What Are The Challenges with Bulimia Recovery?

Getting bulimia treatment is only half the story, your greatest challenge and growth towards a bulimia free life will come from mastering everyday challenges, developing new habits & behaviors, emotional management and increasing your comfort zone to adopt new ways of life that weans you of bingeing and purging.

Your bulimia recovery will start with understanding the specific causes and risks that make you bulimic in the first place. Binge eating is something universal to all of us throughout our lives at some point, and it is appreciating this point that can liberate you from your struggle with food and an eating disorder, like bulimia.

It may help to view your recovery as a continuous process, which aims to understand and master the shift in all three vital areas of your life: your body, your mind and your emotions. Too many people attempt to fix one aspect without much long term success, because there’s a part of them with a blind spot which ignores other issues. Bulimia treatment will expose you to these pit falls, as well as your strengths so you can be better equipped to make your recovery a lasting one.

Generally, undetected stress, depression, poor health, anxiety, poor assertiveness skills, lack of self awareness and self care can hinder your bulimia treatment as well as your bulimia recovery. Many also fail to make that lasting change due to a lack of vision, clarity of what is expected of them, skills to follow through, and strong reasons to recover in the first place. This combined with the problem such as not having the right person or people to support your ongoing recovery work, looking for short cuts or quick weight related outcomes can all stop you from succeeding with your bulimia recovery.

In our experience here at Bulimia Hope, what helps your treatment and recovery are: knowledge and skills to motivate you, especially when the going gets tough; your ability to honor yourself and work on your body confidence and self-esteem; effectively manage co-existing conditions such as depression, anxiety or panic disorders; developing realistic and achievable step by step goals that you can review and build as you grow as a person; become more in touch with what you need, what you want, and what you can realistically get out of life; a sense of balance and centeredness in all aspects of your life. These are some of the major components to a successful bulimia recovery plan.

As you begin to master the art of reducing your bingeing and purging, you will also learn how to adopt coping mechanisms that take a positive look at lapses that appear in your recovery journey. Rather than view them as a disaster and give up too soon, you will find at Bulimia Hope we will guide you, give you the information and the tools to learn from these minor lapses and turn them around so you will never suffer from that same mistake again. That will help you regain the control you lost to Bulimia, and firmly hand over personal power back to you!

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Frequently Asked Questions

1. What is bulimia?
2. What is bulimia nervosa?
3. Is bulimia treatable?
4. Is complete recovery possible?
5. What are the symptoms of bulimia?
6. What are the signs of bulimia?
7. What are the dangers of bulimia?
8. What are the causes of bulimia?
9. What are the effects of bulimia?
10. How does bulimia affect teeth?
11. What are the facts about bulimia?
12. What are the statistics about bulimia?

What is bulimia?

Reoccurring episodes of binge eating followed by purging through self-induced vomiting, or the use of laxatives or diuretics.

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What is bulimia nervosa?

An over concern with self image when it comes to body weight, size and shape. Reoccurring episodes of binge eating followed by purging through self-induced vomiting, or the use of laxatives or diuretics. Alternatively use of strict dieting, fasting or vigorous exercise, where purging is rare.

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Is bulimia treatable?

Yes. The most effective treatment options help the sufferer to do three things: reduce physical symptoms, change their bulimic thoughts, and address their bulimic behavior.

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Is complete recovery possible?

Yes. With proper treatment, change, and effort over time, you can completely recover from bulimia. In order to maintain lasting freedom from bulimia it is essential to reinforce daily the positive changes in your lifestyle, self-care activities, thought patterns, and behaviors.

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What are the symptoms of bulimia?

* Binge behaviour is a secret one- often involving subterfuge and deception.

* Food is consumed at an alarmingly fast rate, to avoid being found out, or to avoid the guilt and shame that follows.

* Act of vomiting is a means of getting rid of this newly acquired shame and guilt of bingeing- this is also an attempt to get rid of the emotional negativity that surrounds the bingeing.

Immediately after bingeing, people feel briefly satisfied with what they have eaten and feel relieved by abandoning restraints (a sense of struggle produced by not eating all the time). These emotions are soon replaced by feeling disgusted with their eating, shame & guilt as well as depression.

These psychological symptoms are made worse by the physiological effects of binge eating: tiredness due to blood glucose-insulin relationship, abdominal pain- associated with fast eating and the nature of the complex food eaten; headaches and dizziness from the sugar rush & sugar addiction. Feeling of extreme fullness and bloatedness- due to sheer amount of the food consumed pushing against the abdominal walls.

This all leads to a great fear of weight gain, initiating people to take extreme measures of compensating behaviours. Vomiting, Laxative, diuretic use as well as fasting, dieting and excessive exercise follows to rectify the bingeing that took place.

