If you have recently been diagnosed with an eating disorder, or you suspect you have one, you have found a place to learn more about it. You might you feel you eat whenever you are emotional, stressed, or have that big report due. Other times you find that you overeat when you binge watch a show or late at night when rarely anyone else is awake. Do you find that you count calories or worry about that sugar and cream in your coffee and mentally add 10 more minutes to your workout routine to cancel it out? Maybe you find yourself eating one meal a day and that you feel that looming hanger influencing your mood at work. You may be experiencing disordered eating or eating disorder behaviors. Eating disorders are not a lifestyle choice, it is not the latest fad diet of Keto or the latest low-carb and low-fat diet. Although diet’s, such as above, can put you at risk for more likely to develop an eating disorder, an eating disorder is a serious, medical diagnosis, medically fatal at times, with a severe disturbance in one’s patterns of eating, their related thoughts, and emotions surrounding food. People who struggle with eating disorders experience a significant preoccupation with food, body weight, shape, on a routine basis that has been perpetuated over time. Common eating disorders can include binge-eating disorder, anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and avoidant restrictive intake disorder (ARFID). 

Anorexia Nervosa

Anorexia is where people avoid food, severely restrict, or eat very small amounts of or only certain foods. They may weigh themselves repeatedly and see themselves as underweight regardless of being significantly or dangerously underweight. The two subtypes include restrictive or binge-purge subtypes. The restrictive subtype is severely limiting the amount of, and type of, food they consume. The binge-purge subtype is where they restrict, as described above, but in addition, they experience binging and purging episodes where they eat large amounts of food in a short time followed by vomiting, laxative, or diuretics to rid of the food consumed. 

Risks include an extremely high death (mortality) rate compared with other mental disorders. People with anorexia are at risk of dying from medical complications associated with starvation and malnutrition. Suicide is the second leading cause of death for people diagnosed with anorexia. 

Symptoms include:

• Extremely restricted eating

• Extreme thinness (emaciation)

• A relentless pursuit of thinness and unwillingness to maintain a normal or healthy weight

• Intense fear of gaining weight

• Distorted body image, a self-esteem that is heavily influenced by perceptions of body weight and shape, or a denial of the seriousness of low body weight

Other symptoms may develop over time, including:

• Thinning of the bones (osteopenia or osteoporosis)

• Mild anemia and muscle wasting and weakness

• Brittle hair and nails

• Dry and yellowish skin

• Growth of fine hair all over the body (lanugo)

• Severe constipation

• Low blood pressure

• Slowed breathing and pulse

• Damage to the structure and function of the heart

• Brain damage

• Multi-organ failure

• Drop in internal body temperature, causing a person to feel cold all the time

• Lethargy, sluggishness, or feeling tired all the time

• Infertility

Bulimia Nervosa

Bulimia nervosa is a condition where people experience recurrent episodes of eating unusually large amounts of food, feeling a lack of control over these episodes, and can be followed with forced vomiting (purging), excessive use of laxatives or diuretics, fasting, excessive exercise, or a combination of above. People with bulimia nervosa may be slightly underweight, normal weight, or overweight. 

Symptoms include:

• Chronically inflamed and sore throat

• Swollen salivary glands in the neck and jaw area

• Worn tooth enamel and increasingly sensitive and decaying teeth as a result of exposure to stomach acid

• Acid reflux disorder and other gastrointestinal problems

• Intestinal distress and irritation from laxative abuse

• Severe dehydration from purging of fluids

• Electrolyte imbalance (too low or too high levels of sodium, calcium, potassium, and other minerals) which can lead to stroke or heart attack

Binge-eating disorder

Binge-eating disorder is a condition where people lose control over their eating and have recurring episodes of eating unusually large amounts of food. Unlike bulimia nervosa, periods of binge-eating are not followed by purging, excessive exercise, or fasting. As a result, people with binge-eating disorder are often overweight or obese. Binge-eating disorder is the most common eating disorder in the U.S. 

Symptoms include:

• Eating unusually large amounts of food in a specific amount of time, such as a 2-hour period

• Eating even when you’re full or not hungry

• Eating fast during binge episodes

• Eating until you’re uncomfortably full

• Eating alone or in secret to avoid embarrassment

• Feeling distressed, ashamed, or guilty about your eating

• Frequently dieting, possibly without weight loss

Avoidant restrictive food intake disorder 

 Avoidant restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID), previously known as selective eating disorder, is a condition where people limit the amount or type of food eaten. Unlike anorexia nervosa, people with ARFID do not have a distorted body image or extreme fear of gaining weight. ARFID is most common in middle childhood and usually has an earlier onset than other eating disorders. Many children go  through phases of picky eating, but a child with ARFID does not eat enough calories to grow and develop properly. An adult with ARFID does not eat enough calories to maintain basic body function. 

Symptoms include:

• Dramatic restriction of types or amount of food eaten

• Lack of appetite or interest in food

• Dramatic weight loss

• Upset stomach, abdominal pain, or other gastrointestinal issues with no other known cause

• Limited range of preferred foods that becomes even more limited (“picky eating” that gets progressively worse)

Seeking support? Click here if you are experiencing any of these symptoms and would like individual support.