The secret world of mid-life bulimics

It's usually associated with teenage girls but bulimia is also afflicting women overwhelmed by the pressures of modern family life 

By Charlotte Kemp

Source: www.dailymail.co.uk

With her Karen Millen pencil skirt, pretty blouse and two-inch heels, Heather Cooper looks very much the professional.

Every morning, she arrives at her London office immaculately dressed, her blonde hair groomed into a chignon and her nails carefully manicured.

But the truth is, behind her polished exterior, this 45-year-old sales and training manager from Hertfordshire is hiding a self-destructive secret. For Heather is bulimic, caught in a cycle of bingeing and purging which destroyed one long-term relationship and has robbed her of the chance of motherhood. Yet she cannot stop.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2040144/Bulimia-Usually-associated-teenage-girls-afflicting-women-mid-life.html#ixzz1Yd8sA7Ix

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Eating disorders are a struggle, no matter what age you may be.  What can be the difficulties of struggling with bulimia in mid-life as opposed to a adolescent or young adult?

CU research: Bulimic purging alters chemistry within brain

by SARA CASTELLANOS, Staff Writer
Source: www.aurorasentinel.com

Research conducted by psychiatrists at the University of Colorado Hospital shows that bulimia has discernible effects on the brain.

Dr. Guido Frank, psychiatrist and assistant professor in the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Department at Children’s Hospital Colorado found that there is a direct correlation between the number of binge-purge episodes someone has, and the sensitivity of the brain-reward system, which includes the release of dopamines.

“It’s a bit like a drug abuse model,” he said. “When you use the drug for the first time you might get excited over it, but then over a certain time you might become dependent for different reasons, and then the brain responds less to it.”
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If you or someone you know is currently in recovery from bulimia, what have been motivating factors that have encouraged you to seek treatment?