Treatment for eating disorders
Treatment for eating disorders is not a simple thing. One of the most common approaches to treatment for eating disorders is therapy. It is essential to realize that you cannot get better alone. The process is going to take time, but no matter how long a person has been suffering, it is never too late to get help. Therapy is more likely to work when the person stops dieting. Most people suffering from eating disorders have enough trouble eating properly, so any continuous dieting can be harmful to their recovery.
Cognitive behavioral therapy is often used as a treatment for eating disorders. This method is so effective because it helps the patient in two ways. The first step is to help the patient get into healthy eating habits; the person needs to learn how to begin eating again and, if they are suffering from bulimia, how to stop binging and purging. Patients also learn to cope with situations that may trigger negative eating habits.
The second part of cognitive-behavioral therapy targets the mindset of the patient. Many sufferings from eating disorders link weight and thinness to self-worth, which is a dangerous way of thinking. Cognitive-behavioral therapy is one of the best treatments for eating disorders that teaches the patient positive ways of thinking and how to let go of these ties between weight and feeling.
Pharmaceutical drugs and especially anti-depressant medications, represent other treatments for eating disorders. The after-effects of eating disorders can be just as nerve-racking as the disorder. All physical and mental aspects must be taken care of during treatment.
The road to recovery can be long and bumpy, but the patient needs help immediately. Any eating disorder should never be ignored or taken lightly. It is difficult to go through this alone, and early treatment for eating disorders is the first step to recovery.
Another type of treatment for eating disorders that most people have considered is a natural treatment. Natural treatment for eating disorders has proven effective without causing any side effects.
Eating Disorders are learned behavior. Individuals with an Eating Disorder can’t remember what day or time it began, only that it started as a temporary solution. Eating Disorders are insidious. Over time the disorder escalates to the individual who started out believing they had control over what was eaten or not eaten, no longer having a choice as the eating disorder is in control.
Many factors lead an individual to develop an eating disorder. Some reasons are poor body image, low self-esteem and self-worth, environment, watching family or friends acting out, or seeing something on television. Eating Disorders are a coping mechanism for undergoing unusual stress, trauma, or life-changing events.
What are eating disorders?
Eating disorders are illnesses in which the sufferer experiences severe disturbances in their eating behaviors, thoughts, and emotions. People with eating disorders typically become preoccupied with food and their body weight.
Eating disorders often occur together with other psychiatric disorders like anxiety, panic, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and alcohol and drug abuse problems. New evidence suggests that heredity may play a part in why certain people develop eating disorders, but these disorders also afflict many people with no prior family history.
Eating disorders constitute various psychological conditions that lead to abnormal eating habits in the inflicted person. Generally, they are obsessed with body shape, weight, or food. It typically affects women with symptoms starting from young adulthood and adolescence.
A big misconception that cloud eating disorder is that it primarily deals with the desire to have a thin figure. But in reality, patients resort to binge eating, excessive exercise, dieting, and purging as a mechanism to cope with stress or overwhelming emotions. This gives them the illusion of being in command. Gradually, these dangerous behaviors will only contribute to more anxiety and stress, resulting in graver health complications.
In more severe conditions, it can even lead to death. Many people take eating disorders lightly and consider them a lifestyle choice. This is a dangerous misconception and results in patients not seeking professional help. People who suffer from this condition require prompt and immediate intervention.
What Causes Eating Disorders?
Medical professionals believe that various factors lead to eating disorders. Genetics can play a role too. Research shows if one of the twins has this condition, there is a 50% chance that the other twin will also develop the same disorder. People with personality traits like impulsivity, perfectionism, and neuroticism are more likely to develop eating disorders.
Other factors believed to lead to eating disorders include an unhealthy desire for thinness, cultural preference, and an unhealthy promotion by media of unrealistic body goals. Research shows that eating disorders are nearly nonexistent in cultures not exposed to Western ideas of body image.
