Why is purging a serious health risk?

Why is purging a serious health risk?

Frequent purging can cause dehydration. This leads to weak muscles and extreme fatigue. It can also throw your electrolytes out of balance and put strain on your heart. This can cause an irregular heartbeat (arrhythmia), and in some severe cases, a weakened heart muscle and heart failure.

What health problems happen from binge and purge?

Specific health risks of bulimia include:

• Cardiac complications (irregular heartbeat and heart failure stemming from electrolyte imbalances such as potassium, sodium, and chloride)
• Dehydration.
• Edema (stemming from periods of purging cessation)
• Ulcers, pancreatitis.

What are the long term effects of binging and purging?

Over the long term, this can lead to cardiovascular complications from electrolyte imbalance, blood pressure abnormalities, kidney failure and more. A person who is chronically binging and purging will also tend to suffer with gastrointestinal distress, like indigestion, constipation, diarrhea, and heartburn.

Why you should not purge after a binge?

Self-induced vomiting can create electrolyte imbalances, which can have potentially life-threatening consequences. Purging can also mess up your metabolism. For these two compelling reasons and more, you should not turn to purging as the answer to your binge.

What is the health consequences of bulimia?

The main health consequences of bulimic subjects are injury to the gastrointestinal tract, skin problems, hair loss, increased serum amylase levels, metabolic acidosis and hormonal imbalances that lead to amenorrhea in women (lack of menstrual cycle), up to electrolyte imbalance (hypokalemia, hyponatraemia.

Why do bulimics have chubby cheeks?

This enlargement or puffiness of the cheeks is a result of the parotid tissue being inflamed, and the associated swelling of the parotid glands, the largest salivary glands. The parotid glands are situated at the back of the mouth, in front of and beneath the ear and are only visible when severely inflamed.

What damage can bulimia cause?

Bulimia can permanently damage your stomach and intestines, causing other problems like constipation, diarrhea, and irritable bowel syndrome. Hormonal problems. Reproductive issues, including irregular periods, missed periods, and fertility problems are common side effects when you have bulimia.

What happens if you are bulimic for too long?

Other long-term consequences of bulimia include damage to the kidneys, increased risk of kidney stones and kidney failure, diabetes, high cholesterol, hormonal imbalances, fertility problems, chronic dehydration, chronic fatigue, and electrolyte imbalances.

What damage can bulimia do to the body?

How many calories is considered a binge?

Most binges involve the consumption of more than 1,000 calories, with a quarter of binges exceeding 2,000 calories. Unlike other eating disorders, those with binge eating disorder do not engage in compensatory behaviors designed to “undo” the calories consumed during a binge.

Will one binge gain weight?

It can be useful to remember that, just as one day of dieting will not cause a person to lose weight, a day of binge eating will not cause weight gain. Although an episode of overeating can happen to anyone occasionally, some people have a binge eating disorder, which usually requires professional attention.

What is the most serious consequence of bulimia?

Is the binge and purging cycle unhealthy?

Binging and purging is an unhealthy behavior cycle that can be associated with very serious emotional and physical problems. In this blog, you will learn about why this behavior happens, and some steps you can take to break the cycle. 1. You’re Not Alone

What are the main behaviors in the binge purge cycle?

Binge eating is one of the main behaviors in the binge-purge cycle. It may begin innocently with eating a small portion of food that is typically considered “off-limits.”

How does the purge cycle work in bulimia?

The binge/purge cycle is at the heart of the bulimia disorder. A bulimic will take part in a binge, which consists of eating an unusually large amount of food in one sitting. The binge is followed by a purging behavior, in which the bulimic tries to counteract the binge by ridding the body of the food consumed.

Is the restrict and binge cycle an eating disorder?

In the age of dieting, a new and more common form of disordered eating has come into play, the binge restrict cycle. With dieting comes restriction, and with restriction comes binging, leading to an endless cycle between the two. What is Restricting?