Eating disorders like Anorexia and Bulimia are commonly perceived as diseases effecting teens. With anorexia, the disorder may begin quite simply with a diet. Bulimia involves binging and purging, either through vomiting or laxatives -- with getting thin as the goal.
Medical centres in Australia and USA are now recording a dramatically increased occurrence of the disease in women in their 40’s and 50’s. This might be because of un-realistic body expectations from women taking celebrities like Madonna, Nicole Kidman and the ladies of desperate housewives as their role models.
It is even worse in women in their middle age because the body is less forgiving and thinks any kind of food deprivation is starvation. There are also the complications if osteoporosis which will be more predominant in middle aged women. It gives them a sense of achievement in a period in their life when they might be either bored or frustrated with their situation. They relate looking good to being slim and an end to all their troubles. It can sometimes go to a point where they never find themselves perfect as they never see themselves as slim though their body weight has dipped to unhealthy levels.
However, certain inherited traits seem to make some women more vulnerable to eating disorders, explains Walter H. Kaye, MD, professor of psychiatry at University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. Kaye is compiling an international study of women with eating disorders to determine whether a gene or genes might predispose some to develop anorexia.
The signs to look for in family members where they might be suffering from an eating disorder can be depression and a gradual weight loss. Some other signs are women who are extremely slim still worrying about their butt looking big or comments on how fat they are, Lack of appetite, going into the bathroom and throwing up after meals on a frequent basis, Support for women with eating disorders can be found at these websites
http://www.reachout.com.au/
www.eatingdisorders.org.au