The term "bulimia" in recent years has become increasingly popular. It can be found both in scientific and in near-medical literature, as well as on the pages of newspapers and popular magazines. The popularization of this concept is associated with an increase in the number of cases of morbidity. So what is bulimia? What causes the disease, and what consequences can it lead to?

What is bulimia and how is it manifested?

Bulimia is an uncontrolled consumption of food in volumes larger than necessary to maintain energy metabolism. Simply put, a disease is a form of gluttony in which a person experiences a constant feeling of hunger. There are several reasons for this condition. However, in most cases, the disease is the result of neuropsychiatric disorders or organic pathology of the central nervous system.

Until the beginning of the twentieth century, medical specialists did not classify the condition in question as a disease. It was believed that excessively increased appetite is no more than one of the many bad habits inherent in humans. The term entered the medical textbooks only when the phenomenon began to become widespread. The reason was the acceleration of the rhythm of life and the increase in the number of mental disorders associated with this phenomenon.

Bulimia is characterized by a fluctuation in the weight of the patient from lesser to greater and vice versa. Moreover, a person usually understands that the consumption of such an amount of food is not normal.Patients often use emetics, try to limit themselves using willpower or drugs that fill the stomach. However, such attempts, not combined with psychological assistance, are usually useless. The line between simple overeating and the onset of the disease is difficult to draw.

Types of disease

Modern medical science distinguishes between two types of disease:

  • primary bulimia;
  • bulimia as a compensatory reaction in anorexia.

Primary bulimia in most cases is a symptom of a psychological disorder and is characterized by constant hunger. The feeling of satiety, limiting food intake by a healthy person, is absent in a patient with bulimia. Patients prefer to eat high-calorie foods: pastries, fatty meat and fish, pasta. Some experts consider the disease a form of drug addiction, as the patient requires more and more food as the body weight and stomach volume increase. In its absence, a condition similar to alcohol withdrawal occurs.

Symptoms of bulimia can occur in people suffering from anorexia. Most often these are girls aged 18-28 years, fixated on their own weight. Exhausting diets lead to the depletion of the body, which triggers a compensatory reaction. The body is trying in a short time to restore the body weight necessary to maintain vital processes. Therefore, anorexics sometimes experience disruptions in which they indiscriminately absorb any food that is available. Bulimia of this type is characterized by alternating periods of gluttony and hunger, fluctuations in the patient’s body weight and poor absorption of nutrients and food.

It is interesting to know: the abrupt intake of large amounts of food after a long period of fasting often leads to serious problems in the intestines. In some cases, such disruptions in anorexics cause acute intestinal obstruction.

Causes of Bulimia

The causes of bulimia are divided into:

  • psychological;
  • physiological.

The psychological causes of overeating include inferiority complexes, often cultivated from childhood, depressive states, and low self-esteem. With all this, the process of eating is the only way for the patient to achieve psychological comfort. While eating, a person enjoys and forgets about the existing psychological problems. A similar mechanism for the development of bulimia is by far the most common and occurs in 70-80% of cases.

As mentioned above, another compensatory mechanism for the development of pathology is a compensatory reaction with anorexia. There are also psychological disorders. Compensatory bulimia is the lot of girls who are overly fond of diets and fixated on their own weight.

Among the physiological causes include hormonal disorders, insulin resistance and diabetes mellitus, hormonal disruptions. Also, the cause of the disease may be a history of trauma associated with damage to the food center in the cerebral cortex. There are known cases of the development of bulimia in patients who received not only with open, but also with closed craniocerebral injuries.

Consequences for the body

The main consequences of bulimia are associated with a slowdown in metabolism and the development of obesity.

In this case, the patient has the following health problems:

  1. Hypertension is a consistently high blood pressure. Pathology entails the development of atherosclerosis and heart disease.
  2. Myocardial hypertrophy is a thickening of the heart walls due to increased loads on it.
  3. Diseases of the spine - arise due to too much body weight, which the spinal column can not tolerate without negative consequences.
  4. Fatty degeneration of internal organs - occurs as a result of the high content of high density lipids in the blood.
  5. Gastroesophageal-reflux disease - throwing acidic gastric contents into the esophagus with the development of heartburn, chronic esophagitis, the formation of strictures of the esophagus.

