The other common eating disorder is bulimia. This is the eating disorder that most people know about and it is the one associated with bingeing and purging. The National Eating Disorders Association defines this disease as "a cycle of bingeing and compensatory behaviors."
Bulimia is life threatening. It consumes a person, depriving them of their physical needs and focuses their emotions on their wants. Shame, rotting teeth, vanity. All symptoms. The shame in not being able to eat, or hiding amounts. Teeth problems of discoloration and rotting from the acidity of vomit. Constantly checking the body to see flaws. People lose their lives before they die.
This disease is often seen along side other problems such as substance abuse, self-injury, and impulsivity. As psychologists know, these are all forms of coping; just as bulimia is another source.
Ashley Marcin wrote about her struggle with bulimia and how it ruined a decade of her life. Her personal is one does have a happier ending with her not having to have purged for 10 years now. But she wrote about how stress caused her to lose control of life, but purging gave her power. It's sad that there are about 6 million people in the US dealing with this but only 10% will receive help like Ashley eventually did.
Bulimia doesn't seem life threatening either by a statistical standard. It only has a 3.9% mortality rate. However, it is a hard disease to centralize as a source of death. Dehydration, heart attack, or other symptoms may be listed instead. Meaning so many deaths we are unaware of. Another cause of death in bulimic people is suicide which has increasingly high rates.
Bulimia is a loss of control in a person's life. It may not be able to be seen from an outside view, but the struggle is there. And if it is noticed. Contact help, no one needs to fight alone.
