 Allergies! [25]
Allergy is a disorder of the immune system often also referred to as atopy.
Antidepressants [24]
An antidepressant is a psychiatric medication used to alleviate mood disorders, such as major depression and dysthymia.
Arthritis [23]
Arthritis is a group of conditions involving damage to the joints of the body.
Cancer [28]
Cancer is a class of diseases in which a group of cells display uncontrolled growth
Cardio & Blood [1]
Risk factors for heart disease: infections
Cholesterol [3]
A fat-like substance called a lipid. It is used to build cell membranes, hormones and bile acids
Diabetes [20]
The inability of the body to produce, or the inability to metabolize, the human hormone insulin; Diabetes insipidus, usually a disorder of the ...
Epilepsy [9]
Epilepsy is a common chronic neurological disorder characterized by recurrent unprovoked seizures
Gastrointestinal [4]
The digestive tract is the system of organs within multicellular animals that takes in food...
General Health [54]
The infant, child or young person?s current health condition
Herbal [30]
Herbal tea, herbal medicine
Hormonal [26]
Hormones - Proteins produced by organs of the body that trigger activity in other locations.
Men's Health [2]
For men on fitness, health, sex, caree
Pain relief [23]
Pain management is the medical discipline concerned with the relief of pain.
Skin care [23]
The skin is the outer covering of the body
Weight Loss [29]
Loss of body weight by dieting or due to various easting disorders or medical conditions.
Women's Health [31]
Find information on women's health issues, and lifestyle at the Women's Health
Fresh material  What are symptoms of endometriosis: dysmenorrhoea
→ More
Solutions to infertility: what you can do to help yourself
→ More
Endometriosis: the burden of guilt
→ More
Endometriosis: about suspected diagnosis
→ More
What are symptoms of endometriosis
→ More
The most popular materials [1561 view]
What are symptoms of endometriosis: dysmenorrhoea → More
[1519 view]
Prostaglandins—the new hormones → More
[1369 view]
Hysterectomy: prolapse → More
[1367 view]
Factors affecting fertility: environmental hazards → More
[1308 view]
Solutions to infertility: what you can do to help yourself → More
Awaiting moderation 692 Article |
Faces of eating disorders: irene’s case FACES OF EATING DISORDERS: IRENE’S CASE
Twenty-six-year-old Irene worked as an executive at a major cosmetics firm. Part of her job was to entertain clients, which she did two or three times a week. Usually the entertainment took the form of elaborate buffet dinners at fancy restaurants. For Irene, these meals were a form of delicious torture.
During her teen years, Irene became concerned about her weight. She tried restricting her eating, skipping meals and nibbling on salads for dinner, and managed to lose a few pounds.
She couldn't keep it up for long, though. Feelings of hunger would overwhelm her, and she would rampage through the house, eating anything in sight. After the binge, she felt such revulsion and self-loathing because of her lack of control that she induced vomiting. This cycle-attempted self-starvation leading to bingeing and purging-recurred once or twice a year for several years.
Eventually Irene gave up attempting to lose weight. The bingeing continued, however. She eventually developed a routine in which, every night, she would come home after work and drink an entire bottle of wine. One effect of the alcohol was to lower her inhibitions so that, at some point, the urge to binge would take over. She would then gorge herself on sweet foods, such as cookies and ice cream.
Often, too, she stocked her refrigerator with leftovers brought home after her business-related dinners. Although she exercised restraint during dinner, she always asked to take food home "for her dog." Of course, there was no dog, and her refrigerator was thus always filled with a supply of binge food.
Shortly after eating she would flee to the bathroom, where she vomited into the toilet. With a perverse sense of pride, she told me that she had become so adept at inducing vomiting that all she had to do was think about it, bend over, contract her stomach muscles, and-boom.
If you were to meet Irene, you wouldn't think she had a weight problem at all: At five foot six, she -registers 135 pounds. Yet she is convinced that unless she vomits virtually everything she eats, she will turn into a "fat sack of lard."
I listed Irene's diagnosis as bulimia nervosa. Certainly she fit the DSM-III-R criteria to a tee.
On the surface it would seem that in order to diagnose anorexia there must be low weight, whereas the essence of a diagnosis of bulimia is bingeing and purging. If both of these symptoms are present, then we can diagnose both anorexia and bulimia.
In reality, however, things are not so simple. Many patients with what we call "normal-weight bulimia" have lost as much weight as, or even more than, an anorexic they just started at a higher weight to begin with. The body senses that its weight is too low and starts sending out powerful "feed me" messages. Often the person responds by bingeing.
This raises a logical, but complicated, question: What is normal weight? It's easy enough to establish what the average weight is for a given population. But the average weight for a group of people is not the same as the normal weight for a particular individual.
Research has confirmed that there is a tremendous range in people's natural weights. We know, too, that a person's weight, determined largely by heredity, tends to be remarkably stable over time. In other words, if your body's weight-regulating mechanism is set at a certain point, say, 120 to 125 pounds, then you will probably remain at that weight for years unless such factors as exercise or diet are significantly changed.
*35/35/5*
WEIGHT LOSS
«No Prescription Online Pharmacy»
 Print
Viewed: 286
| Keywords for this page: Faces of eating disorders: irene’s case |
|
|
