Eating Disorders: Treatment, Procedure, Cost and Side Effects

Have you ever thought that you could also suffer from an eating disorder? While in most cases there are no outward signs and symptoms of such a disease, but many people experience an overwhelming feeling of controlling intense pain or other troubling emotions by eating too much or not eating at all.

It is not a passing phase that can be attributed to adolescence or a way of expressing vanity. It is therefore crucial for every sufferer to identify the problems and seek medical attention as soon as you come across even a single symptom of an eating disorder. This is because research suggests that adequate intervention of early signs can lead to the best treatment and easy relief from the unwanted disease.

Signs and symptoms of eating disorders
It goes without saying that disorderly eating habits stand in the way of enjoying a healthy life in terms of emotional, spiritual and social well-being and therefore its further progression should be inhibited. Behaviours that are commonly associated with eating disorders include:

• Persistently adhering to an impractical and strict diet no matter how healthy or unhealthy the person is.
• Using the bathroom right after eating.
• Secretly binging on large amounts of food.
• Hoarding huge amounts of food at home and at the workplace in fear of lack of availability of more food.
• Increased consumption of various types of laxatives or diet pills or other such medication.
• Exercising too much which may extend for several hours in a day.
• Using illicit drugs such as cocaine to suppress an appetite.

Despite such a wide range of symptoms, an eating disorder is primarily rooted in a person’s gene and other environmental factors. It is also dependent on the medical history, addictive disorders, underlying health conditions and most importantly, life experiences of that person.

Emotional changes pertaining to eating disorder:
Here it becomes worthy to mention that certain emotional changes also go hand in hand with an eating disorder. Some of them include:

• Withdrawal from society particularly from family and friends.
• Withdrawal from situations where questions related to the family may arise.
• Avoidance of a get-together or other situations where food may be present.
• Obsessing over total calorie intake as well as calories burnt through physical exercise even when the person is losing a large amount of weight day by day.
• Preoccupation with body weight and other aspects of physical appearance.
• Eating too much without caring about what others may think.
• Finding solace in foods.

It is therefore pointed out that there are two primary types of eating disorder where a person may eat too much or eat too little, both of which can be detrimental to health. Therefore, it is important to review the symptoms and find out whether you need to talk to an expert to treat the condition.

Eating disorders can harm your physical and mental health. Anorexia, bulimia and binge eating are some of the most common eating disorders. They are typically caused by dissatisfaction with physical appearances. Feeling bad about how you look can often lead to depression. In many cases, this can also lead to suicidal thoughts. Here are a few reasons for this.

1. Feeling of hopelessness: Eating disorders typically start out as ways to lose weight and look better. Most patients think that this will make them more popular amongst friends and colleagues. However, when they do not see themselves winning more friends because of their new figure, it can lead to feelings of despair and hopelessness. This can make them feel unworthy of living and give rise to suicidal thoughts.
2. Malnourishment: By not eating enough food, the body is deprived of essential nutrients. This can give rise to a number of health issues. Malnourishment also influences how the neurons in the brain function. It can hamper the person’s ability to think clearly and contribute to a distorted sense of reality. As a result, the person may be more easily influenced by negativity.
3. Feeling of being a burden: The combination of helplessness, negativity and nutrient deficiency can make the person feel as though they were a burden on everyone else. The attention given to them by friends and family can further intensify such thoughts. In many cases, the person may end up having suicidal thoughts that if he were to give up his life, his friends and family would be better off without him.
4. Unrealistic ideals: People with eating disorders typically have unrealistic ideals of the lifestyle and figure they would like to have. When they do not see these goals being achieved in the manner that they dreamt of, it can cause frustration. This can make the person feel worse about himself or herself.

Like any other disease or disorder, it is essential for people with eating disorders to get professional help overcoming their habits. Parents, friends and other members of the family should be supportive and be on the lookout for signs of suicidal thoughts. This includes talking about death, researching means of suicide, not being able to sleep or sleeping too much, isolating oneself from people around, losing interest in activities and hobbies etc. If the person does seem to be having suicidal thoughts, they should not be ignored but brought to the notice of a counsellor immediately.

While eating is one of the most important methods to survive, as it the fuel for the body, there are people who have issues related to eating. While some tend to avoid food, others tend to overeat and some tend to binge on certain types of foods. The two extremes of avoiding food and overeating, known as anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa respectively are the most common types of eating disorders. In both cases, it is not just about food.

In each of the individual with eating disorder, there is always an underlying psychological problem, depression, anxiety, or substance abuse. As the eating disorder is just one of the manifestations, the underlying problem needs to be addressed for the eating disorder to completely disappear. Else, there are chances that it may resurface again in a while. Treating an eating disorder requires various approaches in addition to just managing the eating pattern. Read on to know the most common five methods.

1. Nutritional counselling: In people with eating disorders, the person begins to believe that he/she is eating a healthy diet. The counselor tries to break this belief and instil healthy eating habits. This helps in completely recovery and is essential for long-term success of treating the disorder. In some severe cases, even the family members may be involved in this counselling.
2. Psychotherapy: This again helps the affected individual understand the reason behind the altered eating patterns. Exploring the causes and understanding the disorder helps prevent relapse after initial treatment. Additionally, strained relationships, anxiety, depression, and stress management are also addressed through psychotherapy. Success of treating an eating disorder often lies in managing the coexisting mental conditions.
3. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy: This is one of the main modalities of treating an eating disorder and it is a very structured program. It might sometimes involve the close family members also and addresses unhealthy thought patterns that lead to the disorder. The person becomes aware of why he/she is eating abnormally and tries to make a conscious change to it.
4. Co-Medical conditions: In patients with anorexia, the consciously reduced food intake can have severe effects on the other body organs including anaemia, low blood pressure, fatigue, vital organ failure, and overall low energy levels. A thorough evaluation and treatment to manage these conditions is essential before putting the person on a course correction of the eating disorder.
5. Medications: Medications are essential to not treat the eating disorder per se, but to manage the other conditions. Whether it is medical conditions like anaemia and low blood pressure, or psychological conditions like anxiety or depression, medications are used to manage these.

