There are serious health consequences to having an eating disorder. An eating disorder is a condition that you should not simply dismiss as something that is not serious. If you do not seek early treatment, it can affect your entire self-image but also cause a deteoriation to the functioning of your organs. In the worst case scenario, eating disorders can cause complications that are life threatening.

You need to consult your doctor right away if you suspect that you are suffering from an eating disorder. Know the facts so that you can work towards eating disorder prevention. Here are some of the most common health consequences that you expose to with an eating disorder:

1.Anorexia. In your quest to being thin, you deny your body of important food and nutrients. When you stop eating, your body grows weak and its natural processes slow down as it tries to conserve energy. You will grow weak and lose muscle and bone density. If you allow this to continue over an extended period of time, you may end up with several serious health complications.

Your heart rate also starts to slow down and you suffer from low blood pressure. You may also get kidney failure if your body is dehydrated long enough.

Physically, you would see dry hair, dull skin, and hair loss. You may also start to grow fine hair over your entire body because your body is trying to maintain a steady temperature. You also become easily fatigued, prone to fainting and feel generally weak all over.

2. Bulimia. If you are bulimic, then you are engaging in a cycle of binging and purging. This cycle is unhealthy. Your binging and purging sessions will lead to chemical and electrolyte imbalances. This can have vast consequences on the health of your heart and other vital organs.

You can get irregular heartbeats and heart failure because of imbalances. Since you are suffering from dehydration and the loss of potassium and sodium, you can end up with gastric rupture and other serious digestive problems.

You may also rupture your esophagus because of your repeated vomiting. You will also have dental problems including serious tooth decay because of the stomach acids that you are frequently vomiting.

With poor digestion, you can also suffer from irregular bowel movements and constipation. Bowel difficulty can affect other aspects of your health when you are unable to clear waste material from your body properly.

3. Binge Eating. If you are a binge eater, then you would find it difficult to control your portion size and the type of food you eat. You have no awareness that you should stop eating when it is time to do so and often eat beyond your requirements. Although you often feel sick from over eating afterwards, you simply find it hard to stop your habits.

The problem also lies when you eat large amounts of unhealthy foods such as fast foods. Such foods are toxic to your body. They put you at risk of high cholesterol, high blood pressure, clinical obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and gallbladder disease. You also end up feeling depressed. Overall, the state of your health and well being drops drastically.