Anorexia and Bulimia: Differences, Diagnosis, Symptoms and Treatments
Anorexia and bulimia are both considered eating disorders in which an individual is trying to lose weight in an unhealthy manner.
Anorexia and bulimia are both considered eating disorders in which an individual is trying to lose weight in an unhealthy manner.
According to the National Institute of Mental Health, around 0.6 percent of American adults experienced anorexia from 20012 to 2003. Meanwhile, 0.3 percent of adults in the country experienced bulimia.
There are significant differences between bulimia and anorexia, and an individual can experience both simultaneously.
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Anorexia Nervosa
People who have anorexia and bulimia may preoccupy on their appearance and weight, and a "distorted body image characterizes them." More so, both eating disorders lead to an individual trying to lose weight through the use of unhealthy tactics.
Specifically, people suffering from anorexia nervosa may find themselves overweight despite the fact that they are hazardously underweight.
Anorexic people usually weigh themselves repeatedly, seriously restricting the quantity of food they consume, frequently work out excessively. There are times when these people may use laxatives or force themselves to vomit to lose weight.
The NIMH also said, this type of eating disorder "has the highest mortality rate of any mental condition." While a lot of people who have this disorder die from complications linked to food shortage and undernourishment, others die because of suicide.
Common symptoms of anorexia include exceedingly limited eating, alarming thinness, and intense fear of weight gain.
As earlier mentioned, anorexic people more often than not, experience distorted body image, a self-confidence strongly influenced by insights of body shape and weight.
Bulimia Nervosa
Individuals with this kind of disorder have experienced recurring and frequent episodes of eating extraordinarily large quantities of food. More often than not too, bulimic people feel they lack control over such episodes.
In addition, overeating is followed by such behavior that recompenses for the binge-eating like forcing themselves to vomit, overusing diuretics or laxatives, over-exercising, fasting, or some, if not all, of these behaviors, combined.
Common symptoms bulimic people experience include persistently infected or sore throat, swollen salivary glands, acid reflux syndrome, intestinal discomfort and irritation from excessive use of laxatives, and severed dehydration due to removal of fluids.
Electrolyte imbalance or excessively low or excessively high sodium, potassium, and calcium levels is also another common symptom of bulimia which can result in stroke or heart attack.
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Diagnosing These Eating Disorders
When it comes to diagnosing a particular eating disorder, experts say there is no specific objective test like an X-ray or bloodwork.
The doctor makes a diagnosis instead, based on the symptoms an individual is experiencing. To determine whether one is anorexic or bulimic, the doctor usually asks about his symptoms. More so, he may ask members of the family and other friends and loved ones on their observation of that particular person.
If a doctor has verified that the person is anorexic, he then tries to diagnose the type of anorexia. One of which mainly engages limiting food intake. Meanwhile, another one involves episodes of overeating and eventually, purging.
If an individual has suffered from at least one of these episodes in the last three months, the doctor then is likely to diagnose "binge eating and purging anorexia."
For a doctor to be able to diagnose bulimia, an individual must have involved in binge eating and unhealthy behavior, at least once each week for at least three months on average.
The doctor will then categorize the severity according to the average number of incidents of compensatory behavior each week.
Treatment
There are few goals to achieve in terms of treating the said eating disorders. One of the goals is to address any health results of the disorder.
Another goal is to tackle any existing psychological or mental disorder like "depression, low self-esteem, or trauma, which may have triggered such behaviors towards eating.
Effective treatment may comprise nutritional counseling to help address the nutritional imbalance and retain the ideal weight.
Another solution may involve medical treatment for possible psychological complications of anorexia or bulimia like acid reflux for one.
People with these eating disorders may also join support groups to share their experiences with the other members.
Furthermore, therapy, like CBT or cognitive behavioral therapy, or "EMDR or eye movement desensitization and reprocessing," which can treat trauma, is yet another treatment option.
Other treatments that can address the disorders can be medication for existing mental disorders like anxiety or depression, and hospitalization, if an individual is thinking of suicide or has serious health conditions like organ failure, for one.
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Aug 21, 2020 08:30 AM EDT