The above is not a complete list of the effects of obesity. In reality, people with excessively large amounts of subcutaneous fat suffer from many different diseases associated with increased nutrition. As a rule, their life expectancy is short. The cause of death of such patients is strokes, heart attacks, and other pathology associated with impaired patency of blood vessels.

In addition to being overweight, bulimia sufferers experience tooth deterioration. They develop caries, periodontitis, periodontal disease. The fact is that, according to dental standards, after each meal you should use dental floss or rinse your mouth. Patients are not able to produce such treatment, since they eat almost constantly. This leads to active reproduction of pathogenic microorganisms in the oral cavity.

Sharp fluctuations in body weight, characteristic of compensatory bulimia, also entail certain negative consequences. Such patients develop hormonal disorders, the body does not have time to reconfigure to work in new conditions, which leads to functional malfunctions of the intestines, digestive organs, and systems responsible for the level of immune defense.

Symptoms and diagnosis of bulimia

Bulimia nervosa, like its physiological variety, is characterized by bouts of overeating, most often occurring against the background of increased psycho-emotional stress on the patient. At the same time, a person begins to absorb food in quantities limited only by the volume of his stomach. Patients with such disorders prefer high-calorie foods, but in reality they can eat everything at hand.

An attack of bulimia usually ends with a sense of shame for one's self-restraint. Fearing obesity, a person takes measures that help him fight overweight: puts enemas, induces vomiting, takes fat-burning drugs. Such methods, however, only partially work. A certain percentage of nutrients manages to be absorbed into the bloodstream and deposited in the form of subcutaneous fat. Therefore, few bulemiks are obese.

Symptoms of the disease that are used for diagnosis include:

  • bouts of overeating;
  • uncontrolled craving for food;
  • dependence of self-esteem on the state of the figure;
  • drowsiness and fatigue after an attack;
  • violation of the stool, chronic constipation;
  • hormonal disruptions;
  • menstrual irregularities.

In addition to the above, the doctor draws attention to the diseases and injuries that have occurred earlier, and also directs the patient to a psychiatrist. The diagnosis of bulimia is made if the objective signs and psychological state of the patient correspond to the above picture.

Which doctor should I go to?

A person who is thinking about how to get rid of bulimia, often has difficulty before starting to take any measures. The fact is that for many people it is difficult to understand which specialist should treat this disease.

The primary link to which the sick person goes should be the local GP or general practitioner. The specialist will conduct an initial examination (analyzes, monitoring of some functional indicators) and refer the patient to the institution that will directly deal with the treatment. The pathology related to the therapeutic profile, this doctor treats himself.

As a rule, specialists in two profiles take part in the treatment process: a gastroenterologist and a psychiatrist.The first deals with the treatment of somatic pathology that arose against the background of bulimia, the second eliminates the root cause of the disease, if it lies in the presence of certain mental disorders.

With advanced forms of the disease, the patient also needs the help of a nutritionist who can choose a low-calorie diet. In some cases, there is a need for exercise therapy, which smoothly translates into classical fitness. This is necessary to correct the weight of the patient if he is obese.

Bulimia treatment

Bulimia can be treated using several separate therapeutic methods to choose from, however, in most cases, several ways to get rid of a constant feeling of hunger are used simultaneously.

Medication for bulimia

The basis of drug treatment for bulimia is the use of antidepressants. These drugs contribute to the normalization of the mental state of the patient, which prevents attacks of the disease.

Among the most famous antipsychotic drugs today include:

  • Prozac
  • Zoloft;
  • Fluoxetine.

