eating one candy after another and cannot stop ... A day that started correctly and well is hopelessly ruined.

Then, on the way home, she stops at the Azbuka Vkusa to buy croissants, marmalade, cake or pastries, and another liter pack of ice cream. When she gets home, Katya eats it all and then induces vomiting in the toilet.

Katya is 27 years old. 6 of them she has bulimia.

Sometimes the attacks do not start with sweets at work, but as if by themselves. A hard day, an unpleasant conversation with the boss, a feeling of dissatisfaction with what was done. Risky moments are buying clothes (just look at yourself in the dressing room mirror and find that jeans in size 27 are too small) and mom's arrival from another city. Mom's sharp remarks that Katya is still not married, does not look very sporty and could, at her age, with such an education and good work, already take an apartment on a mortgage, lead to despair.

Sometimes Katya gets tired of bouts of vomiting, and then she winds up the kilometers on an elliptical, and sometimes she goes down to the pharmacy for laxatives.

Usually Katya does not think that something is wrong with her. A good half of the girls in her circle disappear into the bathroom after dinner and return with the scent of toothpaste and fresh lipstick. Everyone is on a diet, constantly losing weight. It's a healthy lifestyle, isn't it? And only in the evenings, after an attack, Katya cries because she feels fat and lonely. She feels that something is wrong with her.

Where did bulimia come from?

Bulimia is by no means a product of the new age with its cult of thinness. Overeating attacks and induced vomiting have been known to mankind since ancient times. For example, ancient Egyptian doctors recommended abstaining from food and inducing vomiting once a month for three days to maintain good health. The Roman emperors, who made it fashionable to induce vomiting in order to "make room" in the stomach for the continuation of the feast, is widely known.

It is less widely known that anorexic medieval nuns, who exhausted themselves not for the sake of Holy Thinness, but for the glory of our Lord, periodically developed bouts of overeating, attributed, of course, to the machinations of the devil, and some of them caused themselves to vomit in order to “cleanse themselves of sins."

Does this mean that bulimia as an eating disorder has existed since ancient times? No. The most important component is missing: the need to control weight. You can talk about full-fledged bulimia only when there is a goal of weight control.

Is bulimia congenital?

About 2% of the population of every developed country suffers from bulimia. To date, it has not been clearly established whether there is a genetic predisposition for the disorder. One thing is clear to scientists: there are hidden mechanisms, most likely innate, that facilitate the search and consolidation of the so-called compensatory behavior - this is what is called vomiting and other measures to get rid of the food eaten as quickly as possible.

The fact is that inducing vomiting is not so simple and not at all pleasant. Try it and see for yourself. Who among us did not eat something inappropriate in childhood? One common recommendation is to drink plenty of water and induce vomiting. So, often it is simply impossible to do this - no matter how much we want, we do not succeed. The fact that people with bulimia do it easily and naturally distinguishes them from everyone else. The nature of this difference is unknown to us.

We know for sure that social factors - the general belief in the necessity and usefulness of dietary behavior, dietary restrictions, the cult of thinness - provoke the development of bulimia. There is no bulimia in the so-called primitive cultures. As you know, there was no disorder in the Fiji Islands until the 70s, when the Americans brought television there. After that, the statistics of bulimia quickly approached the global scale.

Bulimia Symptoms

In order to make a diagnosis of bulimia, a combination of several symptoms is needed.

bouts of overeating, that is, the consumption of a huge amount of food in a limited period of time, accompanied by a feeling of loss of control.

Compensatory behavior, that is, any behavior aimed at getting rid of what has been eaten, whether it is vomiting, the use of laxatives and diuretics, or excessive exercise (there is a term for this "sports bulimia"). Food cannot be a reason for increased physical activity. Even if you overeat and it seems to you that you need to work off what you eat, you have symptoms of bulimia!

Now you understand that many healthy lifestyle apologists, Instagram divas with selfies from the gym, and even professional fitness trainers are just bulimics.

This is the paradox of modern life. People with an eating disorder teach others about healthy lifestyles and proper nutrition.

Binge eating and compensation happen at least 1 time per week within 3 months.

Self-esteem and self-perception, even the mood of a person depends on the size and weight body. I weighed myself in the morning - the scales showed a plus - the mood for the whole day was spoiled. They said at work that I lost weight - I fly like on wings. Did not fit into new jeans - a tragedy. In an evening dress, folds on the sides are visible - I'm not going to a party.

A person who becomes ill with bulimia, and both men and women can be, has initially certain psychological characteristics. These are emotionally mobile, impulsive people who are easily involved in new activities. They are difficult to unequivocally attribute to introverts or extroverts - they are shy, reserved and timid in communication, and at the same time they want to be in the center of attention and conquer others. The result of this combination is constant self-doubt.

Consequences

Okay, so what's so terrible about that? Well, I overate - threw up, worked out or took a laxative, is it really that dangerous?

There is an opinion among the people that if anorexia is fraught with serious health consequences, then they don’t die from bulimia - “all girls do it.” In fact, bulimia can be deadly and extremely damaging to health.

The human body is not adapted to spew out what has just been eaten - the body of a bulimic begins to consistently collapse from the inside. Teeth suffer, because along with food, gastric juice enters the mouth. Anemia develops, tachycardia - the body lacks trace elements. The endocrine system suffers - bulimics often experience hormonal destabilization, disorders of the thyroid gland. Gastritis and disorders of the gastrointestinal tract are also typical.

How to treat bulimia?

The first case of bulimia was described in 1979 - then the only method that was used in the treatment of mental disorders was psychoanalysis - and he did not find great success in the treatment of bulimia.

Does this mean that psychoanalysis is ineffective? Of course not. The problem with eating disorders is that they affect both the emotional sphere and behavior. Emotional stabilization may reduce the frequency of seizures, but it is unlikely to help get rid of them. The fact is that bulimics without exception come to weight loss offices with the same request: “I am addicted to food” - although in fact they are addicted to seizures.

An attack is a method of getting rid of negative emotions, calming down, “rebooting”. Indeed, after such a shocking experience, there is simply no resource left for experiences - emotions are turned off. Over time, the connection "an attack - a pleasant oblivion and relaxation" is formed, and dependence is formed.

More hope for bulimics has come with the advent of CBT, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. CBT relies on the fact that our behavior is caused by erroneous thoughts. If you fix the way you think, you change your behavior. Indeed, bulimics tend to follow negative, critical thoughts about themselves. CBT is not always effective for bulimia, but it is still one of the evidence-based treatments.

One of the best results in terms of effectiveness in the treatment of bulimia today in DBT - Dialectical Behavioral Therapy. 80% of patients stop attacks and are kept from them within 2 years. This is the “youngest daughter” of CBT, which puts at the forefront not wrong thoughts, but destructive emotions that a person cannot cope with. Through carefully selected techniques, DBT teaches you to master your emotions, regulate them, understand and analyze them - and change behavior based on a more stable and calm state.

