Eating Disorders - Symptoms

Symptoms

Symptoms Specific to Bulimia Nervosa

Symptoms or behavioral signs of bulimia may include:

• Regularly going to the bathroom right after meals
• Suddenly eating large amounts of food or buying large quantities that disappear right away
• Compulsive exercising
• Broken blood vessels in the eyes (from the strain of vomiting)
• Pouch-like appearance to the corners of the mouth due to swollen salivary glands
• Dry mouth
• Tooth cavities, diseased gums, and irreversible enamel erosion from excessive gastric acid produced by vomiting
• Rashes and pimples
• Small cuts and calluses across the tops of finger joints due to self-induced vomiting
• Evidence of discarded packaging for laxatives, diet pills, emetics (drugs that induce vomiting), or diuretics (medications that reduce fluids)

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Symptoms Specific to Anorexia Nervosa

The primary symptom of anorexia is major weight loss from excessive and continuous dieting, which may either be restrictive dieting or binge-eating and purging.

Other symptoms of anorexia may include:

• Infrequent or absent menstrual periods
• Compulsive exercising coupled with excessive thinness
• Refusal to eat in front of others
• Ritualistic eating, including cutting food into small pieces
• Hypersensitivity to cold -- some women wear several layers of clothing to both keep warm and hide their thinness
• Yellowish skin, especially on the palms of the hands and soles of the feet -- from eating too many vitamin A-rich vegetables such as carrots
• Dry skin covered with fine hair
• Thin scalp hair
• Cold or swollen feet and hands
• Stomach problems, including bloating after eating
• Confused or slowed thinking
• Poor memory or judgment

Review Date: 02/18/2011
Reviewed By: David B. Merrill, MD, Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY. Also reviewed by Harvey Simon, MD, Editor-in-Chief, Associate Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School; Physician, Massachusetts General Hospital; and David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Inc.

A.D.A.M., Inc. is accredited by URAC, also known as the American Accreditation HealthCare Commission (www.urac.org).