In addition to antipsychotics, the patient receives antiemetic drugs (Cerucal, Ondansetron). This avoids vomiting and maintains a feeling of fullness after eating. In some cases, it becomes necessary to combine antiemetic drugs with drugs that fill the volume of the stomach. These funds (slim point) are created on the basis of microcrystalline cellulose and swell when they get into the stomach. In this way, a feeling of satiety is achieved without the consumption of high-calorie foods.

Drug therapy of bulimia is practically not used as an independent method of treatment. The fact is that chemical preparations eliminate the symptoms of the disease, but do not affect its underlying causes. While receiving medication, the patient undergoes a course of psychotherapy.

Psychologist's treatment

Treatment by a psychologist or psychiatrist is sometimes the only effective method of dealing with bulimia. At his sessions, the doctor conducts a psychotherapeutic course, helps the patient navigate the world around him and solve psychological problems that the patient cannot cope on his own.

As a rule, a psychologist has to deal with people who have an inferiority complex, are unable to build relationships with work colleagues and with the opposite sex. Sometimes the cause of bulimia is dissatisfaction with one's own body or unhappy love. The psychologist during the session teaches the patient to look at the difficulties in a different way. Ideally, as a result of treatment, the patient begins to understand that all problems exist only in his head. In reality, no one treats him as badly as he does.

There are several types of psychotherapeutic effects:

  • interpersonal therapy;
  • cognitive behavioral therapy;
  • psychodynamic therapy;
  • family therapy;
  • Maudsley therapy (parents treat a teenager suffering from bulimia).

After the course of treatment, the amount of food consumed by the patient should smoothly return to normal. Otherwise, treatment is considered ineffective and resort to other methods of combating the disease.

Bulimia nervosa treatment

Treatment of bulimia nervosa is carried out according to the standard scheme, according to which the patient is first established an adequate diet, eliminating the usual scheme of “eating - vomiting - eating”. This helps prevent obesity, avoid many problems of a therapeutic profile. Unfortunately, this is not enough to recover.

The second important stage of therapy is the psychotherapeutic effect, during which the doctor explains to the patient the cause of his problems and ways to deal with existing disorders. It is important to create an incentive for the patient, to set a goal, striving for which, the person himself will actively fight the disease. Without this, cure is almost impossible.

An important point in the treatment is the prevention of relapse. The fact is that after normalizing nutrition and following a diet, patients gain some weight. Such an increase is normal, and with an adequate regime of physical activity, body weight quickly returns to normal. Nevertheless, for many people this becomes a stress that they cope with in the way they are used to - excessive food intake. In this situation, they talk about a relapse of the disease.

In order to avoid a second round of the disease, the patient should be able to clearly explain that a small weight gain is normal and does not entail a significant change in appearance. A person should understand that one can improve his physical condition only by regular sports exercises and proper nutrition.

Phytotherapy

Bulimia treatment can also be carried out using phytotherapeutic recipes. As a rule, the patient is prescribed a combination of sedative and brain-stimulating plants. The following recipes are used:

Calming mixture number 1

The components are indicated in grams:

  • hop cones 7;
  • chamomile flowers 100;
  • lemon balm 50;
  • peppermint leaves 20;
  • angelica root 50;
  • rosehip 100;
  • St. John's wort 50;
  • valerian root 8;
  • yarrow herb 50.

The components of the mixture are placed in a metal or glass container, filled with one liter of boiling water, covered with a lid and left for 1-2 hours. After the infusion, filter and drink 1 glass 3 times a day, 1 hour before meals.

Mix No. 2

The components are indicated in grams:

  • nettle 50;
  • lemon balm leaves 50;
  • lavender flower 50;
  • chamomile flowers 50;
  • lovage root 50;
  • chicory root 50;
  • hop cones 50;
  • valerian root 8;
  • hypericum 50.

Herbs are chopped, poured with 1 liter of boiling water, insisted for an hour and consumed in the same way as mixture No. 1.

Mix No. 3

All components of 50 grams:

  • rosemary leaves;
  • lemon balm leaves;
  • valerian root;
  • lavender flowers;
  • hop cones;
  • rhizome of calamus;
  • peppermint leaf;
  • yarrow grass;
  • angelica root;
  • thyme herb.

