Eating Disorders
Anorexia is a condition where you starve yourself; in which causes you to lose a large amount of weight in a short period of time. Bulimia is the condition where you eat large amounts of food and then cause yourself to purge. Eating disorders are not just a sickness; it is a very mind-controlling disease.
The expression anorexia nervosa was first used by an English Physician, Sir William Gull, in 1873. He explains that, “ anorexia patients do not have a lack of appetite; they are actually often hungry, but suppress their hunger and refuse to eat normally, because of their relentless desire to be thin, even to the point of becoming emaciated, and because of their fear that they will lose control of their eating behavior.”(Gull)
Some of the symptoms of anorexia are that you will lose large amounts of your hair, skin becomes very dry, body starts shutting down often causing you to trip over your own feet, and will in girls their periods to stop and in boys it will stunt your growth. Also it can cause kidney failure, increased risks of seizures, irregular heartbeat that can lead to cardiac arrests, and gastrointestinal problems.
Bulimia also can shut your body down completely; and by making yourself purge, it may also cause your teeth to rot away due to the acid. Bulimics though, will most of the time be at their right weight and also will be menstruating on time. Bulimics are compared often to be an addiction; either it be to food or purging. They are often severely depressed; they feel like when they make themselves puke it lets them feel like they have full control over something in their life.
“According to the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA), eating disorders affect 5 to 10 million American adolescent girls and women, and approximately 1 million American boys and men.”(Weltzin) The NEDA also estimate that one out of every one hundred women are anorexic and four percent of the college aged women are bulimic.
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