Treatment can be difficult to come by. Admitting that you have an eating disorder can be very embarrassing.

In fact, bulimia is the same disease as hepatitis A or thyroiditis. It's not your fault that you got sick. Without treatment, bulimia rarely goes away - you need professional help.

How to help yourself?

Your enemy is not overeating, but undereating.

Every day you start with a new attempt to eat right. Leave these attempts for a while if you want to get rid of attacks. Eat at least 5 whole meals a day until you are comfortably full.

Remember - your menu should not have excluded products! Potatoes, bread and sweets, pasta and bacon should be part of your menu. Satiety and a variety of tastes are what will protect you from attacks.

Pause art.

Do not set yourself the task of suppressing or preventing an attack. Set yourself the task of "pulling" it. Before you start eating "overeating food", mark the time - let it be 15 minutes at first - and do something else, and after the time has passed, ask yourself if the desire is still strong or can be dealt with. Thus, bring the pause to at least half an hour, adding a minute with each episode.

Run away from the attack.

Bulimic attacks always occur in approximately the same circumstances - most often at home when no one is around. If you feel an attack coming on, leave the house for a long walk, go shopping, window shopping, or take your dog for a walk.

Call a friend.

Agree with a friend or girlfriend that you will call him / her in case of danger. Feeling that you are "covered", call, ask to distract you with a conversation as much as possible - but it's better to come and go for a walk with you.

Bulimia is not a harmless side effect of a "healthy lifestyle" and not "an easy way to get rid of what you eat." Bulimia is addictive, and now you are flushing large sums of money, health, free time, literally down the toilet. For people with "advanced" forms of bulimia, weight and body shape cease to matter much - since almost all of life is devoted to servicing attacks. Don't let it get to that point - ask for help in time.

Treatment plan

At the IntuEat Intuitive Eating Center for bulimics, we offer the following treatment plan:

Individual nutrition counseling: structuring nutrition and avoiding diets with program "Down with diet!" - "SDA" .
Group Therapy - Training emotional regulation using the DBT method, seizure control training.
Group Conscious or intuitive nutrition is a way to bring back the pleasure of food and gain self-confidence.

The most visible symptoms of this disease are an uncontrolled attitude to eating, weight gain and loss. This disease is the result of serious mental disorders.

In other words, bulimia is, first of all, a mental disorder, the basis of which is a feeling of constant hunger, which is accompanied by weakness.

A sick person is constantly pursued by a strong appetite, which is simply impossible to satisfy. Most experts tend to argue that such a disease is a psychosomatic syndrome, which is primarily characterized by "wolfish appetite", during which the patient is able to absorb an incredible amount of food.

Symptoms of bulimia

The bulimia clinic looks like this:

Bulimia most often affects women between the ages of fifteen and thirty. Clinical symptoms of the manifestation of this disease are: swelling of the glands on the skin of the face and neck, persistent sore throat, some inflammatory processes in the esophagus and others.
Initially, you need to find out whether bulimia is an independent disease. It is generally accepted that the onset of this disease occurs at a time when a person is dissatisfied with his appearance. The consequence of this is very unsuccessful attempts to lose weight, which, as a result, can lead to gluttony.
The fact is that most patients, after each meal, cause vomiting, thereby depriving their body of all nutrients. If you constantly engage in inducing vomiting, then this will lead to such a disease as bulimia.

Signs and effects

As mentioned above, the first sign of this unpleasant disease is an irresistible feeling of hunger, which cannot be satisfied with a standard, familiar amount of food. The patient will eat everything that he comes across until the moment when the attack begins to let him go. This applies to one form of the disease.

If the disease is somewhat neglected, then it must be remembered that the feeling of hunger can accompany the patient constantly. There are also cases when the feeling of hunger wakes up only at night. But in any case, after the attack ends, the patient tries to get rid of all the food eaten, while taking various laxatives or self-inducing vomiting.

The consequences of this disease can be very unpleasant. The very first thing that can happen is a violation of tooth enamel, then all kinds of problems with the gums appear. This is directly related to the fact that in the process of vomiting there is an active action of gastric juice on the teeth and gums. The same reason can provoke the appearance of an inflammatory process of the esophagus and the entire parotid salivary gland.

Remember that a disease such as bulimia nervosa can lead to disruption of almost every human organ and any system in the body. The patient's intestines are disrupted, and the processes of the kidneys and liver can easily be disrupted.

As for the stomach, this disease is very dangerous for him. The fact is that in the process of constant vomiting, internal bleeding can open in the stomach itself. If this disease has affected a woman, then in the process of its development, her menstrual cycle may be disrupted.

How is bulimia treated with medications?

Drug treatment of bulimia is one of the most important components of the entire comprehensive program, which is aimed primarily at ridding the patient of the existing disorder.

In the process of treating bulimia nervosa with medications, you can safely use various antidepressants. These drugs have fully proven their effectiveness in the treatment of this disease. They practically do not have any side effects.

What medications do doctors prescribe to treat bulimia? Of the drugs in this group, SSRIs have proven themselves very well. These drugs have an antidepressant effect, can significantly reduce the patient's appetite, and this is very important, especially at the initial stage of bulimia.

Medications in this group include: Venlafaxine, Celexa and some others.

Only an experienced and qualified specialist is able to prescribe certain funds. Since only a doctor will be able to fully study the medical history of his patient and all the individual characteristics of his body, after which certain medications will be prescribed.

Remember that the effect of all antidepressants in various eating disorders has been studied quite extensively. Such medications can significantly reduce the number of episodes of overeating, they somewhat alleviate the symptoms of the manifestation of a particular disease (in this case, this applies to bulimia).

As mentioned above, as with any other disease, it is necessary to diagnose bulimia in a timely manner and immediately begin treatment of this unpleasant disease. The treatment of this disease must necessarily be complex, otherwise it will not bring the slightest result.

An important factor is that the specialist conducts a special conversation with the patient's family, since therapeutic correction should also take place at home.

All therapy for this disease begins from the moment the patient comes to the first consultation. As for the psychotherapy of the patient, it is carried out by the entire medical staff.

Remember that most people who suffer from a disease such as bulimia are prone to permanent depression. Their symptoms can also be removed with the help of antidepressants. To date, to combat this disease, fluoxetine is perfect. This antidepressant is able to stop constant bouts of overeating.

There are also cases when the patient simply needs hospitalization, and this should not be delayed. Bulimia, which can lead to anorexia, can easily be attributed to such cases, and the patient, in the process of developing this disease, loses up to twenty percent in weight.

Summing up all of the above, we can only say one thing: never self-medicate and seek help from a specialist in a timely manner. Be healthy!