The herbs are mixed, poured with 1 liter of boiling water and boiled on a hydroplane for 20 minutes. Treatment with the resulting agent is carried out 2 times a day, ½ cup, 1 hour before a meal.

Bioenergy therapy in the treatment of bulimia

Bioenergy therapy is a method of influencing a patient using bioenergy. The technique was actively used in ancient China, after which it was undeservedly forgotten. Today, ancient Chinese traditions are being revived and used, including for the treatment of bulimia. The essence of the method is to exclude thoughts about the disease, which subsequently leads to the recovery of the physical body.

Acupuncture

Acupuncture, another alternative medicine technique that came from the Middle East. The essence of the method is to stimulate biologically active points. As a result, the patient normalizes energy metabolism, decreases appetite and body weight. As a rule, acupuncture is used only in combination with other methods of treatment.

How to get rid of bulimia on your own?

The basis for independent disposal of bulimia is awareness of the fact of the disease, and the futility of such measures as taking laxatives, provoking vomiting, and so on. It is necessary to clearly indicate the time of eating and strictly follow the plan. All snacks outside the meal schedule are excluded. In between you can drink water. The volume and calorie content of the food should comply with the recommendations of nutritionists. On average, 2-2.5 thousand kcal per day is enough for an adult. People engaged in heavy physical labor or attending sports training can consume up to 3.5 thousand kcal per day without harming their health. More foods cause obesity.

In addition to restricting meals, you should look for solutions to your psychological problems.If you are dissatisfied with the figure, you need to go in for sports, in the presence of conflicts in the family - to establish relations with relatives. With excessive modesty and inability to communicate with others, it is necessary to fight through auto-training. Solving the main psychological problem in combination with a strict diet allows you to get rid of the disease without visiting a doctor.

Note: bulimia caused by somatic diseases and injuries is not amenable to independent treatment. In such situations, a thorough diagnosis and treatment of the underlying pathology should be carried out. Only after this should you correct the diet.

Folk remedies for the disease

Folk remedies are mainly used to improve bowel function and reduce hunger. Also, decoctions of herbs can slightly improve the mental condition of the patient.

The following tools apply:

  1. Plum and figs: 250 grams of one and the other fruit is poured with 3 liters of water and boiled until 500 ml of broth remains in the container. The mixture is drunk ½ cup 4 times a day. It improves the functioning of the gastrointestinal tract, stimulates the act of deformation, enhances intestinal motility.
  2. Corn stigma decoction: 10 grams of raw material is poured into 200 ml of water and steamed in a water bath for 20 minutes. The resulting product is cooled, filtered and taken in 1 tablespoon before meals. The broth weakens the feeling of hunger and helps to reduce the amount of food absorbed.
  3. Decoctions of herbs: Melissa, which has a mild sedative effect, is more often used. 50 grams of grass should be poured with 200 ml of water, put on fire and boil for 5 minutes. The broth can be drunk in unlimited quantities. It is used to stabilize the psyche, prevent dehydration, improve the patient’s mental well-being.

It is interesting:the benefits and harms of dried figs

It should be remembered that traditional medicine is used only after consultation with your doctor.

Prevention

Preventive measures mainly consist in creating a healthy psychological climate around you. You should not take to the heart the comments of people around you, enter into conflicts, focus on external data. Emerging psychological problems should be solved immediately, without waiting until they become a cause of serious somatic pathology.

The second important preventive measure is strict dietary control. Eat should be fractional, 3-6 times a day, in small portions. There should not be any snacks between planned meals. Particular attention should be paid to abstaining from nightly trips to the kitchen.

All of the above gives an idea of ​​what bulimia is and how it manifests itself. This will allow you to reasonably approach the assessment of well-being and diet, notice signs of the disease in time and adjust your health condition. It must be remembered that bulimia alone can cure a negligible number of patients. Therefore, at the first signs of the disease, it is recommended to seek help from a doctor.

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