How Can Bulimia Nervosa Impact Your Working Ability?

Bulimia nervosa is an eating disorder that is distinguished by multiple episodes that are often associated with binge eating. This is often followed by the hysterical efforts to avoid putting on weight. It is frequently seen affecting both the genders of all ages.

When you are suffering from bulimia nervosa, you are set up in a constant loop of worries between the battle of losing weight and satisfying your feeling of binge eating. You know that by compulsively eating a lot of food, you will feel guilty in the end, but are unable to avoid it as well. An average binge eater consumes 3000 to 5000 calories in a period of one hour.

After the entire episode ends, you follow drastic measures to undo the entire situation of binge eating. This might involve various activities like vomiting, going for a long run and over exercising for long hours.

Types of Eating Disorders:

• Binge Eating Disorder
• Bulimia Nervosa
• Eating Disorder Not Otherwise Specified (ED-NOS)
• Emotional Overeating
• Anorexia Nervosa

Signs of Bulimia Nervosa:

If you have been suffering from bulimia for quite a long time, you must have tried innumerable ways to conceal your binging and purging habits. It is a human tendency to feel ashamed of things that are not normal and you must have had a hard time controlling all those episodes.

Binge Eating Signs of Bulimia Nervosa:

• Lack of ability to curb eating. Consume food until the body experiences pain or physical discomfort.
• Wanting to eat alone or running out to find some food in the refrigerator after everyone have gone to bed.
• Eating too much of food unusually without any considerable changes in weight.
• Hidden jars of junk food or finding wrappers in the dustbin or disappearance of snacks.
• Rarely consumes a healthy meal because of the frequent binging and purging episodes. Never really enjoys the food that is eaten.

Purging Signs of Bulimia Nervosa:

• The person or their bathroom may smell like puke. To cover this up, he or she might use cologne, fresheners or mouth freshener as well.
• May do high intensity workouts to get rid of the extra calories that have been consumed on a daily basis.
• Disappears after a every meal to vomit the food that has been consumed and run the water to cover up the sounds of vomiting.
• Using diuretics, enemas or laxatives after every meal. Using diet pills to curb the hunger for food and sweat a lot by taking a steam bath or sauna.

Bodily/Physical Signs of Bulimia Nervosa:

• Scars or cuts on the fingers that is caused due to shoving the fingers in the throat.
• Puffy swollen cheeks due to constant vomiting.
• Teeth may look yellow or ragged due to acid exposure that is a byproduct of vomiting.
• People who are struck with bulimia often weigh normal or are underweight. When underweight due to purging, it may be considered as anorexia.
• Weight fluctuates frequently. It may vary by ten pounds or so drastically. This may be a cause of constant bingeing and purging.

The rates of eating disorders such as bulimia have been tweaked over the past decade and research showed that it had an unusual impact on the work performance. A comparison was made between the binge eaters and those who were normal on the basis of various brain functions. This included concentration, understandability and the memory power.

A study done by famous researcher Kristie Jean Smith (University of Connecticut Health Center) shows the following things:

It was observed that people who are suffering from the eating disorder such as bulimia nervosa reported difficulties in occupational functioning. It is also predicted that people with Bulimia Nervosa will have inability in performing as compared to those who are suffering from Anorexia.Sufferers of Anorexia reported a difficulty in performance as well as learning and understanding new things. In a period of thirty days, they also had various health problems that were related to thinking, memory and concentration.

The patients who were suffering from Bulimia Nervosa also showed similar signs and their learning ability were also grave as compared to the previous sufferers. Additionally, these sufferers also showed lower quality of work, less carefulness in a period of thirty days.

Bulimia Nervosa curbs a person’s ability to think, concentrate and understand various things. Moreover, it may also be difficult for an individual to manage the work in higher quality as well.

A major characteristic that signifies bulimia is that the person will have an unusual distortion of body weight as well as shape. Females have shown a considerable amount of symptoms as compared to males. The disease was also proficiently found in females and this was notified in the journals of various researchers. The process of getting over the symptoms and the attempts that a person does depends on the kind of eating disorder that he or she is facing.

Despite there are evidences available showing the impact that this disorder has on the working ability of an individual, there is no proper in depth research. There were studies conducted in the year 2002 which showed that the work time lost outweighed the cost involved in treatments.

• Allowing yourself to be vulnerable with people whom you trust.
• Experience every emotion completely.
• Be open about things you feel and accept them entirely.
• Lean on various people and take their assistance in finding a solution rather than binge eating.
• Maintain a balance between the emotions and take them sportively as well.
• Stop pretending that you do not care when struck with pain or discomfort.
• Do not allow people to humiliate you or make you feel low while expressing your thoughts.
• Do not let go of feelings just because they are going to make you sad or depressed.
• Never worry about falling apart when you are bound to be in a confusing situation.
• Never lean on food for comfort when in a confused state of mind.

You cannot treat bulimia nervosa on your own; however, you can build your own treatment plan. Apart from the professional therapy, you can follow these simple self help tips:

• Be sure to follow the treatment plan strictly. Never skip a therapy session or skip a meal plan even of you feel uncomfortable about it.
• Maintain a balance between all the nutrient consumption. Every nutrient has an unusual impact on the body and you should make sure to involve them in the diet on a daily basis.
• Educate yourself about the ailment and empower yourself to stick to your treatment plan.
• Be in touch with your friends and family. Never stay aloof and understand the importance of your friends and family. A nurturing relationship will help you in healing from the discomfort and balance the emotions as well.
• Love the way you are and be kind to your own body. Refrain from standing in front of the mirror every now and then or save yourself from the urge of weighing constantly. These may ultimately trigger the symptoms of binge eating.
• Exercise cautiously. You do not have to keep on sweating tremendously and know which exercise is the right one for you.

References:

Also Read:

• Bulimia Nervosa or Bulimia
• Treatment and Self Help Strategies for Bulimia Nervosa