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bulimia nervosa

Description:

Bulimia nervosa is a disease characterized by episodes of uncontrolled high food intake, often high-calorie foods. After such bouts of “gluttony”, a patient suffering from bulimia nervosa tries to artificially induce vomiting in herself and / or uses various, including laxatives, to “cleanse” the body of food eaten. Usually, the consumption of food and the subsequent "self-cleansing" are carried out in seclusion.

It is now completely clear that the detection and treatment of bulimia nervosa is a serious medical challenge in view of the high risk of developing dangerous complications of the disease.

Bulimia nervosa is dangerous for the development of life-threatening conditions: ulcerative lesions of the gastrointestinal tract, internal bleeding, hypoglycemia, gastric perforation, impaired renal function, heart rhythm disturbances, amenorrhea, and a drop in blood pressure.

Relationship between anorexia, bulimia and obesity

Causes of Bulimia Nervosa:

In most cases, bulimia is psychogenic in nature. Episodes of overeating are often triggered by stress.

Symptoms of Bulimia Nervosa:

Bulimia is characterized by recurrent and frequent episodes of eating unusually large amounts of food. The patient has a subjective feeling of lack of control in eating. These bouts of binge eating are followed by a pattern of behavior aimed at compensating for "binge", such as purging (including vomiting, taking laxatives or diuretics), or refraining from eating with increased exercise. Unlike patients with anorexia, the weight of a patient with bulimia may be within the normal range for her age and height. But, as with anorexia, they are also afraid of gaining weight, desperate to lose weight, and morbidly preoccupied with their body shapes.

Roussel's symptom - wounds inflicted during attempts to induce vomiting

Treatment for Bulimia Nervosa:

Most patients with uncomplicated bulimia nervosa do not require hospitalization. In general, patients with bulimia nervosa are not as secretive about their symptoms as patients with anorexia nervosa. Thus, outpatient treatment is usually not difficult, but the course of necessary psychotherapy is often lengthy. Often overweight patients suffering from bulimia nervosa, receiving long courses of psychotherapy, recover and even bring their weight back to normal. In some cases, when bouts of “binge eating” are frequent and prolonged, outpatient treatment is not effective, or the patient has suicidal or other psychotic tendencies, hospitalization becomes the only right choice. be stopped only in stationary conditions.

Antidepressants have been proven to be effective in treating bulimia. Among antidepressants, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) such as fluoxetine have found use. Antidepressants can reduce the frequency and severity of binge eating and purging episodes. Thus, antidepressants have been successfully used in particularly difficult clinical cases of bulimia nervosa that do not respond to monopsychotherapy. Imipramine (Tofranil), desipramine (Norpramin), trazodone (Desyrel), and monoamine oxidase (MAO) inhibitors have also been shown to be effective. Thus, for the treatment of bulimia nervosa, most antidepressants were found to have a therapeutic effect at doses used to treat depressive episodes.

Where to go:

Medications, drugs, pills for the treatment of Bulimia Nervosa:

ZAO Canonpharma Production Russia

CJSC "ALSI Pharma" Russia

AS Grindex Latvia

CJSC "Biokom" Russia

LLC "Ozon" Russia

Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (Sun Pharmaceutical Industries) India

CJSC "ALSI Pharma" Russia

LLC "Ozon" Russia

Antidepressants. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors.

JSC "Nobel Almaty Pharmaceutical Factory" Republic of Kazakhstan

Pharmland LLC Republic of Belarus

Hemofarm, A.D. (Hemofarm A.D.) Serbia

OJSC “Chemical-Pharmaceutical Plant “AKRIKHIN” Russia

Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd, Ind. Area (Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd, Ind Area) India

Top list of the best over-the-counter antidepressants

Depression is not uncommon for a modern person. But with such a diagnosis, few people are in a hurry to turn to a psychotherapist, preferring to take over-the-counter antidepressants.

Can depression be cured with over-the-counter antidepressants, and how to choose the most effective drug?

In the pharmacy you can find antidepressants without prescriptions that will help relieve anxiety, depression, and normalize sleep.

When you need antidepressants without a prescription

Before choosing an antidepressant, you need to make sure whether you really need to fight your condition with medication or whether it is enough to eliminate the factors that cause depression. Before using antidepressants, experts recommend minimizing stress, reviewing lifestyle, normalizing rest and work.

It should be noted right away that for people with severe depressive disorders, antidepressants sold in pharmacies without a prescription are not suitable. Drugs against depression have a lot of side effects, and their intake and dosage should be selected by the doctor on a strictly individual basis.

Antidepressants have a different composition and chemical structure, and the way they act on the body is very different. After all, depression depression is different - and the same drug in the same dosage in some patients can lead to recovery, while others, on the contrary, lead to a worsening of the condition. Therefore, using antidepressants without a prescription is very imprudent if the depressive state already has the character of a mental illness, and not a temporary nervous breakdown.

Note! Without a prescription, sedatives, amino acids, metabolic drugs, "weak" tranquilizers and nootropics are usually dispensed. It is impossible to buy strong antidepressants without prescriptions in a pharmacy.

If a person just needs to reduce the reaction of the nervous system to nerve stimuli, improve mood, then “light” antidepressants will undoubtedly help improve the quality of life. In addition, these drugs help with the following conditions:

Antidepressants without a prescription have a very limited list, but they all do not have side effects on the body and it is almost impossible to get poisoned by them.

The antidepressant effect of drugs is due to the stimulating effect on the human psyche. Therapeutic activity depends on the mechanism of action of the drug and the severity of the pathology.

Herbal antidepressants

It is better to start treating mild nervous disorders with herbal preparations - such antidepressants can be easily purchased without a prescription at any pharmacy. Herbal antidepressants also help with anxiety and depressive conditions that appear with stress and anxiety.

List of Russian phytopreparations for the treatment of depression

Note! Doctors say that most people who take antidepressants do not suffer from nervous system problems. Most often, people themselves give themselves a “setting for depression”, and then try to recover from a far-fetched state.

The following herbal preparations also help to get rid of a depressive state:

Infusion of immortelle and lemongrass - improve sleep, relieve feelings of overwork;
Ginseng infusion - increases stress resistance, is used to treat mild depressive conditions;
Infusion of motherwort, oregano, peppermint - mild antidepressants that have virtually no side effects;
Infusion of hawthorn - has a calming effect on the nervous system.

Consists of herbal ingredients. Is an effective sedative

All of these herbal preparations are used for mild to moderate depression and have a mild effect, they can be used for sleep disorders, anxiety, restlessness. The exclusive advantage of herbal antidepressants is that you can buy them cheaper than other drugs of the same effect.

Synthetic antidepressants

Synthetic drugs for the treatment of mild types of depression help relieve nervousness, reduce feelings of anxiety and anxiety, and normalize sleep. These drugs include metabolites, nootropics, tetracyclic drugs

Antidepressants of synthetic origin (Russia)

In the near abroad, there is a list of drugs for depression, which differ in the same effect:

Ukraine: Mirtazapine (UAH), Venlaxor (UAH), Paroxin (UAH), Fluoxetine (UAH 40-50);
Belarus: Melatonin (bel.rub.), Chaga extract (1.24-2.5 bel.rub.), Apilak (3-4 bel.rub.), Ginseng tincture (1-2.5 bel.rub.) .