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What are the signs of bulimia?

It is very difficult to spot outward signs of bulimia. Below is a list of signs to be aware of:

* Food wrappers under the bed
* Dehydration
* Heartburn
* Rounded face
* Internal bleeding
* Skin damage to the back of the hand around the knuckles
* Damage to teeth
* Bad breath

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What are the dangers of bulimia?

What causes medically serious consequences in bulimia is the act of vomiting. Many side effects and complications result needing immediate medical attention.

The disturbance of the chemical in the body fluid

The process of vomiting, drinking and vomiting again until the full content of the stomach is empty of food is a serious one. This process upsets the balance of body fluids and salts, namely potassium, sodium and chloride.

Low levels of potassium can result in cardiac arrhythmia, muscle cramps, muscle weakness and Tetany. Dehydration is obvious as a result of excessive behaviour. Although this can be reversed once you stop vomiting and taking laxatives/diuretics. Any long-term damage to heart, kidney and brain tends to be irreversible. Heart arrhythmia and even sudden cardiac arrest (heart attack) is possible.

Heartburn

Frequent vomiting can lead to problems with reflux which is partly digested acidic food coming back up from stomach. Usually it is caused by over eating, by eating rich or spicy food, or by drinking alcohol.

Swollen Parotid Glands

Binge-eating, vomiting, laxative abuse causes a great deal of irritation within the gastro-intestinal tract. Swelling of the salivary glands (including parotid glands) is common – giving rise to rounded face appearance. Sadly, many sufferers associate this as having a fat face – which then adds to the worry of looking and feeling overweight. Thus the vicious cycle continues.

Internal Bleeding

Occasionally violent vomiting causes a tear in the oesophagus (the long tube linking the mouth to the stomach). If the oesophagus ruptures, it is considered a medical emergency. Repeated vomiting over many years can also lead to a weakening of the oesophagus sphincter (muscles). The result of this can cause gastric reflux.

The throat is often damaged to due to an induced gag reflex by sticking a finger or device. The back of the throat is frequently injured and often bleeds then becomes infectious prone. Obvious tell-tale sign is that your voice becomes hoarse.

Skin Damage

People who stick their fingers in their throat to induce vomiting are prone to develop surface lesions. The repeated contact of the front teeth to the skin of the hand can result in abrasion of the skin, small lacerations and callosities on the surface of the hand (near the knuckle). This might be the only outward physical sign of bulimia.

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How Does Bulimia Affect Teeth

Tooth ache is common and frequent sore throats along with sore gums are also apparent. This is due to vomit containing hydrochloric acid (from the Digestive juice in the stomach) reaches the mouth frequently – causing erosion of the dental enamel (mainly on the inner surface of the teeth).

Many rush to brush their teeth vigorously after vomiting in an attempt to get rid of the smell. This actually damages the teeth further rapidly by the scarring effect. Once eroded, tooth enamel cannot be replaced. Constant exposure to acidity contributes to erosion of enamel, tooth decay and tooth loss.

This is often very painful and may lead to infections, bad breath and abscesses. Other dental problems include Jaw joint disorders, increased temperature sensitivity, periodontal disease, gingivitis and decreased salivary flow.

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What are the causes of bulimia?

• Genetic factors are known predictive factors that allow you to inherit such tendencies from your parents, or some case even from your grandparents (as the genetic emphasis can skip a generation and exert it self with the gap).
• Many people with bulimia, have a tendency to have a higher than average natural weight. Parental obesity has been found to be more prevalent among people who have developed bulimia and having greater exposure to a series of diets.
• Some studies also show that depression once inherited from parents, can cause depression in people who then develop some form of eating disorder themselves. It is often prevalent just before the bulimia actually develops.
• Weight loss following an episode of physical illness can also bring about bulimia.

Psychological Factors

• Low self-esteem.
• Extreme concern about body weight, size and shape
• Being a perfectionist and having high standards.
• Being histrionic, whereby over dramatising any given situation.
• Vulnerability towards alcohol.

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What are the effects of bulimia?

Bulimia has a profound and debilitating effect on your psychological well-being and your social life.

Depression

• Feelings of guilt
• Poor concentration
• Feelings of worthlessness
• Irritability
• Lack of energy
• Loss of self confidence
• Depressed mood
• Social withdrawal
• Feelings of hopelessness

Anxiety

• Worrying
• Tension pains (e.g. head aches)
• Nervous tension (e.g. being on edge)
• Avoidance of anxiety provoking situations
• Anxiety in meeting people
• Anxiety in specific situations
• Panic attacks

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What are the facts about bulimia?

Bulimic sufferers tend to have a higher than average natural weight or they tend to fall within the normal range of the body weight scale – making it the most different case to detect, due to very little outward signs and symptoms.

