vtravis 's List: Bulimia

• She started with a diet. But she almost died.

   

  At age 16, Anne weighed 110 pounds. But a boy told her she wasn't  asked to a school dance because she was fat. He was teasing. But she  was inclined to take it seriously. And she started counting  calories.

   

  First, Anne skipped lunch. When swimming suit fashions appeared  in stores, she dropped breakfast. She obsessively weighed her food  and calculated the calories she consumed. By summer, her daily  intake had plummeted to some 300 calories a day. Anne weighed 93  pounds. Her knees, elbows and fingers often swelled

• When she developed a serious ulcer, she finally admitted her  binge-purge routine to her doctor. He diagnosed bulimia nervosa and  sent Laurie to a psychiatrist, who created a treatment plan that  would help her return to healthful, normal eating habits.

   

  These young women suffered from eating disorders, psychological  illnesses in which victims become obsessed with food and with their  body weight. People suffering from eating disorders have an  extremely distorted body image; they "feel fat," and see  themselves as overweight, despite even life-threatening emaciation.  And their intense fear of gaining weight or being fat adds to their  denial of the problem. But without treatment of both the emotional  and physical symptoms of these illnesses, victims can suffer from  malnutrition, heart problems, and other conditions that are  potentially fatal.
• Research suggests that there may be imbalances in  certain brain chemicals, called neurotransmitters, in the parts of  the brain that control appetite, mood and sleeping patterns. These  imbalances may explain the link between eating disorders and  depressive illness, and may also shed light on why people with  anorexia nervosa can refuse food despite their hunger or why those  with bulimia nervosa lose control of their eating.
• A low level of the neurotransmitter serotonin, which is  associated with depression, has also been linked to bulimia nervosa.  Researchers believe an imbalance could contribute to the depression  and poor impulse control that bulimia nervosa victims suffer.
• Today, researchers  aren't sure whether the biochemical imbalances cause the eating  disorder or are the result of the poor nutrition that is an  outgrowth of the disorders.

  • Tertiary literature though interesting and relative to the topic

• Nutritional Counseling

   

  Because of the physical effects of the illnesses, it is important  that any treatment plan for a person with anorexia nervosa or  bulimia nervosa include nutritional management and nutritional  counseling to begin to rebuild physical health and establish healthy  eating practices.

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