Thus, eating disorders are very complex and require a combination of various approaches to deal with them and ensure that they never occur again.
A facet of factors leads to the development of eating disorders, although the exact cause cannot yet be pinpointed. Listed below are some possible causes of eating disorders
- Biological factors such as irregular hormonal functioning, nutritional deficiencies, and genetics have been considered causes.
- Psychological factors may be the culprits, too, such as poor self-esteem and negative body image.
- Environmental factors that may cause eating habit disorders are specific careers and professions that demand being thin (modeling and ballet) and aesthetically-oriented sports that require maintaining a lean body for better performance (ballet, wrestling, gymnastics, diving, rowing, etc.).
- Childhood and family traumas, dysfunctional family dynamics, cultural and peer pressure, and stressful life changes are other possible environmental causes of eating disorders.
Do I have an eating disorder?
Do I have an eating disorder? It is one of the most crucial questions often asked by most people. To answer this question, you need to know that an eating disorder is a life-threatening condition that often requires professional assistance and support. If you think you have an eating disorder, you must seek the help and support you need to overcome your condition.
Overcoming an eating disorder can prove promising and open new avenues of opportunity you never dreamed of. You will no longer be tied down by food, and your emotions, physical health, and well-being will improve substantially. Often the first step to improving your health is understanding the causes of eating disorders.
How do I know I have an eating disorder?
There can be several signs of eating disorders that you (or someone you care about) may have an eating problem. Signs of eating disorders that you should look out for include:
- Changing social plans or avoiding situations where food might be involved.
- Make yourself sick or take laxatives after eating (whether you have eaten a little or felt like you have over-eaten or ‘binged’).
- Exercising excessively (number of sessions or intensity).
- Having rigorous habits or routines about food.
- Significant changes in your weight (increase or decrease).
- Mood swings.
- Feeling cold, tired, or dizzy.
Symptoms of eating disorders
Emotional and behavioral symptoms of eating disorders
- Preoccupation with weight, food, calories, carbohydrates, fat grams, and dieting
- Refusal to eat certain foods, progressing to restrictions against whole food categories (e.g., no carbohydrates, etc.)
- Appears uncomfortable eating around others
- Food rituals (e.g., eating only a particular food or food group [e.g., condiments], excessive chewing, doesn’t allow foods to touch)
- Skipping meals or taking small portions of food at regular meals
- Any new practices with food or fad diets, including cutting out entire food groups (no sugar, no carbs, no dairy, vegetarianism/veganism)
- Withdrawal from usual friends and activities
- Frequent dieting
- Extreme concern with body size and shape
- Frequent checking in the mirror for perceived flaws in appearance
Physical symptoms of eating disorders
- Noticeable fluctuations in weight, both up and down
- Stomach cramps and other non-specific gastrointestinal complaints (constipation, acid reflux, etc.)
- Menstrual irregularities — missing periods or only having a period while on hormonal contraceptives (this is not considered a “true” period)
- Difficulties concentrating
- Abnormal laboratory findings (anemia, low thyroid and hormone levels, low potassium, low white and red blood cell counts)
- Dizziness, primarily upon standing
- Fainting/syncope
- Feeling cold all the time
- Sleep problems
- Cuts and calluses across the top of finger joints (a result of inducing vomiting)
- Dental problems, such as enamel erosion, cavities, and tooth sensitivity
- Dry skin and hair and brittle nails
- Swelling around the area of salivary glands
- Fine hair on the body (lanugo)
- Cavities, or discoloration of teeth, from vomiting
- Muscle weakness
- Yellow skin (in the context of eating large amounts of carrots)
- Cold, mottled hands and feet or swelling of feet
- Poor wound healing
- Impaired immune functioning
5 Common and most widely occurring types of Eating Disorders
Eating disorders have also been classified as medical illnesses that need medical treatments. Treatment measures for these disorders can be highly effective. If you or anybody you know suffers from these conditions, you must seek professional medical help immediately.
