Crumpled packages lie around her, crumbs drift through the air as she grabs another cookie and stuffs it in her mouth. While she devoured the cookie with one, two vicious chews, her hand was already reaching for the next one. She didn’t taste the sweet, sugary concoction but the need to satisfy her craving. After several frenzied minutes, she finally took in her destruction before waddling, belly aching, to the bathroom to “get rid of” the evidence of her rampage.

She is more than just a teenager struggling with her weight. She is one of many people fighting an eating disorder.

Bulimia nervosa, generally shortened to bulimia, is a serious eating disorder characterized as a cycle of binging, eating an excess of food and then compensating by vomiting, taking laxatives or other behaviors.  Approximately 80 percent of bulimia patients are female. This disorder can occur at any age, but more often in teenagers or young adults. This disorder is harder to diagnose than anorexia because individuals often have a normal weight or are overweight.

Bulimia generally starts with one episode of overeating. Guiltily, the person purges through a number of means to rid the body of the excess calories. As the bulimia worsens, he or she might start purging after a regular meal or a small snack. Also, bulimic individuals begin to feel more dependent on the food for comfort or feel the need to satisfy their cravings, no matter the cost.

Individuals with bulimia use two different methods for getting rid of the calories gained by overeating. Purging behavior includes vomiting, overusing laxatives and diuretics. Non-purging behavior is any other methods to stop weight gain, such as over-exercising or fasting. Bulimia can even coexist with anorexia.

This mental illness can be extremely harmful for a person.  Dehydration and a loss of potassium and sodium, can lead to irregular heartbeats, heart failure and eventually death. Habitual vomiting can cause tooth staining and decay from the stomach acid, as well as inflammation and possible rupture of the esophagus. Scarred hands, known as Russell’s sign, often occur from induced vomiting. Swollen cheeks from parotid gland damage also are a sign of bulimia. If laxatives are used, irregular bowel movements and constipation may occur.

Bulimia can occur through a combination of genetic and environmental factors. Family history of eating disorders and mental illness can lend to the start of bulimia, as well as traumatic events and stress. People obsessed with their weight can develop this disorder as well. Oftentimes, bulimia occurs at the same time as other psychiatric disorders such as substance abuse, depression or anxiety.

Psychologically, a person is scarred by bulimia. He or she will develop emotional and mental distortions. The individual is obsessed with his or her weight. Oftentimes, he or she is aware that his or her eating habits are unusual but cannot control the urge to gorge and then purge. In a way, bulimia is similar to alcoholism. The affected person is often in an abusive relationship with food: he or she hates it but needs it. 

Depending on the seriousness of the bulimia, the vocational implications can vary. If bulimia is caught in the early stages, a person may only suffer psychological effects and wouldn’t have to deal with any physical problems. The longer the bulimia has control, the worse the health of the individual becomes. This could severely damage a person’s ability to work and live normally.

Bulimia nervosa is a horrific disease that reveals the depth that words, society and environment can affect a person. Although the results of the eating disorder may be physical, it also affects the way a person views himself. Truly, the horror of bulimia isn’t in the physical but mental aspects of the disease.