Eat, Drink and Be Merry
This essay involves a very personal subject in my life and in the life of someone I hold very near and dear to my heart. A few years ago one of my closest friends whom I had known for most of my life told me under a cloud of tears, embarrassment, fear, and hope that she thought she had bulimia. I was the only one she had the courage to tell, and she felt that she had to tell someone because she had lost all control over her own actions, feelings, and thoughts. She felt that she couldn’t stop even if she wanted to.
She never thought that she actually had a problem, but one day she was at the library and she sat down at a desk that had a few books on bulimia there. She started to look through the books and found a quiz to determine if you had bulimia. She was bored and she took the quiz expecting that it would say she didn’t have bulimia, but after she finished taking the quiz she had answered yes to every question except the very first one. Her entire world came crashing down around her, and with each word that she read she became even more panicky and scared.
Eventually she came to me, hoping that I could somehow help her and give her the support she needed. I did everything I could to help her. It took up a lot of my time and there were many sleepless nights that I had to go through helping her calm down from her anxiety attacks and uncontrollable urges, but it was all worth it and I would have done more if I could. I believe she has made a tremendous amount of progress and will one day make a full recovery. Bulimia is a very debilitating disease both mentally and physically and people should be aware of its existence because one day one of your close friends may come up to you with something important to say.
There are many avenues that you can use to learn about bulimia and eating disorders in general. The National Eating Disorders Association, the National Mental Health Association, and various pamphlets distributed by these organizations and others at local health centers are good sources for information on eating disorders.
According to the National Eating Disorders Association, "eating disorders are extreme expressions of a range of weight and food issues experienced by both men and women." The most common eating disorders are anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge eating. Even though they differ in causes, symptoms, and treatment, they are all serious emotional and physical problems that can have life threatening consequences. I believe that bulimia nervosa or bulimia for short is the worst eating disorder that a person can suffer from due to both its physical and mental consequences. Bulimia is characterized primarily by a secretive cycle of binge eating and purging. The National Mental Health Association website indicates that symptoms include feeling out of control during bingeing (excessive eating), purging after a binge through vomiting, use of laxatives, diet pills, diuretics, excessive exercise, or fasting. Other symptoms which can be interpreted as being normal and are thus harder to pinpoint are frequent dieting and extreme concerns with body image and shape. My friend did not fit the classic binge and purge cycle of someone suffering from bulimia. She never went through episodes of bingeing nor did she purge through the use of laxatives, diet pills, diuretics, excessive exercise, or fasting. My friend would force herself to vomit after a meal that she felt bad about or when she was going through extreme negative emotions such as being nervous, scared, worried, or sad. She found comfort in her disease as most men and woman who suffer form bulimia do. Bulimia was her solution to all of her problems.
The actual causes of bulimia and other eating disorders are very complicated. According to the National Mental Health Association, "eating disorders arise from a combination of long-standing psychological, interpersonal, genetic, and social conditions in which feelings of inadequacy, depression, anxiety, and loneliness, as well as troubled family and personal relationships are important contributing factors." The underlining cause of most of these factors is the relentless idealization of thinness and the perfect body in our culture. This unwavering idealization forces men and women to undergo deep and almost irreversible psychological changes which normally occurs more in women then in men. It is important to understand that under no circumstances should someone stray from normal eating habits because eating disorders are like addictions. Once you start you can’t stop. In time, eating disorders can become self-perpetuating. Dieting, bingeing, and purging are physically and mentally destructive attempts for someone to stop painful emotions and to feel as if they are in control of their lives. In most cases, eating disorders undermine physical health, self-esteem, competence, and control of your own actions. It is a very unnerving experience to see one of your close friends live through such a problem.
Immediate treatment of bulimia and any eating disorder is paramount but is not always easy. Treatment can be a long and costly struggle. Sadly, in spite of the best efforts by friends, family, and doctors, treatment is not always successful. If treatment fails, people continue to suffer from their eating disorder and could eventually die as a result of the physical and psychological damage incurred. There are many physical consequences to bulimia and they are more complicated than most people are aware of.
The National Association for Eating Disorders website lists the following as some of the most common physical side effects of bulimia. The most obvious is tooth decay and staining from the release of stomach acids during frequent vomiting. Swollen or inflamed salivary glands are common due to physical stress created from induced vomiting. Chronic irregular bowel movements and constipation as a result of laxative abuse occur in most individuals and can lead to further problems. Weight fluctuations, fatigue or lack of energy, and edema (fluid retention or bloating) occurs in everyone suffering from bulimia due to relative active and inactive eating periods. These eating periods are characterized increased or decreased levels of consumption respectively. These are some of the less serious consequences of bulimia, which give rise to the more serious and major side effects. Inflammation and possible rupture of the esophagus are possible after prolonged periods of vomiting. The excessive amounts of stress exerted on the digestive system can also lead to general gastric rupture. The most serious consequence of bulimia is electrolyte imbalances that can lead to irregular heartbeats and possibly heart failure and death. Bulimia is a life-threatening disease, but it is treatable.
The best treatment for eating disorders is preventing them before they start, but unfortunately this is not always possible and clinical treatment is necessary. Treatment requires the care of a trained professional usually specializing in eating disorders. According to the National Eating Disorders Association, "the most effective and long-lasting treatment for an eating disorder is some combination of psychotherapy, careful attention to nutritional needs, and medical care – which may include medication. Ideally, the treatment is tailored to the individual and will vary according to both the severity of the disorder and the patient’s particular problems, needs, and strengths."
Treating the disease is probably more painful than living with the symptoms of the disease because treatment addresses the underlying psychological, interpersonal, and cultural causes of the disease which many people refuse to face or accept. It is a time of self-reflection and discovery and many people discover disturbing facts about themselves, their past, and their way of thinking. Sometimes either the diseases or the treatment is too much for an individual, and the National Eating Disorders Association reports that ten to fifteen percent of all cases of bulimia end in death. This is a very scary statistic, especially when coupled with the fact that the disease is preventable and treatable.
There is a lot that can be learned form studying the causes and effects of eating disorders. I learned that helping a friend with a condition such as bulimia is difficult and often frustrating. The best piece of advice that I ever offered my friend was the idea that there is always hope. No matter who you are or what your problems may be, there is always hope. Every person in the world has a close group of friends or family that loves them. There is always hope, but the only problem is that you have to have the strength to believe in yourself and open up your eyes and see what a wonderful life you really have. No one should take anything in their life for granted because life is always unpredictable and it could always get worse. I will never forget the lessons I have learned in life and I hope that everyone will work to do the same. .
Note: Information for this piece was gathered from the National Eating Disorders Association website www.NationalEatingDisorders.org and the National Mental Health Association website www.NMHA.org.
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