Eating Disorder Illnesses

There are illnesses that you can get from dieting. These are eating disorders. There’s two main types and they are anorexia and bulimia. About 2 million people in the United States are suffering right now from one of these eating disorders. These illnesses are going to be more likely in girls and women than in men. However, there are male patients that are battling an eating disorder as well.

Anorexia

Anorexia is showing up more and more in teenagers. This is true more so for girls of middle to upper class families. Men and boys suffer from anorexia but not as often. Anorexia is when a person will not want to eat when they need to in order to survive. There are anorexia patients that avoid eating most of the foods that are out there but will also be more likely to follow activities like grueling physical exercises in order to make their weight come down. Usually their weight is already below normal. Gaining weight is the worst fear of a person with anorexia. The excessive weight loss that anorexics usually have will cause hormonal disturbances in women and girls and will seem to have a number of health problems that can occur.

The reason behind anorexia has not been found out yet. There are health experts that believe that biological, nutritional and psychological causes combined will lead to this disorder. Social and environmental causes like puberty, a death in the family or any other stress related reason could lead to this. There is not one single treatment that will exist for anorexia at this moment. There are medications that are going to treat depression that is associated with anorexia. The psychological and family support is going to need to be there for the patient come of their eating disorder without fear.

Bulimia nervosa

Bulimia nervosa is a common eating disorder where the patient is going to have a tempting urge to eat. They will have repeated episodes of binging in a very short amount of time. The patients of bulimia are going to be very afraid of obesity. This will lead them to do self-induced vomiting in order to get the food out of their body. Patients will also try laxatives, diuretics, strict fasting, and dieting of any kind. They will also want to do hard physical exercises for their body to prevent the weight gain. These are all going to be hard on the heart and kidney functions as well.

Anorexia and bulimia are far more often seen in girls rather than boys. However there are men that suffer from the disorders. There are around 7% of the young women seeking heath advice or treatment that suffer from bulimia. Like anorexia, the cause of this disorder is not known. There can be no one effective treatment for the disorder. Medication may be used to help treat depression. There is counseling that can help as well. Having the support of family is going to help the bulimic patient as well. Both anorexia and bulimia are dangerous and life threatening to anyone. If you are or know someone that is suffering from either one, this is not a good diet and you need to find help immediately.