Symptoms And Diagnosis Of Anorexia, Bulimia And Binge Eating

     Eating disorders are harmful. They can cause malnutrition, malfunction of the organs and even lead to death. Today different eating orders are known and described but there is still much more research needed.

The causes for most eating disorders are still unknown. If eating disorders remain untreated they can lead to death or serious illness. The first step therefore is the most important one. It is diagnosing the disorder and build awareness for it.

This is not common sense for an eating disorder victim because he or she is in denial of the illness. Often the person who has a disorder does not know or does not admit to have an eating disorder. These persons need the help of friends or relatives to get aware of their situation.

How can you diagnose an eating disorder either by yourself or at somebody else? Here are some signs.

Anorexia Nervosa: This eating disorder is very dangerous and leads to death in 20 percent the cases when remains untreated. The body weight is about 85 percent or less of normal weight. The person has a distorted view of the own body weight and believes to be fat and overweight. The individual is obsessive about body weight and shape. Usually there is also no menstruation often for months.

Bulimia Nervosa: This eating disorder leads to malnutrition and can harm teeth and mucous membranes because of intentional and frequent vomiting. The individual has periods of binge eating at least twice a week. The person is obsessive about body shape and weight. Recurrent intentional vomiting, excessive exercise and drug abuse can be other signs. The person usually is not underweight though.

Binge Eating: Binge eating describes the habit of eating so much food that one feels exceptional full, often eating even when not hungry. Other signs are eating very rapidly, eating alone because the individual is ashamed and does not want anybody to know, being depressed, disgusted or feeling guilty. Binge eaters do not purge.

Identifying the type of eating disorder is a first step. Since eating disorders have no physical cause but are mental illnesses, you should ask yourself why you are doing it. Eating habits are often a compensation for something, are either a reward or punishment or can have other emotional reasons like the obsessive wish to gain control of something, for example the own body weight.

You should get aware of the physical changes and complications your eating disorder brings into your life. If you can not gain control back over your eating habits, then you need professional advice and help in order to get the appropriate treatment.

Awareness is important and a crucial part. If the person denies an obvious eating disorder then he or she has lost control already and can not help oneself anymore. The earlier an eating disorder is diagnosed the better are the chances for a full recovery without mental or physical damage.

Unfortunately many eating disorders remain untreated so that serious and irreversible damage of the internal organs is the consequence.

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