Eating disorders

Eating disorders are serious mental health disorder regarding your thoughts about food, you may end up eating too little or too less.

This can lead to health issues such as heart and kidney problems because they affect the body’s ability to get proper nutrition. However, there are treatments for such cases.

Who is at risk for eating disorders?

Women are the more common to develop eating disorder. Eating disorders frequently appear during the teen years or young adulthood but can also be developed during childhood or later in life.

Common types of eating disorders include

1. Binge-eating: People with binge-eating disorder keep eating even after they are full. They keep on eating until they feel very uncomfortable. Afterward, they usually have feelings of guilt.

Over time, binge-eating can cause health problems such as

• Poor quality of life
• Problems focusing at work, with your personal life or in social situations
• Obesity
• Medical conditions related to obesity, such as joint problems, heart disease, type 2 diabetes, gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) and some sleep-related breathing disorders
• Depression and anxiety

• Bulimia nervosa. People with bulimia nervosa also have periods of binge-eating. Afterwards, they purge, by making themselves throw up or using laxatives. They may also do over-exercise or fast. People with bulimia nervosa can have normal weight.

Over time, bulimia nervosa can cause health problems such as

• Chronically inflamed and sore throat
• Damaged tooth enamel and increasingly sensitive and decaying teeth.
• GERD (acid reflux)
• Severe dehydration from purging
• Electrolyte imbalance, which could be too low or too high levels of sodium, calcium, potassium and other minerals leading to a stroke or heart attack.

• Anorexia nervosa. People with anorexia nervosa avoid food completely or eat very small quantities of only certain foods. They always see themselves as overweight, even when they are dangerously underweight. Anorexia nervosa is the most serious and least common of the three eating disorders.

Over time, anorexia nervosa can cause health problems such as

• Thinning of the bones (osteopenia or osteoporosis)
• Muscle wasting and weakness
• Thin, brittle hair and nails
• Dry and yellowish skin
• Severe constipation
• Feeling cold all the time because of a drop in internal body temperature
• Feeling faint, dizzy, or weak
• Infertility
• Damage to the structure and function of the heart
• Brain damage