In more severe cases, the person may be required to undergo a residential program to overcome the abnormal eating tendencies.

In case you have a concern or query you can always consult an expert & get answers to your questions!

An individual adopts his personality on the basis of both the genes inherited by him/her as well as the individual’s life experiences. Psychologists have been trying for decades to decipher several aspects of temperament and personality along with particular personality traits in persons with eating disorders. Individuals appear relatively specific to each type of eating disorder, and they can be distinguished from healthy individuals.
Eating disorders are known to be caused by a combination of various factors such as genetic, temperamental as well as external influences. But the most common link between people with eating disorders comprises of difficulties in expressing and coping with emotions.

The connection between emotional avoidance and eating disorders
Emotional avoidance can be described as actions which are intended to inhibit any emotional response from taking a place such as anger, sadness, fear or anxiety. Individuals affected with eating disorders tend to seek refuge in continuous eating or stop eating as an unconscious effort to cope up with the situation and feel better.

For example, a person suffering from anorexia tends to restrict their food intake when they come across feelings of loneliness and sadness. This is because it gives them a false sense of control in the situation. On the other hand, when it comes to a person with bulimia, purging and bingeing offers them a momentary feeling of comfort and relief. People who tend to binge on food tend to run away from the reality and use food as a means to distract themselves from the concerns and worries of the real world.

The reality is that eating disorders tend to provide short-term relief or satisfaction from emotional distress while in the long run throwing them into the abyss of emotional misery, depression, and loneliness.

Treating Eating Disorder

Patients suffering from anorexia nervosa have excessive levels of emotional avoidance which can be compared to other psychiatric populations. This finding emphasizes the fact that emotional avoidance is present in abundance in patients with anorexia nervosa and it also testifies to the fact that to some extent such patients willingly avoid aversive emotional states. They are also not competent in correctly identifying emotions and are not able to respond to feeling stemming from emotional distress.

Treating eating disorders incorporates different types of strategies which can aid the sufferers to improve their quality of lives. But it is essential on the part of the doctors to help the patients identify, process and cope with the emotional turmoil in productive ways.

In many cultures, people are taught to suppress their emotions, but it has a long-term impact on the mind of the person. It is, therefore, necessary to share all kinds of emotional upheaval with some confidante. Such behaviours can help them to cope up with emotionally difficult and traumatic times.

In case you have a concern or query you can always consult an expert & get answers to your questions!

If you are diabetic and are in a practice of manipulating insulin levels to bring about weight loss, you must understand that it may have catastrophic consequences on your health.

Even though it is not yet officially regarded as a medical condition, diabulimia is a serious eating disorder that can bring about diabetes complications. According to experts, as many as one-third of the young female diabetics could be suffering from various diseases due to this condition. Even though it is more common in females, it is also seen to be occurring in significant numbers of young men as well.

Why is diabulimia one of the most dangerous eating disorders?
Diabulimia is a condition where the person deliberately injects less than the required amount of insulin to lose body weight. Contrary to type 2 diabetes, type 1 diabetes has no connection with lifestyle or diet. The ones who are affected need to get insulin since they are not able to produce enough insulin for their daily requirements. It is crucial to mention the function of insulin at this juncture. Without this hormone, the digestive system would not be able to break down the sugars from the foods and obtain energy from it. Without insulin, the sugars derived from food will be forced to feed the existing fat, organs, and even muscles.

When you are purposefully depriving the body of insulin, you are heading for permanent kidney failure, liver failure, fertility issues, heart diseases and even premature death. But it may not be visible from outside- you will have normalcy in your appearance. Since you are restricting insulin inside the body, you will have a very high blood sugar level. This invariably runs the risk of various complications such as damaging the eyes, kidneys and the nerve endings. The worst thing is that the warning signs may go unnoticed until it is too late. Therefore, it is always suggested to seek advice from endocrinologist as and when you notice any of the signs and symptoms mentioned above.

Know the warning signs
Even though the term is often deemed inaccurate, diabulimia holds the premonition of a serious pattern of disordered eating. Some of the most common warning signs of this disorder include:

1. Unexplained weight loss
2. Improper growth pattern in adolescents
3. Hyperglycemia
4. Hypoglycemia
5. Recurrent spans of diabetic ketoacidosis along with extreme thirst, extreme hunger and frequent urge to urinate
6. Poor blood glucose control, particularly if it was pretty well in the past
7. Higher than normal hemoglobin A1c levels
8. Microvascular disease that is affecting the eyes, heart, and kidneys
9. Peripheral neuropathy resulting in weakness and numbness in hands and feet
10. Disorder in eating
11. Depression, deterioration of performance and social withdrawal

Manipulating insulin can be fatal for people who have type 1 diabetes. In case you see that you are affected by any of these signs and symptoms, you should seek medical attention without further delay.

In case you have a concern or query you can always consult an expert & get answers to your questions!