Anorexia and Bulimia

Anorexia and bulimia are not just eating disorders, they are serious diseases that carry consequential side effects, and sometimes even death. Individuals who suffer from these eating disorders can see serious effects on their health, productivity, and relationships. These diseases are at times pushed off by family and friends because it is hard to detect the severity or signs of these diseases. The signs to these diseases can often imitate other conditions that are harmless, which makes it extremely important to know all the signs. Anorexia and bulimia affect one's health, both mentally and physically. A sign that someone's mental health is being affected by anorexia or bulimia is their social behavior. A quick change in friends or family members that a person usually associates with is a sign that social behavior is changing. This may be because he/she does not want others to see or catch onto his/hers eating habits. Another sign that someone's social behavior changing is isolating themselves in a room or home, and not having contact with others they would on a normal basis. About 50% of all anorexia and bulimia sufferers have a mental anxiety disorder, such as depression. People with depression and anorexia or bulimia, may suffer from moodiness, increased irritability, loss of interest in food or sex, being awake throughout the night, and fatigue. Physical health is probably the most distinguishable sign of an eating disorder. Anorexia sufferers can experience overall weakness in their bodies from lack of proper nutrition that it needs to function on a normal basis, while bulimia sufferers appear to function normally. Someone with anorexia can suffer from dry skin, even on the the face. Which is caused by lack of proper minerals and vitamins. A person with bulimia can experience hair loss or even a growth of downy layer of hair called lanugo to start forming all over the body, including the face. This is the body's defense to keep it warm, because the layers of fat are becoming too thin. And finally, weight loss. This is the most obvious physical sign that someone may have an eating disorder. Most patients are diagnosed with anorexia when their body weight is 5%-10% below the normal weight of someone the same height and age, because anorexia patients restrict their calorie intake and starve themselves. Bulimia sufferers are usually a normal weight, because they are not worried about calories and the amount of food taken in. For bulimia patients there are a few other physical signs, such as tooth decay and staining of the teeth from stomach acids and regular intake of large amounts of food. These are signs of binging and purging, which is the major difference between anorexia and bulimia. The internal damage to anorexia and bulimia sufferers is quite dramatic. This damage includes, headaches, low blood pressure, loss of menstrual cycle, reduction of white blood cells, constipation, and slow heart rate. Which in return, these can cause less productivity in someones daily life. Anorexia and bulimia can affect their productivity by not letting them concentrate on work, which can result in termination at their place of employment. Losing a job or career can result in severe anxiety. When someone with anorexia or bulimia is diagnosed with severe anxiety and is put on an antidepressant medication, their risk of suicide significantly rises. It can also lead to substance abuse, such as alcohol abuse or drug use. This type of behavior also increases the risk of suicide and death among those who are suffering from anorexia or bulimia. Not only can it affect your productivity at work but it can also affect your productivity at home, with your family. These disorders can cause you to have a flat mood and no emotion. This can affect the way you treat your family and the way you communicate with them. This can negatively affect someone's self-esteem, by not being with people who actually love them. One thing that can result from an eating disorder, like anorexia or bulimia, is obsessive-compulsive disorder. About 41% of all anorexia and bulimia patients are also diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder. The affect on someone's productivity is a major worry. This symptom is why it makes the disease harder to control. It also can cause irritability in our relationships with other people. Having an eating disorder like anorexia and bulimia can affect your relationships with your family and friends. Even though the person with the disorder is suffering from tremendous amounts of pain, family and friends also suffer. When the person who is suffering from the disease withdraws themselves from family activities it gives the family a sense of fear, which is the most common side affect for family and friends. Family and friends always have a sense of fear about losing the person that is suffering. This can then lead into denial about the disorder to outside friends and family. They do not want family members that they are close with to feel this way or see them at their lowest points. When they distance themselves from normal crowds and start associating with others they normally would not associate with, it leaves the old crowd feeling lost and wondering what they have done. These friends that care are the ones that usually are the ones who see most of the signs of an eating disorder. Another effect it can have on someone with anorexia and bulimia is teasing or bullying. When they change friends it can cause old friends to react in a negative way but teasing or bullying them, which in return only makes the disease worse. Having relationships with other people will boost their confidence and help their self-esteem. This is an important role when suffering from these disorders and help with the recovery process. In summary, even though these two eating disorders are different, they are very similar and have similar outcomes. These eating disorders are much like and addiction and have several of the same symptoms and side effect. Even though we are able to control our minds, it is sometimes hard to overcome habits and ritual things we do on a regular basis. These disease are genetically transferred through our DNA and are among the highest death rate of all mental illnesses with a 4% chance of death, and while family and friends want to help the anorexia or bulimia suffer get over the disorder, they only way to get them help is for them to want the help.

References

www.eatingdisorderfoundation.org www.medicalnewstoday.com www.anad.org
www.kidshealth.org