Anorexia Nervosa
This is perhaps the most widely known eating disorder. It primarily affects women and develops during young adulthood or adolescence. However, men can also be victims.
This is a common type of eating disorder. People suffering from this condition have an obsessive fear of gaining weight. Their perception of their body weight tends to be unrealistic as they refuse to keep their weights at a healthy level.
Anorexia nervosa victims always believe that they are overweight when they are underweight already. They fiercely eat too little food. The consequences of being anorexic are detrimental, including multi-organ failure, brain damage, infertility, heart problems, and bone loss. There is a high risk of death for people suffering from anorexia nervosa.
Patients with anorexia tend to consider themselves overweight when they’re dangerously thin. They continuously examine their body weight, avoid particular foods, and excessively limit their calorie intake.
This eating disorder is hazardous to the body. Gradually, patients will experience bone thinning, brittle nails and hair, infertility, and in severe cases, it can result in brain, heart, multi-organ failure, and possible death. Homeopathic Remedies for Eating Disorders are very effective in the treatment of Anorexia.
Binge Eating
This disorder is characterized by being out of control in eating. But unlike bulimia nervosa, binge eaters do not purge, exercise excessively, or take diuretics or laxatives after overeating. That’s why binge eaters tend to be obese. Because of excessive body weight, people suffering from binge eating may also develop cardiovascular disease.
Those struggling with this disease may also suffer from distress, guilt, and embarrassment over their excessive eating, worsening their eating habit disorder.
This is also quite common, particularly in the US. This eating disorder also begins in young adulthood or adolescence but can develop at later stages.
Patients typically eat massive amounts of food in a shorter period and tend to lose control while binge eating. However, patients do not resort to purging behaviors like excessive exercise or vomiting to compensate for binge eating. They also do not limit their calorie intake.
Patients inflicted with this eating disorder are generally obese or overweight. This can lead to medical conditions linked with excessive body weight, such as type 2 diabetes, stroke, and heart disease. The good news is that Homeopathy for Eating Disorders is highly effective and usually cures those patients once and forever.
Bulimia Nervosa
This is another highly prevalent eating disorder. Like anorexia, it starts around young adulthood or adolescence and is less prevalent among men. People who suffer from this disorder consume a massive amount of food in a particular time.
Bulimia Nervosa is another rare eating disorder. Its symptoms include eating large amounts of food (binge eating) and compensating for it by forcing vomiting. To upset their binge eating, bulimics may exercise excessively or take large amounts of diuretics or laxatives.
Bulimic men and women are severely unhappy about their body weight and appearance. They fear gaining weight as well. Bulimics’ tendency to binge and purge is typically done in secret, which results in them feeling guilty, shameful, and out of control. The injuring effects of bulimia are severe hydration, gastrointestinal problems, and electrolyte imbalance that may lead to heart difficulties.
Every eating episode continues until the inflicted person is dangerously full. While binging, the patient cannot control or stop eating. Binge episodes can occur with various types of food but are typically associated with items the patient would generally avoid.
Bulimia sufferers will then try to compensate for their binge by attempting to purge. Purging behaviors include excessive exercise, enemas, diuretics, laxatives, fasting, and vomiting.
Bulimia can often include sore and inflamed throat, hormonal disturbances, severe dehydration, gut irritation, acid reflux, tooth decay, worn-out tooth enamel, and swollen salivary glands.
In extreme conditions, this eating disorder can cause an imbalance in electrolyte levels, such as calcium, potassium, and sodium. It can result in a heart attack or stroke. Can Homeopathic remedies for Eating Disorders be used for the treatment of Bulimia? The answer is YES.
Pica
This eating disorder involves consuming things that aren’t food items. People suffering from Pica experiences a craving for non-food items such as corn starch, detergent, pebbles, wool, cloth, hair, paper, soap, chalk, soil, dirt, and ice, among others. Pica can originate among children, adolescents, and adults alike. However, it is most prevalent among pregnant women, youngsters, and people with mental disorders.