Incidents of bulimia are lowest in the rural area, intermediate in urbanised areas and the highest in large cities.

Bulimia nervosa is more common than anorexic nervosa. Prognosis is better for bulimia; however medical complications do exist due to the purging nature of this condition.

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What are the statistics about bulimia?

Adolescent females from the age of 15 to 30 are more likely to suffer from bulimia than any other age group.

1 in 20 (a typical school class size) suffers from some form of eating disorder amongst female high school and college students.

Between 1988 and 1993 alone, there was a threefold increase in the actual recording of bulimia.

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Most of the people who are suffering from Bulimia nervosa usually thinks that by having a diet or restricting themselves from eating is the best solution for their problem which is overeating, but this is really a wrong practice, know why? Basically because if you starve yourself this would only make you want to eat even more food. Persons who are suffering from Bulimia nervosa feel that purging is the way out after they eat very large amounts of food and they usually think that it is the way to get rid of the extra calories they’ve got from overeating, but this would only lead to more problems.

There are many different causes of Bulimia nervosa including poor body image, dieting, low self-esteem, major life changes and other biological factors. Bulimics badly needs the help or assistance of a professional in order to guide and help them overcome their habit of eating very large quantity of food. And there are also lots of ways to treat Bulimia nervosa and one of the main goals of the  bulimia treatment is to break the binge-purge cycle and to restore the normal and healthy eating pattern and psychotherapy is also a great help. But don’t forget that families and friends are vital part of the treatment regimen as they could help resolve some issues that caused the disorder.

If you have Bulimia nervosa or know someone who has the disorder then waste no time, seek treatment immediately in order to avoid more serious health threats.


Beat Bulimia is a one-day workshop developed and led by Vathani Navasothy from Bulimia Hope and Awakening Dawn: Eating Disorder Counselling & Training services. It is currently held in London and created as a tool to help people overcome their bulimia, provide tools for bulimia treatment and continuing bulimia recovery.

The Bulimia Treatment workshop is a pathway to recovery and delivers a powerful experiential transformation on your inner journey toward self-awareness. We deal with the problems inherent in a life consumed by binge eating and purging, and the personal journeys of others in this small and supportive group will further add to your growth. It will help to identify your own inner strengths and resources to beat bulimia, enjoy a successful life, and empower you with new ways of caring for yourself.

You will learn

• Effective strategies to help you to gradually stop vomiting, taking laxatives or diuretics
• How to effectively handle past events holding you back and move on successfully
• How to be assertive and communicate in a way that will allow you to get to what you want
• New ways to cope with stress and anxiety rather than turning to food
• How to master a set of strategies to help you let go of guilt and shame from the past, and build a more empowering future
• How to effectively deal with self-sabotage and toxic relationships
• Natural and creative strategies for your every day problem solving
• How to understand your mind and how it can keeps locked onto bulimia, how it creates and responds to both the past and future events
• How to choose how you feel, instead of being a victim of events and people around you
• How to motivate yourself away from relapsing and get through the hard times
• How to set and achieve realistic weight, shape and size goals

You Will Benefit

If you are someone that suffers from Bulimia or is trying to recover from bulimia, and who wants to live life in a state of self-harmony and personal fulfilment.

Workshop Outcomes

Find out how your feelings, habits and thoughts have been impacted by experiences in your past, as you pinpoint patterns of behaviour that affect your relationship with food. Patterns which have a serious impact on your relationships with your family, co-workers and friends.

Sharing

You will be part of a safe and confidential small circle of people with similar challenges and wants for the future so that you can learn from them and see things through other eyes. A great deal of time will be available to address needs of the individual in addition to all the issues that are important in the lives of people who suffer from bulimia.

Moving Forward

Vathani will see to it that when you depart, you will have information regarding all the new skills and insights that will be helpful to you in the future. Life can take on new meaning when you no longer are held prisoner by bulimic thoughts, feelings and actions. The goal of this workshop is a good start as a first move towards a healthy, new you, and a new life.

Ongoing support is available for those needing personal Coaching or therapy after the workshop. As a delegate of this workshop, you can expect to take advantage of discounted fee for this follow-up support.

Workshop Details

Date: 25th February 2012 ( Wkshp: Repeated in May & September)

Time: 9.30 am – 5.30 pm (Sat)

Venue:

56 Windsor Road
Thornton Heath
Croydon
CR7 8HE

Nearest Train:  Thornton Heath (17mins from Victoria station)

Your Investment

1 Day Workshop: £97

To make payment by cheque, please make the cheque payable to “Awakening Dawn”, and send it to:

Awakening Dawn
56 Windsor Road
Thornton Heath
Croydon
Surrey
CR7 8HE

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Send your payment via this Paypal option :