bulimia

medical

• Often your weight shifts between 5-10 pounds which can't be explained by any other condition.
• Insomnia or excessive sleeping.
• You have irregular menstrual periods or none at all (amenorrhea).
• Brittle nails.
• Dull eyes
• Brittle, dull hair.
• Frequently bruise easily or are prone to injuries.
• Body does not repair itself (for instance, you bruise something or injure yourself and it takes a month or longer to heal).
• You frequently become dizzy if you stand up too fast, or you have fainting spells.
• May throw up blood and get stomach aches.
• You have chronic sore throats.
• You experience headaches that continually re-occur.
• Knuckles appear a little callused and/or are scratched or bruised.
• Frequently tired and feel run down.
• You frequently experience heartburn, especially after purging.
• Eye vessels sometimes break, or you often have the blood-shot look.
• Swollen throat glands giving you the appearance of a chipmunk.
• You often retain water.
• Hands and breath may smell like vomit sometimes

psychological

• You are described as a "perfectionist" - nothing is ever good enough, including weight loss.
• Black and white thinking (for instance, people with this thinking often say to themselves, "I eat nothing today, or everything and then purge.").
• Low self-esteem and worth.
• You feel worthless after eating a certain amount of calories or after gaining weight.
• You experience depression, mood swings, and general irritability - especially around food.
• You feel that purging your food and your weight are the only things you can control.
• You distrust those around you in what they think (for instance, you find that others tell You that you have lost weight, but you believe they are only lying all the time).
• The scale determines whether today is "good" or "bad."
• You feel that you have to please everyone and never say "no," or else no one will like you.
• Often feel like you don't belong.

behavioral

• You force yourself to purge for any length of time.
• You isolate yourself more and more while concentrating more and more on calories, weight, food, where and when you can binge/purge, etc.
• You plan out when you can binge and where you can purge.
• You starve during the day or severely restrict your calorie intake during the day and then secretly binge at night.
• You only like to eat alone.
• You avoid social gatherings and outings where you know food is involved.
• You abuse various pills.
• You exercise compulsively.
• You hoard food.
• You frequently check your weight on a scale.
• You sift through books and web pages on eating disorders looking for tips and tricks to further weight loss.
• There is a past or current history with problems like drug and alcohol addiction, stealing, and/or sexual promiscuity.
• You continually go on "diets" and stick to diet foods until you binge.

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