There are a large number of synthetic antidepressant drugs, but only a few of them are sold without a doctor's prescription. On some forums you can find a whole list of such drugs (for example, Prozac, Sonocaps, Metralindol, etc.), but all these drugs are quite potent and powerful, and you can’t buy them at a pharmacy without a prescription without breaking the law.

Each drug of antidepressant action, along with the contraindications listed above, may have its own, unique to this drug.

How to take antidepressants correctly

Antidepressants, which can be bought without a prescription, have a steady effect in eliminating nervous conditions. But this does not mean at all that they can be used uncontrollably for a long time without serious consequences.

Many drugs of this series have contraindications and side effects. The most common contraindications to taking antidepressants include:

Age under 18;
Pregnancy and lactation;
Individual intolerance to the components of the drug.

But each antidepressant also has its own contraindications, which should be considered when choosing a medication.

Often people mistakenly think of antidepressants as "brain vitamins" that they take to improve mood and overall well-being, so they can be consumed without compromising health. But this is not so - taking antidepressants is limited to a certain period.

Weak over-the-counter antidepressants can be taken for 2-3 months because treatment with such drugs is long, and the effect of taking it usually occurs after 6-8 weeks from the start of taking it.

Consideration should also be given to the compatibility of antidepressants with other medications. So, a combination of tranquilizers and antidepressants can lead to increased side effects and slow metabolism, and antidepressants in combination with sympathomimetics can cause tachycardia.

Many people do not feel what they think they should be after taking over-the-counter antidepressants. Reviews of such patients suggest that the drugs do not help to cope with depression and are ineffective. But usually the problem is that a certain medicine is not suitable in this case for this person or is used in the wrong dosage. Therefore, in order to choose the right drug, it is better to seek help from a doctor.

Tranquilizers without a doctor's prescription: a list

Our modern life sometimes presents a lot of unpleasant surprises. Stress, anxiety, anxiety have become constant companions of a person. When another turmoil unsettles the calm, everyone begins to think about taking sedatives and stimulants. What to choose? What medicine for depression without a prescription can be bought at a pharmacy, are such drugs dangerous?

Depression is a common part of modern life.

Antidepressants or tranquilizers?

Many mistakenly believe that these two groups of drugs that act in the same way under stress. But not everything is so simple. Arm yourself with some knowledge of pharmacology when you go to the pharmacy for the right drug.

tranquilizers

Translated from Latin, the word "tranquilizer" means "sedation". These are psychotropic drugs that are used to treat many diseases. For the first time these drugs were synthesized in the middle of the last century. And the term "tranquilizers" entered medical use in 1956. Often these drugs are called "anxiolytics".

Tranquilizers are medicines that relieve a person's symptoms of fear and anxiety. They stabilize the emotional background without negatively affecting the ability to think and memory.

The main effect of these drugs is anxiolytic (anti-anxiety). Due to this, the patient stops the feeling of anxiety, fear, reduces anxiety and emotional tension.

Interactions between drugs and tranquilizers

Medicines also have an additional therapeutic effect:

sleeping pills (fighting insomnia);
sedative (reducing anxiety);
anticonvulsant (stopping spasms);
muscle relaxant (muscle relaxation).

Tranquilizers successfully help to deal with increased suspiciousness, obsessive thoughts, stabilize the state of the autonomic system, normalize blood circulation and lower blood pressure. But drugs of this level are not able to help a person get rid of hallucinations, delusions and affective disorders. Other means - antipsychotics - are struggling with this.

Types of anxiolytics

The list of tranquilizers is regularly updated, so there is no clear classification of such drugs. The most common drugs are tranquilizers, the list of which belongs to the class of benzodiazepines. They are divided into the following types:

With a pronounced anxiolytic effect. Lorazepam and Phenozepam are considered the strongest.
With moderate action. These tranquilizers include: Clobazam, Oxazepam, Bromazepam and Gidazepam.
With a pronounced hypnotic effect. These include Estazolam, Triazolam, Nitrazepam, Midazolam and Flunitrazepam.
With anticonvulsant effect. Clonazepam and Diazepam are the most common anti-seizure medications.

Antipsychotics. Antipsychotic drugs or antipsychotics. These medications are classified as psychotropic tranquilizers. They are used to treat various mental, neurotic and psychological diseases.

Modern doctors are ambivalent about the appointment of such drugs - antipsychotics provoke the frequent development of dangerous side effects.

When prescribing antipsychotic medications, it is recommended to use a new generation of atypical antipsychotics. They are considered the most gentle and safe for health.

What are neuroleptics

The list of non-prescription neuroleptic drugs is not as long as that of antidepressants and tranquilizers. In pharmacies, you can freely buy the following antipsychotics: Olanzapine, Chlorprothixen, Trifftazine, Thioridazine, Seroquel.

Do I need a prescription for tranquilizers

Benzodiazepane tranquilizers are drugs that can be purchased at pharmacies strictly by prescription. These drugs are addictive (less effective) and addictive (mental and physical). Anxiolytics of new generations can be purchased without a prescription. This:

Daytime tranquilizers. In terms of their medicinal composition, daytime anxiolytics are similar to benzodiazepines, but have a more gentle effect. In daytime tranquilizers, the anti-anxiety effect prevails, and the hypnotic, sedative and muscle relaxant effect is minimal. A person taking such medicines does not change the usual rhythm of life.

Anxiolytics of a new generation. The clear advantages of such drugs include the absence of an addiction syndrome (as with benzodiazepan drugs). But the expected effect is much weaker, and the appearance of side effects (problems with the gastrointestinal tract) is often noted.

List of tranquilizers without doctor's prescriptions

Antidepressants

Antidepressants are medications designed to combat the symptoms of depression. Depression is a mental disorder, accompanied by a drop in mood, a decrease in intellectual abilities and motor skills.

A person in a depressed state cannot adequately assess his personality and often suffers from somatovegetative disorders (loss of appetite, muscle weakness, chronic fatigue, insomnia, lethargy, absent-mindedness, etc.).

Antidepressants not only stop such manifestations. Some of the drugs of this series even help fight smoking, bedwetting. They work as painkillers for pain of a chronic (protracted) nature.

Conditions for prescribing antidepressants

New generation antidepressants are considered the most effective. They relieve depressive manifestations subtly, delicately, without causing side effects and addiction.

Types of antidepressants

All drugs in this group are divided into two broad categories:

Timiretics. Means of stimulating influence. They are used in the fight against depression, which is accompanied by an oppressed state of the individual and pronounced depression.

