Answer:
Morbid obesity is obesity of such a degree as to place the patient in danger of dying from overweight. While obesity per se is a long-term health risk, morbid obesity places the patient at risk in the near future. The original definition was a body weight more than 100% over the normal range. A more [...]

Answer:
Compulsive overeating, sometimes known as “binge eating” is being defined as a third eating disorder. It is characterized by frequent episodes of marked overeating, occurring twice or more a week over a period of several months. The patient characteristically consumes several thousand calories at a sitting during the episodes of overeating. The condition occurs in [...]

Answer:
Bulimia may lack social acceptability but the physical consequences are less extreme than anorexia. For one thing, bulimics rarely die from their disease. They show amenorrhea, fatigue, electrolyte abnormalities, and even cardiac arrhythmia, but the fatality rate is far less than that for anorexia. The consequences of vomiting include sore throats, esophagitis, swelling of the [...]

Answer:
The essential characteristic of bulimics is the combination of excessive food intake with over-concern about weight gain. Bulimics are not willing to be happily fat. They want to overeat and they want to have normal weight. Unsurprisingly, they are often impulsive, rebellious, and emotionally labile. Many or most bulimics have normal body weight but they [...]

Answer:
There is serious disagreement on whether bulimia is a subtype of anorexia nervosa or whether it represents a distinct pattern. Most bulimics have an approach-avoidance relationship with food. They want to eat but are terrified of gaining weight past normal. This is quite different from the typical food avoidance of the anorectic. The bulimic patients [...]

Answer:
The word bulimia is derived from latin and means, literally, “as hungry as an ox.” It is of interest that the pattern was described in the ancient Roman culture and it was both more common and known as “binge and purge.” The individual overeats, often to an impressive extent, and then purges the food [...]

Answer:
Support of the anorectic with enteral nutrition using a nasogastric tube or nasoenteric tube is certainly possible. Known in past days as “force feeding,” it has the drawback that the patient is uncooperative and may pull out the tube or induce vomiting. A more sophisticated version is nutritional support using total parenteral nutrition (TPN). Perhaps [...]