Anorexia and Bulimia
There was this girl at my high school last year that most guys, including myself, found to be very attractive. She was only a freshman, but that is beside the point. At the beginning of the year, and even before the year started when I saw her at an open house or something, I would think to myself “Wow!” every time she walked by. However, as the school year progressed, I noticed her getting very skinny. Not only that, but her face seemed to become more puffy. I thought this was somewhat strange. It definitely occurred to me that she might have been bulimic, but maybe she just ate right and exercised a lot. Obviously the word got around that she was, in fact, bulimic. This changed my entire opinion of her, as I’m sure it did for many other people as well. I no longer found her to be attractive, but actually ugly. That made me wonder why people would ever do that to themselves. There are much better ways for one to improve their looks than resorting to disgusting habits that are usually very damaging. Every year there are millions of people that are involved with severe eating disorders. They can actually be life-threatening. Young women comprise most of the entire population affected by eating disorders. One reaso . . .
Half of the people with anorexia will eventually become bulimic. Eating disorders can result in various medical problems for an individual. Anorexia nervosa is a disease where a person intentionally starves themselves, despite the fact that they will have terrible hunger pains most of the time. This includes the person's family, friends, and even their doctor. For example, one out of ten cases of anorexia leads to severe consequences, including death from starvation, cardiac arrest, or maybe even suicide. Strict dieting might also happen between episodes of binging and purging. Getting someone treated for an eating disorder can save that person’s life. Mild anemia, swollen joints, reduced muscle mass, and light-headedness also occur very often in anorexic patients. These problems put them at higher risk for committing suicide. The most commonly used antidepressant medications used to treat bulimia are desipramine, imipramine, and fluoxetine (Handbook of Treatment 373). Sometimes the compulsiveness will come about in weird eating customs or refusing to eat in front of other people. Because of these facts, getting a person with an eating disorder treated can be very tough. Researchers have found that such strict dieting can be the threshold of an eating disorder. Eating disorders in males are usually overlooked because they are not very likely to occur in boys and men (Gordon 65). Although most anorexics are young women, it can also get to men and older women (Anorexia Nervosa 2).
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