Thymoleptics. Means with pronounced sedative properties. Such antidepressants minimize anxiety, have a relaxing effect, restore healthy sleep and stop the psycho-emotional state. Thymoleptics do not affect the state of the central nervous system in any way (they do not act depressingly on it).

Thymoleptic antidepressants are effective in the treatment of depressive conditions that occur with manifestations of agitation and irritability.

Features of taking antidepressants (compatibility with food)

Antidepressants are also divided into types that differ in the mechanism of action:

Stopping neuronal uptake of monoamines. These include non-selective agents (blocking the uptake of norepinephrine and serotonin). These are tricyclic antidepressants: Mapoline, Fluvoxamine, Reboxetine, Amizol, Melipramine.
Monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAO-B and MAO-A inhibitors). These are: Transamine, Autorix, Nialamide, Moclobemide, Pirlindol.

Also, antidepressants are divided into:

drugs with a sedative-stimulating effect (Pyrazidol, Imipramine);
drugs with a clear psychostimulant effect (Moclobemide, Transamine, Fluoxitin, Nialamide);
drugs with a sedative effect (Trazadone, Amitriptyline, Tianeptine, Pipofezin, Mirtazalin, Paroxetine, Maprotiline).

The most widely used antidepressants with a blocking effect on the capture of monoamines. Such drugs are most effective, their therapeutic effect is noted after 2-3 weeks of administration.

Do you need a prescription

A prescription for the purchase of antidepressant drugs in pharmacies will become necessary only in the following cases:

Exacerbation of the disease.
Therapy of depression of severe and prolonged forms.
If there is an atypical course of the disorder.

Treatment of depressive conditions in mild forms can be carried out with the help of drugs sold freely in pharmacies (over-the-counter). The over-the-counter antidepressants listed below are a new generation of drugs.

New generation antidepressants "saw the light" in the 2000s

Modern drugs have an undeniable advantage over antidepressants produced earlier. They give much fewer side effects, are not addictive, and have a quick healing effect on the body. The new generation of drugs can be combined with the simultaneous use of other drugs.

List of non-prescription antidepressants

Although you can buy pills for depression without prescriptions at any pharmacy. With all the safety of antidepressants and tranquilizers, do not get carried away with self-medication! It is mandatory to consult a doctor first. It is absolutely impossible to take such medicines for a long time! Do not forget about the long lists of contraindications for such drugs. Take care of your body.

One comment on "Non-Prescription Tranquilizers List"

What pills do not inhibit potency? And then after fluoxetine, my last erection disappeared, even smartprost did not help.

Antidepressants for bulimia

The site provides reference data. Adequate diagnosis and treatment of the disease is likely under the supervision of a conscientious doctor.

Bulimia (bulimia nervosa) is an eating disorder that is classified as a mental disorder. It is manifested by bouts of overeating, during which a person absorbs a huge amount of food in 1-2 hours, sometimes up to 2.5 kg. Along with this, he does not feel her taste and does not experience the emotion of satiety. After such a food breakdown comes a feeling of remorse, and the bulimic tries to correct the situation. For this, it leads to vomiting. takes laxatives or diuretics, uses enemas, is actively involved in sports or adheres to a strict diet. As a result, the body is depleted and a whole bunch of diseases begin that can lead to a fatal ending.

A person with bulimia has two obsessions. He daydreams about food for hours and scrupulously chooses his favorite treats in the store in order to enjoy them when the ergonomic moment comes. Feasts always take place in solitude. Second obsession: I need to lose weight. A lady thinks herself fat, in addition, if she has a lack of weight. She fanatically follows fashion, trying to have a model figure. Invariably talks about weight loss, diets and proper nutrition.

People are caught in a vicious circle. Hunger strikes, chronic stress. overwork is a heavy burden on the shoulders. At a time when the tension becomes unbearable, there is a nervous breakdown, which leads to an attack of overeating. During the meal, euphoria appears, a feeling of lightness and detachment. But then there is a feeling of guilt, physical discomfort and a panic fear of getting better. This leads to a new wave of stress and an attempt to lose weight.

Like most other mental disorders, bulimia is not perceived by a person as a significant nuisance. He does not seek help from a doctor or a psychologist. An illusion is created that it is possible to stop attacks at any second. Bulimia is considered a shameful habit that brings a lot of inconvenience. Attacks of overeating and cleansing are carefully hidden, believing that people, besides relatives, do not need to know about it.

According to statistics, 10-15% of women aged 15 to 40 suffer from bulimia. Since just women are invariably concerned about their appearance and excess weight. Among men, this trouble is less common. They make up only 5% of the total number of patients with bulimia.

Some professions are conducive to the formation of bulimia. For example, it is extremely important for dancers, actors, models and athletes not to be overweight. Based on this, among these people the disease is seen 8-10 times more often than among representatives of other professions.

It is noteworthy that most of all this trouble is relevant in developed countries such as the USA, England, Switzerland. And among people with a low level of income, bulimia is rarely seen.

Bulimia, like other troubles, rarely comes alone. It is accompanied by self-destructive sexual behavior, depression. suicide attempts, drunkenness and drug use.

Despite all the efforts of doctors, approximately 50% of patients manage to achieve a complete recovery, 30% of the disease relapses after a couple of years, and in 20% of cases the treatment does not work. The success of the fight against bulimia is highly dependent on the willpower and life position of a person.

What shapes our appetite?

Appetite or the desire to eat are emotions that appear at a time when we are hungry.

Appetite is a pleasant expectation, an anticipation of the pleasure of delicious food. Thanks to it, a person develops food-procuring behavior: to purchase food, cook, set the table, eat. The food center is responsible for this activity. It includes a couple of areas located in the cerebral cortex, hypothalamus, spinal cord. There are sensitive cells that react to the concentration of glucose in the blood and hormones of the digestive system. When their level drops, a feeling of hunger appears, followed by an appetite.

Commands from the food center are transmitted along a chain of nerve cells to the digestive organs, and they begin to work actively. Saliva, gastric juice, bile and pancreatic secretions are secreted. These fluids provide digestion and good assimilation of food. The peristalsis of the intestine improves - its muscles decrease in order to ensure the passage of food through the gastrointestinal tract. At this stage, the feeling of hunger improves even more.

At the time when food enters the stomach, it angers special receptors. They transmit this information to the food center and there appears a feeling of fullness and enjoyment of food. We understand that we have eaten enough and it is time to stop.

In the event that the work of the food center is disrupted, then bulimia begins. Scientists put forward a couple of guesses about the development of the disease:

The receptors in the food center are too sensitive to low blood sugar - the appetite appears too early.
The impulse from the receptors in the stomach does not pass well along the chain of nerve cells due to troubles at their junction (synapse) - there is no feeling of fullness.
Different structures of the food center do not work smoothly.

