Eating Disorder InformationEating disorders are very serious. We have only included an overview of information on this site. If you think that you or someone you know might have an eating disorder, please visit our resources and seek help. Remember that it is not always obvious that someone has an eating disorder. Eating disorders include serious and extreme attitudes, behaviors, and emotions surrounding weight and eating issues. They have serious emotional and physical consequences. An eating disorder can affect anyone regardless of sex, gender identity, race, class, or sexual orientation. The most common element in all eating disorders is low self-esteem. A person does not need to have all of the signs or symptoms to have a particular eating disorder and to need help and a person can have a combination of eating disorders at one time. Disordered eating refers to mild and temporary changes in eating patterns that occur in relation to a stressful event, an illness, or some other reason. Disordered eating does not lead to significant mental, social, health, school or work problems and rarely causes major medical complications. If disordered eating is not dealt with it can become more serious, cause many problems and eventually lead to a full eating disorder. Types: The most common eating disorders are anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, compulsive overeating, binge eating, and compulsive exercising. Causes: There is no single cause for eating disorders. Some factors that are considered contributors to eating disorders include low self-esteem, media portrayal of bodies, societal and cultural emphasis on looks, comments on a person's size and weight, confusion of food with emotions, loss of sense of hunger, as well as physical, sexual or emotional abuse. Not everyone with eating disorder experiences all, or necessarily any, of these causes, but all of these factors have been correlated with eating disorders. What to do: If you think that you have an eating disorder, find someone that you feel comfortable with and talk to them about it. Talk to a counselor or a doctor and seek help. The longer you wait, the harder it will be. If you think that someone you know has an eating disorder, help them find professional assistance if they are willing. Be supportive and validate their feelings. Do NOT reinforce their poor image of themselves by saying negative things about their looks or their behavior. Let them know that you care about them and that you believe that they deserve help in dealing with this. Even if you try hard to help someone you care about, if they are not ready or do not want to seek treatment, there may be very little you can do for them. Anorexia NervosaEmotional signs can include fear of becoming fat, fear of losing control, and feeling undeserving of pleasure in life. Behavioral signs can include obsessive exercising, calorie or fat counting, starvation, use of pills, laxatives and diuretics to control weight, hiding and throwing away food, and persistent concern for body image. Physical symptoms of anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa can include weight loss, loss of menstruation in women, hair loss, dizziness, headaches, low blood pressure, often feeling cold, mood swings, loss of sexual desire, depression, fatigue and insomnia. Read Alexis' and Andrea's stories. Bulimia NervosaEmotional signs can include being overwhelmed by emotions, hiding feelings of anger, depression, stress or anxiety, and feeling of lacking control over eating behaviors. Behavioral signs include repeated episodes of bingeing (consuming large quantities of food) and purging (self-induced vomiting, abuse of diuretics, laxatives or pills, excessive exercise or fasting). Behaviors can also include frequent dieting and hiding food to eat later. Compulsive OvereatingEmotional signs can include feelings of shame, self-hatred, guilt, hiding from emotions, and feeling a "void" inside. Behavioral signs can include having an "addiction" to food, uncontrolled or impulsive eating, using food as a coping mechanism, eating until uncomfortably full and having obsessive cycles of eating. Physical symptoms of compulsive overeating and binge eating can include weight gain, excessive sweating, shortness of breath, high blood pressure, leg and joint pain, loss of sexual desire, mood swings, depression, fatigue and insomnia. Binge EatingEmotional signs are similar to those of compulsive overeating. Behavioral signs are also similar to those of compulsive overeating, but occur in binge-episodes, or eating a large amount of food within a certain amount of time. During the binge episode, food is usually eaten rapidly and episodes generally occur about two days a week or more. Compulsive ExercisingEmotional signs include needing to exercise at any cost, feeling of tremendous guilt when unable to exercise, needing a temporary sense of power or control, and trying to relieve feelings of guilt through purging. Behavioral signs include excessive exercise, missing obligations in order to exercise, feeling no satisfaction from achievements or victories, always thinking of next physical activity, and rarely exercising for fun but rather as a form of self-punishment. Physical symptoms of compulsive exercising include dehydration, stress fractures, reproductive problems, heart problems, electrolyte imbalances, arthritis and difficulty sleeping even though tired. Resources
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