Health Issues: Eating Disorders
by Marie Williams
Young people have many worries such as schoolwork, family problems and the pressure to have a slim figure. Some people use food as a way of dealing with their problems - they become obsessed with food. This is how eating disorders start.
There are three different types of eating disorder:
Anorexia occurs when people eat very little amounts of food a day. The people affected are painfully thin, with their bones showing through their skin. The problem is they think they are fat.
Bulimia is another way to maintain weight but in the wrong way. Sufferers of this illness eat large amounts of food. To avoid gaining weight they make themselves sick or take large amounts of laxatives. They do this to maintain their weight and that is why this illness is so hard to detect.
Compulsive eating involves using food for comfort. When compulsive eaters are upset, they eat huge amounts of food, whether they are hungry or not.
Health Effects
Eating disorders can make people seriously ill. Anorexics are so badly nourished that they risk starving to death. Their blood doesn't circulate properly, making them feel cold. Their bones become very weak and this may cause problems in child-birth. Bulimics suffer from tooth decay, stomach and bowel problems and weak bones. Compulsive eaters become really large, which causes problems like high blood pressure and heart disease.
Treatment
If a sufferer can admit they have a problem, then the recovery can begin. Patients need to build up self-esteem and face problems which may have caused the illness. Discussing their problems with other people who have eating disorders can help sufferers a lot.
In extreme cases, drugs can be given to help anorexics put on weight but the approach usually taken is to encourage people (with any of the three eating disorders) to start eating a healthy diet and to start to address the underlying reasons for their eating disorder.
Services who can help :
Merseyside Eating Disorders Services Tel: 0151 281-6399
YWCA (St Helens) Tel: 01744 25813
Compass, Hope St. Liverpool Tel: 0151 708-6688
Women's Health Information and Support Centre (WHISC)
Tel:0151 707-1826 (must be over 15 years).
* Your GP can also refer you to a NHS eating disorder service
