People with Bulimia Nervosa have recurrent episodes of eating unusually large amounts of food and feeling a lack of control over these episodes. In simple terms individuals generally eat larger portions of food (binge eating), where individuals are often worried about their behavior and attempt to prevent weight gain by fasting, excessive exercise, self induced vomiting and use of laxatives, diuretics (Czyzyk, 2015). People with bulimia nervously may maintain normal weight but most of them are overweight.
They consume food in a short period of time, and are unable to control their behaviors. Like anorexia, bulimias are also worried about gaining weight.
Symptoms include sore throat, swollen salivary glands in the neck and jaw area, severe dehydration, stroke and heart attack and others.
Diagnostic Criteria (DSM 5)
- Recurrent episodes of binge eating. An episode of binge eating is characterized by both of the following:
- Eating, in a discrete period of time (e.g., within any 2-hour period), an amount of food that is definitely larger than what most individuals would eat in a similar period of time under similar circumstances.
- A sense of lack of control over eating during the episode (e.g., a feeling that one cannot stop eating or control what or how much one is eating).
- Recurrent inappropriate compensatory behaviors in order to prevent weight gain, such as self-induced vomiting; misuse of laxatives, diuretics, or other medications; fasting; or excessive exercise.
- The binge eating and inappropriate compensatory behaviors both occur, on average, at least once a week for 3 months.
- Self-evaluation is unduly influenced by body shape and weight.
- The disturbance does not occur exclusively during episodes of anorexia nervosa.