There are two main types of eating disorders, anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. Anorexia nervosa is a type of eating disorder where a person restricts their calorie intake …show more content…
People who have eating disorders often die from heart attacks, organ failure, or suffer other consequences related to malnutrition. In the case of an anorexia sufferer, he or she may develop muscle weakness, bone frailty, slowed heart rate, low blood pressure, and so on. These ailments develop because the body is being starved and losing valuable nutrients that help keep the body functioning regularly. A person cannot expect a car to run without gasoline, so how can they expect a body to run without food? Food is the gasoline of the human body. Without it, the body is forced to run on empty. Like anorexia patients, bulimia patients also have their fair share of health consequences. They can develop an electrolyte imbalance caused by dehydration from purging. They have an increased potential for gastric rupture when they are going through their binging periods. They can develop peptic ulcers and pancreatitis and many other horrible side effects. These side effects are the reason that so many people are dying from eating disorders. The Standardized Mortality Rate (SMR) for anorexia is 5.86 and the SMR for bulimia is 1.93 (“Eating Disorder Statistics”). Contrary to what some individuals believe, eating disorders are not just a fad or phase. They are a serious mental illness that have an elevated potential for being