Anorexia

Anorexia usually starts when you are a teenager. About 1 in 250 teenage girls and young women and 1 in 2000 teenage boys and young men have anorexia. If you have anorexia, you try to keep your weight as low as possible. It can make eating very distressing and you may have a distorted view of how you look. You are likely to think you are overweight even if you have become dangerously thin.

It helps to get early treatment, but you may not want to get help.

You may not always notice that you are having problems with eating or you may not accept that you might have an eating disorder. If you are concerned though, you may want to change. You might need help to do this.

Bulimia

Bulimia often starts when you are a teenager, although it can sometimes happens later. Men can also have bulimia but it is less common than in women. You can develop bulimia if you have had anorexia in the past.

Bulimia is linked with emotional problems and how you feel about yourself. If you have bulimia, you try to keep your weight as low as possible. You will often binge eat and then try to make up for the amount you have eaten. You might do this by vomiting and/or taking laxatives. This is often referred to as ‘purging’. You may starve yourself or exercise excessively to work off the calories.

You may do these things secretly. Many people feel disgusted and ashamed when they binge eat but feel relieved once they purge. You may often be fascinated by food, buy magazines and cook-books to read recipes and enjoy discussing dieting issues. You may use strict diet plans and exercise.

You will usually have an average body weight so other people may not notice you are having these problems for a long time.

If you are vomiting regularly, this can be very bad for your teeth. You should not brush your teeth after vomiting. Instead, you should use a non-acidic mouthwash and should avoid acidic food and drinks, such as ‘fizzy drinks’.

Other eating disorders

You may not have all the symptoms of a particular eating disorder. If so, you might have a diagnosis of a ‘partial syndrome’.

You might have a particular eating problem, such as chewing and spitting food without swallowing, or swallowing food and then bringing it back up. You may eat items such as tissues to fill up on without eating calories.

You may have elements of an eating disorder, or have symptoms that do not normally fall within the diagnosis of one of the main eating disorders. If so, a doctor will diagnose you with an ‘atypical eating disorder’ or an ‘eating disorder not otherwise specified’ (EDNOS).

Binge eating disorder (BED)

If you have binge-eating disorder you may eat large quantities of food in a short period of time uncontrollably, with the same binge-eating symptoms as bulimia. The main difference is that you do not try to get rid of the food afterwards. This can mean you may be overweight for your age and height.

You may binge as a way to cope with difficult emotions such as unhappiness, guilt or low self-esteem and to cope with daily stresses and problems in your life.

Compulsive overeating

If you have compulsive overeating you pick at food all day. You might do this to deal with difficult feelings and for similar reasons to people with binge eating disorder.