There are 2 manifestations of appetite:

Unspecialized appetite - you respond positively to any food. It appears from the fact that hungry blood, in which there is little nutrition, washes the sensitive nerve cells (receptors) in the brain in the hypothalamus. Violations of this mechanism lead to the appearance of a form of bulimia, in which a person absorbs everything and his appetite is constant.
Selective appetite - you want something specific: sweet, sour, salty. This form is associated with a deficiency in the body of some nutrients: glucose, mineral salts, vitamins. This form of appetite comes from the cerebral cortex. On its surface there are areas responsible for the formation of eating behavior. Failure at this point leads to periodic bouts of overeating certain foods.

Circumstances of bulimia

Bulimia is a mental illness. Quite often, it is based on psychological trauma, due to which the work of the food center was disrupted.

Psychological trauma in childhood
- a baby in infancy quite often experienced hunger;
- the child did not take enough parental love and attention in his youth;
- the child does not have relationships with peers;
- parents rewarded the child with food, good behavior or good grades.

In such circumstances, the child formed the concept that the main way to get pleasure is food. It is safe, pleasant, accessible. But such an installation violates the main rule of healthy eating, it is necessary to eat only at a time when you are hungry, otherwise the food center starts to fail.

Low self-esteem, which is based on the shortcomings of appearance

parents inspired the child that he was too fat and needed to lose weight in order to become beautiful;
criticisms of peers or a coach about appearance and excess weight;
the realization as a child girl that her body is not the same as that of a model from the cover of a magazine.

Many girls are overly eager to have a model appearance. They are sure that a thin figure is the key to a successful career and personal life. Based on this, they resort to different methods of losing weight.

There is a high risk of developing bulimia in suspicious people who try to control all events.

Effects of stress and high anxiety

Bulimia attacks can appear at the end of stressful situations. At this time, a person tries to forget himself through food, to give himself at least a little pleasure. Quite often this can be done. Since at the end of the meal, a lot of glucose enters the brain and the concentration of pleasure hormones increases.

Stress can be negative: loss of a loved one, divorce, illness, failure at work. In this case, food remains the only pleasure that helps to calm down. From time to time, pleasant events can also cause bulimia: an increase in the hierarchy, a new novel. In this case, overeating is a feast on euphoria, rewarding yourself for your merits.

Nutrient deficiency

Among bulimics, there are quite a few ladies who invariably adhere to a diet. Such a restriction in food leads to the fact that a person is unable to think about anything other than food. At a certain point, there is no more strength to endure. The subconscious takes control of the situation and gives permission to have in reserve. The body, as it were, understands that soon you will repent, and then hungry times will begin again.

Episodes of uncontrolled binge eating are seen in patients with anorexia. In this case, refusal to eat and aversion to food is replaced by an attack of bulimia. So, the body, bypassing consciousness, tries to replenish the reserves of the necessary substances, which have been depleted during the period of the hunger strike. Some psychologists believe that bulimia is a mild version of anorexia, at a time when a person is not able to completely refuse food.

Protection from pleasure

It is not uncommon that a person is not used to giving himself pleasure. He considers himself unworthy of happiness or is convinced that retribution constantly follows pleasant moments. In this case, bulimic attacks play the role of self-punishment at the end of sexual pleasure, relaxation, or pleasant acquisitions.

Heredity

If a couple of generations of the same family suffer from bulimia, then they talk about a genetic predisposition to this disease. The circumstance is possible in the fact that the tendency to periodic overeating is inherited. It is caused by the zest of the endocrine system and the lack of hormones that control appetite or increased sensitivity of the receptors of the food center in the hypothalamus.

As a rule, a person suffering from bulimia does not have the opportunity to understand what pushes him to an attack. If you find this trigger, then you can take measures to keep your appetite in check, preventing seizures.

What Happens During a Bulimic Attack

Before the attack, there is a strong hunger or rather a craving for food. It is not uncommon that a person wants to have only the brain, despite the fact that the stomach is full. This manifests itself in the form of obsessive thoughts about certain dishes, looking at food in the store for a long time, dreams about food. A person loses the ability to focus on studies, work or personal life.

Left alone, the patient pounces on food. He eats quickly, not paying attention to the taste of foods, which from time to time do not fit together at all or can be broken. In most cases, preference is given to sweets and other high-calorie foods. Due to the fact that the feeling of fullness disappears, the feast can last until the food runs out.

At the end of the meal, bulimics feel that the stomach is full. It presses on the internal organs, props up the diaphragm, squeezes the lungs, preventing breathing. A huge amount of food leads to in the intestines, which are accompanied by severe pain. Euphoria is replaced by a feeling of remorse and shame, and the fear of getting better is not enough.

In order to prevent the calories eaten from being digested, there is a desire to lead to vomiting. Getting rid of excess food brings physical relief. In order to lose weight from time to time, a decision is made to drink diuretics or laxatives. They remove from the body not only water, which is vital, but also mineral elements.

If at the initial stage of bulimia they overeat only after the end of stress, then later the situation worsens. Attacks become more and more frequent 2-4 times a day.

Most of the victims of bulimia suffer greatly, but will not be able to give up their habit and whisper their secret from others.

Symptoms and indicators of bulimia

Bulimia is a disease, like drinking and drug addiction, and not just misbehavior. It was officially recognized as a disease recently, 20 years ago. The diagnosis of bulimia is based on a thorough questioning. Additional methods of study (ultrasound of the abdominal organs, electrocardiography, computed tomography of the head) are needed if there is a violation in the work of internal organs. Biochemical study of blood allows you to find out whether the water-salt balance is disturbed.

There are 3 clear criteria on which the diagnosis of bulimia is based.

Cravings for food that a person does not have the ability to control and, as a result, eats a lot of food in a short period of time. Along with this, he does not control the amount eaten and has no way to stop.
In order to avoid obesity, a person takes inadequate measures: leads to vomiting, takes laxatives, diuretics, or hormones that reduce appetite. This happens about 2 times a week for 3 months.
A person has a low body weight.
Self-esteem is based on body weight and shape.

Bulimia has many manifestations. They will help you find out if you or someone in your family suffers from this disease.