Pica sufferers have high risks of nutritional deficiencies, poisoning, and gut injuries. If the consumed substances are dangerous, Pica can lead to fatal consequences.
It is crucial to note that for an eating disorder to be labeled pica, the consumed item should not be a part of the patient’s religion or culture. Additionally, it shouldn’t be a socially acceptable practice. Holistic medicine recommends clinical hypnosis for Pica’s patients; however, Homeopathic Remedies for Eating Disorders are also effective since they work on a deep level of the patient’s constitution.
Rumination Disorder
This is a newly discovered eating disorder. In this condition, the patient tends to regurgitate food they had chewed and swallowed previously, chew it again, and then spit it out or re-swallow again. The rumination episode lasts about thirty minutes after every meal. This condition is voluntary, unlike reflux.
This condition can occur at any stage in adulthood, adolescence, or childhood. In infants, this eating disorder generally occurs between 3-12 months of age but also typically goes away. However, adults and children suffering from this condition require therapy to deal with it.
Among infants, if it’s not resolved, it can lead to weight loss and severe malnutrition, which can cause fatal consequences.
Adults suffering from this eating disorder tend to limit their food intake, particularly in public. This can cause significant and unwanted weight loss.
Natural treatment for eating disorders
Natural treatment for an eating disorder is one of the best treatments for binge eating disorder, a type of eating disorder. Natural treatment for an eating disorder is inexpensive and easy to access. Listed below are natural treatments for eating disorders
Acupuncture for eating disorders – traditional Chinese natural treatment for eating disorders
Acupuncture for eating disorders is a form of traditional Chinese medicine. An acupuncturist inserts fine, sterile needles into specific points in your body. The goal of acupuncture for eating disorders is to improve your overall health. Research shows that incorporating several sessions of acupuncture alongside existing eating disorders treatments can significantly improve the following symptoms:
- Symptoms of depression
- Physical health
- Mental health
- Sense of control and social support
Some people prefer acupuncture for eating disorders because it’s a drug-free treatment.
Massage therapy for eating disorders – helpful natural treatment for eating disorders
Massage therapy is one of the best natural treatments for binge eating disorders that can increase serotonin and dopamine levels. It also decreases levels of depression, anxiety, and stress.
Listed below are the benefits of massage therapy for eating disorders:
- Lower stress hormones
- Decreases in body dissatisfaction
- Increased dopamine and norepinephrine levels
- Other relaxation therapies, such as aromatherapy or meditation, may also have similar benefits. One study found that mindful meditation can:
- Reduce emotionally and binge eating
- Increase self-acceptance
- Improve awareness of your body’s hunger cues
- Help with anxiety, addiction, and pain management
Hypnosis for eating disorders – one of the most effective natural treatments for eating disorders
Hypnosis is a very effective binge eating disorder treatment, and this method is helpful for those who struggle with overeating in a short period. Often referred to as ‘binge-eating,’ this involves eating until you feel uncomfortable or painfully full. For some people, it can feel like a compulsion to keep eating or as though they cannot stop until all the food on their plate is gone.
Uncovering past events that may have triggered or influenced your relationship with food may be done through hypnosis for eating disorders.
Hypnosis for eating disorders can be a helpful tool for many, especially if other approaches fail to work. Still, discussing all treatments you’re trying with your doctor or mental health team is essential. Hypnotherapists may work alongside others within your team to ensure no conflicts in your treatment approach.
While in a state of hypnosis for eating disorders, your subconscious mind welcomes suggestions, which can be used to change your perceptions, sensations, emotions, and behavior. Therapeutic hypnosis for eating disorders is beneficial for one’s health, outlook, and well-being. It is different from hypnosis done on stage by entertainers. Even if you are open to ideas and proposals while on therapeutic hypnosis, your discretion and free will remain intact, and you still have control over your reactions and behavior.
