How to deal with eating disorders?
What is an eating disorder?
Eating illness is a neurological disease that affects your eating habits. Eating disorder is a mental condition in which you find like you have a tendency to regulate your weight by starving yourself, eating binge meals, or, in some cases, eating items like dirt, chalk, cloth, etc. It is not a feeling of illness that you control, and if left untreated, an eating disorder can lead to life risks.
Types of eating disorders?
Anorexia Nervosa
This is the most prevalent form of eating disorder by far. This disease, which is most frequent in adolescents and women at greater risk, limits their consumption of food. The patient will always have an intense fear of gaining weight or becoming fat. As a result, the patient might be extremely underweight or malnourished. Anorexia can also lead to organ failure in the worst cases.
Bulimia Nervosa
Having no control over binge eating and up to the extent that one cannot eat anymore and then purge, comes under a type of eating disorder called bulimia nervosa. People with bulimia nervosa prefer to consume an enormous amount of food. Individuals who have bulimia nervosa tend to be of normal weight when compared to patients who suffer from anorexia nervosa and purge. Patients to be diagnosed with bulimia nervosa disorder has to have at least one episode of binge eating per week for a span of 3 months.
Rumination disorder
Some individuals have the habit of regurgitating the food they swallow and then chew it again to swallow again or spit it out. This type of disorder can develop in babies of 3-12 months and in most cases, they resolve on its own. But treatment or therapy has to be provided if this disorder is observed in older children or adults.
Binge eating disorder
Having no control over the excessive intake of food sometimes leads to Binge Eating Disorder. Unlike bulimia nervosa, people who have binge eating disorder do not involve in any activities like vomiting or exercise to make up for the food they eat. This type of disorder mainly starts from the early stages of adulthood.
ARFID
Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder is a condition where individuals tend to develop a sense of disinterest in particular types of food. Colors, smell, or texture of a particular food can trigger this type of disorder. Due to the continuous rejection of some foods over a long period of time can cause nutritional defects, problems in weight gain, or developmental defects like height.
Pica
Pica is an eating disorder that makes a person eat things that are not considered as food like chalk, soil, cloth, stones, etc. Children, adolescents. pregnant women and individuals with mental disabilities are at high risk of having pica.
How does an eating disorder affect our health
Eating disorders can cause life-threatening issues, in the long run. This is not a disease that will resolve on its own and medical attention is required.
When the body gets extremely low levels of food, it breaks down its own tissues to produce energy. Breakdown of muscles in the heart can cause damage to the cardiovascular system. It can also cause fluctuating pulses and blood pressure levels, increasing the risk of heart failure. Individuals involving in activities like vomiting or taking laxatives to reduce body weight would result in the depletion of electrolytes in the body. Imbalance in potassium, sodium, and chlorine can cause heart failure and death. Stomach pain, constipation, irregular levels of sex hormone, Irregularities in the menstrual cycle, weight gain, extremely underweight, trouble concentrating, dizziness, increased chances of Type 2 Diabetes are all other negative effects of the eating disorder.
Is this a lifelong condition?
An eating disorder can be a lifelong condition if left untreated. You need to talk to your doctor if you are going through any of the symptoms mentioned above. Please visit this link to book an appointment.
What are the treatment options for eating disorders?
According to the National Eating Disorder Association, it is found that between 0.3-0.4% of young women and 0.1% of young men will suffer from anorexia nervosa at any point in time. It was also reported that 1.0% of young women and 0.1% of young men will meet diagnostic criteria for bulimia nervosa. Treating the right type of eating disorder and at the right time will help an individual break free from having negative body image issues or avoid weight and other health issues caused by binge eating disorder and Pica. Though complete recovery is possible, it is important to keep a constant check on the patient to ensure that the correct amount of nutrition is taken by the patient and help him/her to manage any health issues.
Once the condition and type of eating disorder are diagnosed, your doctor will discuss the treatment options available. This might involve medications, CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy), or FBT (Family Based Therapy), which assists a patient to adopt healthy eating patterns and have a better outlook towards life including physical wellbeing.
Is TMS effective for treating eating disorders?
Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation is a powerful treatment that is used to cure various conditions of mental health. Eating disorder, being a psychological condition, can be successfully treated, and allow individuals to get back to normal lives with healthier eating habits. In the TMS treatment, magnetic pulses are sent to particular areas of the brain to stimulate the cells and help a person to experience a diminution of symptoms causing eating disorders. The medications and behavioral therapies listed above can have restrictions on how effective it is for the patients. But with TMS, patients experience huge relief and remission from eating disorder symptoms. Though TMS is not an FDA-approved method for treating eating disorders, patients who have undergone TMS treatment see a huge difference in their eating disorder symptoms. It has been reported that with each TMS therapy session there is up to 60% chance of symptoms decreasing. TMS for You is the best TMS treatment center in Massachusets with an expert team of certified mental healthcare professionals to help you manage eating disorders. In case, you notice or experience any of the symptoms mentioned, please contact us to confirm if you are diagnosed with an eating disorder and also to check if TMS treatment therapy can help you in treating your mental health issue.