Conversations about excess weight and healthy eating. Because in people the figure becomes the center of self-esteem, then all attention is concentrated around this trouble. Despite the fact that usually bulimics do not suffer from excess weight.
Obsessive thoughts about food. A person, in most cases, hides that he loves to eat. On the contrary, he scrupulously hides this fact and officially adheres to a healthy diet or some newfangled diet.
Periodic fluctuations in weight. Bulimics will be able to recover by 5-10 kilograms, and later lose weight quickly enough. Such results are not connected with the fact that overeating is over, but with the fact that measures are being taken to save from the calories eaten.
Lethargy, drowsiness, deterioration of memory and attention, depression. The brain is deficient in glucose, and nerve cells are deficient in nutrients. In addition, worries about excess weight and bouts of overeating are a heavy burden on the psyche.
Deterioration of the teeth and gums, ulcers in the corners of the mouth. Gastric juice contains hydrochloric acid. During bouts of vomiting, it corrodes the mucous membrane of the mouth and ulcers appear on it. The enamel of the teeth turns yellow and is destroyed.
Hoarseness of voice, frequent pharyngitis, tonsillitis. The vocal cords, pharynx, and palatine tonsils become inflamed at the end of injuries that occur during bouts of vomiting.
Spasm of the esophagus, heartburn. Frequent vomiting damages the surface layer of the esophagus and impairs the functioning of the muscles that prevent food from rising up from the stomach (sphincters). Along with this, acidic gastric juice burns the inner lining of the esophagus.
Broken blood vessels in the eyes. Red spots or streaks on the white of the eye under the conjunctiva appear at the end of the rupture of blood vessels during vomiting, at a time when blood pressure temporarily increases.
Nausea, constipation, or bowel problems. These disorders are associated with overeating. Frequent vomiting or taking a laxative disrupts the bowels.
Inflammation of the parotid salivary gland due to frequent vomiting. Increased pressure interferes with the normal outflow of saliva, and stomatitis and other damage to the oral mucosa contribute to the penetration of microbes into the salivary gland.
Seizures. violations of the heart and kidneys are associated with a lack of salts of sodium, chlorine, potassium, phosphorus, calcium. They are washed out with urine when taking diuretics or do not have time to be absorbed due to vomiting and diarrhea, depriving the cells of the ability to function normally.
The skin becomes dry, premature wrinkles appear, the condition of hair and nails worsens. This is due to dehydration and lack of minerals.
Menstrual irregularities and decreased libido, trouble with erection in men. The deterioration of metabolism leads to hormonal disruptions and disruption of the genital organs.

Complications of bulimia can be quite scary. Victims of the disease die from cardiac arrest during sleep due to salt imbalance, from the ingress of stomach contents into the respiratory system, from rupture of the stomach and esophagus, from kidney failure. Quite often begins severe alcohol and drug addiction, severe depression.

Bulimia treatment

Bulimia is treated by a psychotherapist or psychiatrist. He decides whether to go to the hospital or perhaps be treated at home.

Indications for inpatient treatment of bulimia:

excellent performance in the fight against bulimia nervosa gives an integrated approach, at a time when psychotherapy and drug treatments are combined. In this case, it is possible to return a person to mental and physical health within a few months.

Treatment by a psychologist

The plan of treatment is drawn up personally for each patient. As a rule, you need to go through psychotherapy sessions 1-2 times a week. In severe cases, meetings with a psychotherapist a couple of times a week for 6-9 months will be useful.

Psychoanalysis of bulimia. The psychoanalyst identifies the circumstances that caused the change in eating behavior, and helps to understand them. It can be conflicts that happened in early childhood or inconsistencies between conscious beliefs and unconscious attraction. The psychologist analyzes dreams, fantasies and associations. Based on this material, he reveals the mechanisms of the disease and gives recommendations on how to resist seizures.

Cognitive behavioral therapy in the treatment of bulimia is considered one of the most effective methods. This method helps to change thoughts, behavior and attitude towards bulimia and everything that happens around. A person in the classroom learns to recognize the approach of an attack and resist obsessive thoughts about food. This method is excellent for anxious and suspicious people to whom bulimia brings constant mental suffering.

Interpersonal psychotherapy. This method of treatment is suitable for those people whose bulimia is associated with depression. It is based on the identification of hidden troubles in communicating with other people. The psychologist will teach you how to correctly get out of conflict situations.

Home therapy for bulimia helps to improve family relationships, resolve conflicts and establish good communication. For a person suffering from bulimia, the help of relatives is extremely important, and any casually thrown word can lead to a new bout of overeating.

Group therapy for bulimia. A deliberately trained psychotherapist forms a group of people suffering from an eating disorder. People share their medical history and experience of dealing with it. This gives a person the opportunity to increase self-esteem and understand that he is not alone and others also overcome similar difficulties. Group therapy is especially effective in the final stage, to prevent recurrences of overeating.

Monitoring food intake. The doctor adjusts the menu so that the person receives all the necessary nutrients. In small quantities, they introduce those products that the patient previously considered forbidden for himself. This is necessary to form the right attitude towards food.

It is recommended to keep a diary. In that direction, you need to record the amount of food eaten and show whether there is a desire to sit still or if there is an urge to vomit. At one point, it is recommended to expand physical activity and play sports, which help to take pleasure and get rid of depression.

Remote Internet treatment of bulimia. Work with a psychotherapist can take place via skype or email. In this case, methods of cognitive and behavioral therapy are used.

Treatment of bulimia with drugs

Antidepressants are used to treat bulimia. which improve the conduction of a signal from one nerve cell to another through special connections (synapses). Do not forget that these drugs slow down the reaction, therefore, do not drive and avoid work that requires a high concentration of attention during the treatment period. Antidepressants do not mix with alcohol and can be quite scary when taken with other medications. Based on this, inform the doctor about all the drugs that you use.

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors

They improve the conduction of nerve impulses from the cerebral cortex to the food center and then to the digestive organs. They relieve manifestations of depression and help to objectively evaluate their appearance. But the effect of taking these drugs comes through the day. Do not stop treatment on your own and do not increase the dose without your doctor's permission.

Prozac. This drug is considered the most effective treatment for bulimia. Take 1 capsule (20 mg) 3 times a day, regardless of meals. The daily dose is 60 mg. The capsule should not be chewed, washed down with a sufficient amount of water. The doctor sets the duration of the course personally.

fluoxetine. 1 pill 3 times a day after meals. The minimum course is 3-4 weeks.

They increase the concentration of adrenaline and serotonin in synapses, improve the transmission of impulses between nerve cells. They have a strong calming effect, help to get rid of depression, reduce bouts of overeating. A lasting effect occurs in 2-4 weeks. Unlike the previous group of drugs, they can lead to heart failure.

Amitriptyline. The first days take 1 pill 3 times a day during meals. Later, the dose is increased by 2 times, 2 pills 3 times a day. The duration of admission is 4 weeks.

Imizin. Begin treatment with 25 mg 3-4 times a day after meals. The dose is increased by 25 mg every day. The doctor sets the daily dose for each patient personally, it can be about 200 mg. The duration of the course is 4-6 weeks. Later, the dose is slowly reduced to the minimum (75 mg) and treatment is continued for another 4 weeks.

Antiemetics (antiemetics) in the treatment of bulimia

At the initial stages of treatment, it is advised to take antiemetics, which allow you to quickly suppress the gag reflex, while the antidepressants have not yet begun to function. Antiemetics disrupt signal transmission from the vomiting center, which is located in the medulla oblongata to the stomach, block dopamine and serotonin receptors. That is why it is possible to avoid vomiting, which some types of food can cause in bulimics.