Hypnosis for eating disorders aims to gain control over unpleasant emotions and behaviors or to help cope better against many medical conditions. It is not a treatment or psychotherapy but rather a procedure done along with specified treatments or therapies to take control of numerous conditions.
Homeopathy – Safe and Powerful natural treatment for eating disorders
Homeopathy for Eating Disorders is safe and effective. This article will discuss all the pros and cons of using Homeopathic Remedies for Eating Disorders. Eating disorders have become rampant these days. However, many are still unaware of its deadly consequences and the complex factors contributing to these disorders. Eating disorders are often misunderstood as just related to food, but in reality, they’re complex conditions that require professional medical intervention.
About 30 million of the US population experienced eating disorders at some point. Of this, 10 million were men, busting the myth that it only affects women.
Homeopathy excels in dealing with eating disorders because it considers the individual whole unique. Homeopathic professionals are trained to treat the problem at its root level and prevent the disorder from appearing again. No single remedy will work on every individual with an eating disorder and thus requires a holistic approach that homeopathy excels.
How Homeopathy Can Help?
As mentioned above, eating disorders are complex conditions requiring a complete patient examination. Homeopathy targets not just the eating disorder symptoms but the whole person. Homeopathic remedies try to understand why the problem exists in the first place. Homeopaths try to understand whether the disorder arises from psychological, genetic, or emotional trauma and imbalance.
Homeopathic Remedies for Eating Disorders work vigorously to balance the patient’s entire system. Homeopathy for Eating Disorders does not target just the symptoms, but creating equilibrium can have a dramatically positive effect on the patient.
When a state of balance is achieved in the patient, the compulsion to binge eat, starving, and the delusion of distorted body image begins to evaporate. Gradually, the patient will experience a complete transformation from a deteriorating state of illness.
The critical difference between homeopathy and conventional medicine is that Homeopathy for Eating Disorders removes the problem from the root, not just suppressing the symptoms. Homeopathy professionals ensure that the disorder never resurfaces again. Combining counseling with homeopathic remedies, healing is more lasting and profound.
Homeopathic doctors are involved in creating a complete picture of the eating disorder. After an intensive examination and counseling, the most suitable homeopathic remedies match the patient’s condition. Remember that eating disorders are very deep-rooted; the source can sometimes be from birth, so healing can take some time.
Patients will see noticeable changes at the onset of the treatment. However, monthly follow-ups are suggested to monitor the patient for long-term healing. Unlike conventional medicine, homeopathic remedies forever provide a safe approach to eating disorders.
Even in clinical trials, the scope of Homeopathic Remedies for Eating Disorders is very effective. Since homeopathic remedies are tailored for everyone, the effects can be profound and long-lasting. Even for anorexia, Homeopathic Remedies for Eating Disorders, such as Arsenicum Album and Sulphur, have shown promising results. Further, the homeopathic remedy Mercurius Solubilis has shown effective outcomes in combatting eating and psychological disorders.
Conclusion
Many people with an eating disorder don’t even realize they are suffering. This makes the condition even more severe. A proper and immediate diagnosis is necessary. It shouldn’t be taken lightly. Eating disorder symptoms might not seem much, but they can potentially lead to deadly consequences and even death.
An eating disorder is very complex and sensitive and needs thorough and complete examination followed by remedies that are specifically tailored for the patient. If every detail of the patient is not paid attention to, the disorder will resurface again. Homeopathy for Eating Disorders treats the issue at the root level and removes it forever.
Homeopathy for Eating Disorders in Philadelphia
Based on patients’ reviews, the Philadelphia Homeopathic Clinic, directed by the internationally recognized homeopath and medical doctor Victor Tsan, is the #1 homeopathic outpatient facility in the City of Brotherly Love. The clinic is the subdivision of the Nationwide famous Philadelphia Holistic Clinic, located in the Northeast region of Philadelphia.
For Homeopathic treatment for Eating Disorders, contact us at (267) 403-3085 or click the button below and use our online scheduling application.