Signs Of Bulimia - A Secretive, Deceitful Illness
What Are The Bulimia Signs?

Signs of bulimia can be observed through an individual’s behavior patterns. Bulimic people sometimes display signs of deceit or secrecy, but this is not usually intentional. In fact, they may be so entrenched in their illness that they will inadvertently do just about anything to maintain their perception of control in their lives.

When looking at the different signs of bulimia, it appears as though emotions are centered mainly around fear and control. The same is seen in individuals with anorexia nervosa, however there can be some slight variances on how these emotions manifest themselves.

Probably the most common emotional signs of bulimia are an intense fear of getting fat, low self esteem, and a preoccupation with body image.

Sufferers have reported that these things are usually the hardest aspects of the illness to overcome.

Bulimics will often restrict in order to lose weight, or to keep from gaining, but then this triggers an overwhelming urge to eat. These urges are often uncontrollable, which results in binge eating on high calorie and/or high-carb foods.

The initial euphoria and satisfaction of consuming large amounts of food is short-lived. Sufferers are often plagued with guilt, shame, embarrassment and a great deal of self-hatred for having gone "out of control" on a binge cycle.

They will then make an effort to compensate for their behavior by getting rid of (purging) what they have just consumed. Trips to the bathroom following meals can be a sure warning sign of bulimia.

Emotional Signs Of Bulimia - Irritability And Fear

Close friends and family members of sufferers sometimes describe the emotional signs of bulimia as irritability, a short fuse, impatient, or fearful. All of these are probably true.

A number of patients with bulimia have rigid, self-imposed rules regarding food, and will go into a state of fear and panic if they cannot control such situations.

For some, it also seems that anxiety about a change of routine is closely aligned with fears of loss of control. This can involve moving, changing schools, losing a friend, starting a new job, etc.

Even minor routine changes that may interfere with a bulimic's exercise routine, food rituals, or purging may result in a strong reaction that is outwardly displayed as anger, frustration and irritability.

While I was in treatment, my roommates offered examples of such "interferences". They include:

• Having to eat a meal at a different time
• Unavailability of the foods that they will allow themselves to eat
• Being required to eat with others
• A friend drops by unannounced
• Being asked to run an errand

These are just a few examples, but it shows how rigidly people with protect their daily routines and schedules, especially when a situation involves food.

Behavioral Signs Of Bulimia - Impulse Control And Shoplifting

People with bulimia tend to show signs of low self esteem and experience intense feelings of unworthiness. This is just one of the reasons that they usually prefer to eat alone.

It seems that they do have some sort of awareness about their eating disorder because they will go to great lengths to "cover their tracks" as far as how much they are really eating -- or purging.

Signs of bulimia can include making trips to the kitchen in the middle of the night, hiding food in the bedroom, or frequently leaving the house alone to go out and buy more food.

Bulimics have also been known to binge, and then replace the food they've eaten in attempt to relieve some of the guilt, but also in the hopes that other family members will not notice that bags of cookies, chips or candy are missing.

Sometimes they can become so desperate that they will steal or shoplift to replace the consumed items, or even simply just to stash more food for later consumption. This goes the same for laxatives, diuretics or diet pills.

The act of shoplifting is high among people with eating disorders, and experts believe it has do with impulse control, which also happens to be a component involved in binge eating. For more information, read about impulse control disorder.

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