Late Stage Bulimia

Bulimia is an eating disorder that affects thousands of people in western cultures each and every year. The side effects of bulimia nervosa are far reaching considering the physical effects that sufferer experience.

Bulimia is characterized by a poor self-image and distorted view of reality. The perspective is often that at near normal weight they are pudgy and overweight. This distortion causes them to use food to control their weight and their environment resulting in a strict diet regime. The characteristic of binging off the diet and then purging to prevent weight gain 2 times a week defines the actions of a bulimic.

The late in stage bulimia effects are a result of the way in which sufferers inappropriately purge themselves of the added calories in an effort to prevent weight gain. People suffering from bulimia will use one or a combination of several methods that include excessive exercise, self-induced vomiting and use of laxatives to purge their bodies of the extra calories that they ate.

Some of the long term effects of bulimia are life threatening or will result in a life long damage done to the body. Purging the body with self-induced vomiting has an effect on the gastrointestinal tract, teeth, nutrition and cardiovascular systems.

Late in stage bulimia effects will include dental damage from the bile acid in the vomit that comes in consistent contact with the back of the teeth. This damages the enamel and bulimics can lose the teeth.

Consistently vomiting large amounts of food may result in esophageal or stomach tears. These can be small tears that the body can heal spontaneously or they may result in larger tears that are medical emergencies when the sufferer begins to bleed internally.

Loss of fluid from the body through laxative use or self-induced vomiting results in dehydration and low blood pressure. The late in stage bulimia effects from long term low blood pressure is damage to the kidneys. The kidneys need an appropriate blood pressure in order to be perfused by blood and receive the nutrients and oxygen to continue life. Without these factors there is long term damage done to the organ.

Kidney damage and kidney failure is a life threatening late in stage bulimia effect. The kidneys are responsible for filtering out the waste products and toxins from the body. When they are damaged these toxins remain in the body causing the sufferer to feel poorly and the toxins to damage the other organs of the body. This is a life-threatening problem.

The lack of blood pressure and fluids also result in low amount of vitamins and minerals which affect the health of other organs. One of the common necessary nutrients that is affected is potassium.

Potassium is a nutrient that is necessary for electrical stimulation of the muscles. It is one reason why the sufferers feel muscle weakness and fatigue. One of the muscles also affected is the heart. A lack of potassium will result in lethal heart arrhythmias and potentially death.

Late in stage bulimia also affects other aspects of the cardiovascular system by producing low blood pressure, high cholesterol, poor vascular perfusion, and heart disease.

At any time during the experience with bulimia the sufferer can also have problems with electrolyte imbalances from the dehydration, women can experience a miscarriage from lack of nutrition for the baby or teens can experience a retarded growth pattern resulting in a shorter stature.