Bulimia
- Bulimia Overview
- Bulimia Causes
- Bulimia Symptoms
- When to Seek Medical Care
- Exams and Tests
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Bulimia - on WebMD
Bulimia - on MedicineNet - Viewer Comments: Bulimia - Describe Your Experience
Bulimia Overview
Bulimia is an eating disorder. Someone with bulimia might binge on food and then vomit (also called purge) in a cycle of binging and purging. Binge eating refers to quickly eating large amounts of food over short periods of time. Purging involves forced vomiting, laxative use, excessive exercise, or fasting in an attempt to lose weight that might be gained from eating food or binging.
The strict medical definition used by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV) requires 2 binge-eating episodes a week for at least 3 months to make the diagnosis, but it's likely that some people with symptoms of bulimia may not fit these exact criteria.
A person with bulimia often feels a loss of control over their eating as well as guilt over their behavior. They are usually aware that their behavior is abnormal. Bulimia is most common in adolescent and young adult women. People with bulimia are often of normal or near-normal weight, which makes them different from people with anorexia (another eating disorder in which the person does not eat).
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Bulimia - Describe Your Experience
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Bulimia
What Is Depression?
Clinical depression is not just grief or sadness. It is an illness that can challenge the person's ability to perform even routine daily activities. At its worst, depression may lead the person to contemplate or commit suicide. Depression represents a burden for the person and his or her family. Sometimes that burden can seem overwhelming.
Several different types of mood disorders exist.
- Major depression is a change in mood that lasts for weeks or months. It is one of the most severe types of depression. Major depression usually involves a low or irritable mood and/or a loss of interest or pleasure in usual activities. It interferes with the person's normal functioning. The person may experience only one episode of depression, but repeated episodes often occur over the person's lifetime.
- Dysthymia is less severe than major depression but usually goes on for a longer period, often several years. ...
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Bulimia »
Bulimia nervosa (BN) is one of the eating disorders identified in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, Text Revision (DSM-IV-TR).
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