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Eating disorders are a type of mental health issues that strongly and negatively impact the body. Bulimia is one of the more common mental health disorders, with around 2-3% of people being affected by it. This makes it more common than anorexia.
Researchers have noticed a rise in eating disorders across the globe, but especially in young female populations. Informing yourself and others about the signs, risks, and treatment options for bulimia can help people struggling with it get the help they need.
This article will cover bulimia symptoms, causes, health effects, and how to recover from bulimia.
What Is Bulimia Nervosa?
Bulimia is an eating disorder characterized by two main phases:
- Binging: Eating a large amount of food while feeling unable to control your eating. You might have feelings of disgust, shame, or despair, but be unable to stop the binge.
- Purging: A period of trying to reverse the calories consumed. Common methods in bulimia include forced vomiting, excessive exercise, fasting, or using laxatives.
These two phases make up Bulimia. The binge often causes the purge. This sets Bulimia apart from Anorexia, an eating disorder characterized by restricting calories and falsely viewing oneself as fat (even though people who suffer from anorexia are dangerously thin).
Bulimia must have both the binge and the purge cycles. What a purge looks like can depend on each individual.
Bulimia Symptoms
People with bulimia often understand that their eating behaviors are unhealthy, but their fear of gaining weight is greater than their fear of the negative consequences of their habits. Because of this, many people with Bulimia don’t receive the help they need.
It’s vitally important to receive professional help if you recognize the signs of Bulimia. It can have long-term mental and physical health effects.
Signs of Bulimia include:
- Recurrent episodes of binge eating (eating large amounts of food in a short time)
- Feeling a loss of control during binge episodes
- Purging behaviors (self-induced vomiting, misuse of laxatives, diuretics, or enemas)
- Fasting or excessive exercise to “compensate” for eating
- Hiding or secrecy around eating habits
- Frequent trips to the bathroom after meals
- Rigid food rules or cycles of restriction and bingeing
- Intense fear of gaining weight
- Distorted body image or dissatisfaction with appearance
- Feelings of shame, guilt, or embarrassment after eating
- Anxiety or depression related to food or body image
- Low self-esteem tied to weight or shape
- Mood swings or irritability
Because of the intense physical purging sessions, people with Bulimia may also experience these physical symptoms:
- Sore throat or chronic hoarseness
- Swollen salivary glands (puffy cheeks or jaw)
- Dental problems (tooth erosion, cavities, gum disease)
- Acid reflux, heartburn, or stomach pain
- Dehydration and electrolyte imbalances
- Calluses or scars on knuckles (from induced vomiting)
- Fatigue or dizziness
- Irregular menstrual cycles
This is especially true if they use self-induced vomiting as a way to purge.
If you recognize the following signs, seek medical care immediately, as it could be signs of a serious and possibly life-threatening condition:
- Fainting or weakness
- Blood in vomit
- Severe abdominal pain
Understanding what Bulimia looks like is the first step to recovery.
Long-term Effects of Bulimia
Bulimia is a mental health disorder that has a serious, life-threatening, and chronic impact on the body if it is not treated. Some of the physical health effects of Bulimia include:
- Heart problems, including irregular heartbeat and heart failure
- Chronic acid reflux and damage to the esophagus
- Severe tooth decay, enamel erosion, and gum disease
- Digestive issues such as stomach ulcers and chronic constipation
- Kidney damage from dehydration and purging behaviors
- Hormonal imbalances and missed or irregular periods
- Bone loss (osteoporosis) and muscle weakness
- Weakened immune system and long-term fatigue
People with Bulimia are also more likely to struggle with depression, anxiety, and substance abuse disorder.
What Causes Bulimia?
Researchers aren’t quite sure what causes Bulimia. Some factors include:
- Societal expectations for weight and body image
- Genetics; if someone in your family struggles with eating disorders, you are more likely to as well.
- Seeing dieting culture or binge-purge cycles modelled to you as a child
- Stressful life transitions or events, including trauma
Bulimia is caused by a mixture of societal, environmental, and genetic components.
How to Recover from Bulimia
It is absolutely possible to recover from Bulimia. The process can be difficult and long; around 55% of people with Bulimia or anorexia make a full recovery. However, part of this is because many people with eating disorders don’t seek help at all. The fear of gaining weight during treatment keeps them from seeking help.
If you struggle with Bulimia, treatment can help. It will address the unhealthy purging and binging cycles, yes, but it will also focus on your mental state.
Untangling the cognitive distortions (unhealthy thinking and belief patterns) around weight, food, and body image is critically important to recover from Bulimia.
The goal of an eating disorder therapist is not to make you gain weight, unless that is medically necessary. The goal of an eating disorder therapist is to help you have a healthy relationship with food. This means looking at why your relationship with food is the way it is, how you think about food and your body, and how we can make those things healthier.
Some strategies used to recover from Bulimia include:
- Psychotherapy: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) to reduce binge-purge cycles and improve body image
- Eating disorder–focused therapy: Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) for emotional regulation and impulse control
- Medication: Antidepressants (such as SSRIs) to reduce bingeing, purging, anxiety, and depression
- Nutritional counseling: Structured meal plans to restore healthy eating patterns
- Medical monitoring: Regular checkups to address electrolyte imbalances and physical complications
- Coping skills: Stress management, grounding techniques, and urge-surfing to manage binge or purge urges
- Relapse prevention: Identifying triggers and creating a long-term recovery plan
- Support systems: Support groups, family therapy, or trusted accountability partners
Building a positive support system is an important step in eating disorder recovery. Surrounding yourself with people who care about you and want the best for you can help hold you accountable to nutrition and food goals, support you through difficult moments, and encourage you as you recover.
Take the first step to eating disorder recovery today. Talk to a Lifebulb therapist.