Cerucal. Take half an hour before meals 3-4 times a day. The course of treatment is 2 weeks. The drug not only reduces nausea. but also normalizes the work of the digestive system.

Zofran. Does not have a sedative effect and does not lead to. Take 1 pill (8 mg) 2 times a day for 5 days.

Do not forget, the treatment of bulimia is a long process that requires patience and faith in success. Learn to accept your body as it is and lead an active and fulfilling life. You will get the final victory over the disease, when you learn to rejoice and receive pleasures not only by eating food.

Specialty: Practicing doctor of the 2nd category

Most girls and women are captivated by stereotypes and in pursuit of an ideal appearance and figure are constantly trying to change themselves. This struggle does not always end in victory, often the consequence of such a war becomes; the disease is insidious, which, in turn, leads to irreversible health consequences.

People communicate less and less in reality, communication has been replaced by fashionable gadgets. No one discusses problems in private with each other, does not share news, but life is “boiling” on the network. Here they fall in love, meet and even start novels. People are changing real life to a ghostly virtual space.

Julia, 22 years old, says:

“I don’t have many friends, and I rarely meet with them. But online, I feel great. I come from the institute and start surfing - aimlessly wandering through the sites and pages of social networks. Sometimes I read some stuff. I don't talk much on the forums, I read other people's posts more often. One secret warms my soul: no one knows that I have been bulimic for 5 years. Do you know what it is? This is when you buy food for a week and eat everything at once. And then the food must be pulled out in order to understand that it did not harm your body. No, I’m just doing harm, otherwise why in the morning I look like I’ve been drinking water or something stronger all night - my face, eyes swell, I’m all swollen. But my weight is normal.

Only this is not the norm that was at the age of 15-16, when my weight was ideal. And then, by the age of 17, with a height of 170 centimeters, I began to weigh 65 kilograms and panicked.

Yes, I started eating right, going to the gym, tightened my figure, but then I abandoned everything, and the weight began to grow rapidly again.

And that's when I discovered this wonderful tool. It's probably not normal that I drink handfuls of laxatives and diuretics, as well as tranquilizers and antidepressants, and sometimes such melancholy attacks, even cry. My teeth crumble, colds do not go away, sometimes there are convulsions, but I can’t help myself. My main activity is the induction of vomiting, and so - from morning to evening.

I promise myself to improve my eating behavior from tomorrow, but the next day nothing happens. I am lonely and sad again, and only food becomes a source of pleasure for me, and even online communication.

I lost interests and friends, but I understand that I no longer want to live like this. There is information about bulimia on the Internet, but there are not very many of them. I am starting a blog where I will tell people about how I became ill with bulimia, and what consequences this led to. I hope my advice helps someone."

What do you know about bulimia?

Most often, bulimia falls ill with those who want to lose weight due to food restrictions. Sometimes failures, stress, feelings of loneliness and lack of positive emotions lead to bulimia.

A person constantly worries for real or imagined reasons, and eventually begins to consume food in huge quantities. He swallows it quickly, most often he does not even chew.

Then the patient experiences a burning shame, he begins to reproach himself and his body. He is afraid that he will get better, there is a desire to get rid of the consumed food at all costs, and he immediately fulfills this desire. The patient induces vomiting artificially, then begins to take laxatives and diuretics. To this, almost all bulimics add increased physical activity.

In this struggle, the body becomes a victim and hostage of the disease. The patient does not realize that the consequences of bulimia can be irreversible - up to the failure of some organs and his death.

Consequences of bulimia:

What happens to the body of a bulimic? The work of all internal organs is disrupted.

Let's name the main health effects of bulimia.

1
Chronic dehydration (occurs due to constant artificial vomiting and prolonged use of diuretics) leads to a violation of the water and electrolyte balance. This means that the body is severely deficient in calcium, sodium, chloride, and potassium salts, which can impair muscle contractility, including the heart muscle. Those who suffer from bulimia, due to disruption of the heart and kidneys, there are numerous edema. They have tachycardia, enlarged lymph nodes, shortness of breath and weakness appear.
2
The metabolism is disturbed, the endocrine system "fails". Thyroid and parathyroid levels drop while levels of cortisol, the stress hormone, rise. The production of female hormones also decreases, which can lead to menstrual irregularities in women.
3
The digestive system begins to work incorrectly: gastritis and ulcers of the stomach and duodenum occur. Most of the beneficial enzymes that are necessary for the normal functioning of the body are excreted before being absorbed. The mucous membrane of the mouth and esophagus is constantly inflamed. The condition of the tooth enamel worsens, up to the complete destruction of the teeth. Ulcers form in the esophagus, which are difficult to treat and can lead to serious problems up to oncology.
4
The condition of the hair and nails deteriorates significantly, the hair falls out, becomes thinner, dry, brittle and lifeless. Without timely treatment, bone and muscle tissue is weakened.
5
The work of the nervous and cardiovascular systems is disrupted. Patients constantly experience anxiety, cannot sleep. The biological rhythms of the body change.

Anna Vladimirovna Nazarenko, head of the Clinic for Eating Disorders, considers the main cause of bulimia to be breakdowns, which are caused by many years of “dieting”. All women want to be thin and slender, but when a woman constantly restricts herself, she wants delicious (and forbidden) food. She begins to eat everything, is horrified by what she has done, and begins to snatch this food. This is how the disease mechanism starts.

Bulimics keep the disease a secret...

It is difficult to recognize patients with bulimia: they are no different from those around them, and they keep their disease a secret, and can tell about it only to their closest friend (and more often they do not trust this secret to anyone).

Their life becomes a "circle" where the diet is followed by a breakdown, then a cleansing, and again all over again. After cleaning, the patient immediately begins to experience a feeling of hunger, which means that the state of "eating binge" is close.

Because of such a rhythm of life, he constantly experiences remorse, hence longing and depression. At the heart of bulimia are hidden deep psychological experiences. Trying to transfer all feelings to food is a kind of way to find answers to vital questions, but food will not help you find a way out.

You need to understand that bulimia is not just an eating disorder. This disease hides a whole range of problems, and it is impossible to solve them by one effort of will.

How to help with bulimia

If you have discovered this disease in yourself or your loved ones, do not panic, but act. Just do not sit on the forum for years and read the advice of others.

When you have a toothache, you go to the dentist. Why do you hope for a miracle for the hundredth time and think that tomorrow morning you will wake up and start eating right?

If the problem is serious, and you understand that you are unable to cope with it yourself, you should not go on a new round of weight loss / food absorption / vomiting / exhausting training, but look for a specialist who will help you cope with the disease.

The specialists of the Anna Nazarenko Eating Disorders Clinic have many years of successful experience in the treatment of bulimia. You can book an initial consultation to determine the severity of your bulimia case and receive recommendations for further treatment.

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 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.