Health Consequences of Eating Disorders
It’s well known that eating disorders are one of the most dangerous mental illnesses.
They impact not only emotional wellness but physical wellness and relational wellness. This makes effective treatment of eating disorders imperative- the earlier someone receives treatment the greater the chance for recovery and mitigated health concerns.
Regardless of which, anorexia, bulimia, binge eating disorder, obsession with healthy eating, and orthorexia-eating disorders can impact many systems and organs within the body. While treating eating disorders, the Reclaim therapists will frequently collaborate with dietitians and physicians to ensure the well-being and health stability of our clients.
This isn’t to scare anyone, but to do our best to create safety in the recovery process.
Mental Health Complications with Disorder Eating
Eating disorders are shown to significantly impact self-esteem, and increase anxiety and depression.
Cardiovascular System Complications
The restriction is at the root of all eating disorders. When a body is restricted from calories and nutrients, the body naturally begins to break down muscle. This can mean that the heart muscle loses strength, resulting in lower pulse and blood pressure.
Many people struggling with an eating disorder share their experience of dizziness when standing, blacking out, or having heart palpitations. This can be a result of restriction or purging behaviors. When the body is purged of important nutrients, the body can be put into an electrolyte imbalance- which can lead to irregular heart rhythms and possibly heart failure.
GI System Complications with Eating Disorders
Restriction and purging can also lead to slowed digestion. Many people struggling with an eating disorder can relate to stomach pain, bloating, nausea, fluctuations in blood sugar, a feeling of intense fullness after eating small quantities of food, and constipation.
Some complications related to purging that aren’t widely talked about are ruptures or wearing down of the esophagus and a sore throat. Purging and restriction can also lead to pancreatitis.
Neurological System Complications for Disordered Eating
Our brain normally consumes up to ⅕ of the body’s calories. When someone is restricted the brain doesn’t receive enough energy to function optimally. Many people can relate to having difficulty concentrating and an unhealthy obsession with eating.
Lack of adequate nutrition also interferes with the body’s ability to rest- many people struggling with eating disorders complain about waking up frequently in the middle of the night, unable to fall back to sleep.
Eating disorder behaviors can also result in muscle cramps, tingling sensations in extremities, dizziness, and fainting.
Endocrine system complications
The body makes and maintains many of the hormones with the nutrients we consume. When a body is undernourished hormone levels can become unbalanced including sex hormones (estrogen and testosterone) and thyroid hormones.
When sex hormones are impacted, menstruation can become irregular, stop, or fail to start. This is referred to as amenorrhea. Lowered sex hormones can also result in bone loss and a reduction in the body’s metabolic rate. When a body’s metabolic rate is lower, or slower, the body’s core temperature tends to drop, resulting in feeling cold all of the time.
When undernourished the body is also at risk for hair loss, dry skin and brittle hair, and anemia.
We can’t possibly go into the depths of the risks of eating disorders in a short blog post, but, the above symptoms are some of the most common we hear our clients share in our work together.
If you are experiencing one or many of these symptoms and think you are struggling with an eating disorder, we encourage you to reach out to your doctor and schedule an intake appointment with an eating disorder therapist and/or dietitian. You don’t have to wait until things get worse- you deserve care and treatment in the here and now.
It can be scary to reach out for support but know that our compassionate therapists are here to support you just as soon as you’re ready.
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Reclaim Therapy is a team of eating disorder, body image, and trauma therapists committed to helping people heal their relationship with their mind, body, and food.
We provide online counseling in Pennsylvania and in-person therapy in Horsham, PA. We believe in the power of recovery from eating disorders, body shame, grief counseling, and trauma and are committed to helping our clients reclaim their relationship with themselves.