MedWorm Tags: binge eating

Best of Our Blogs: July 1, 2011

World of Psychology — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 11:10:08 +0100

Once I got to college, I began to love school. The feeling of working hard and then the instant gratification from all that hard work was awesome! One professor told me I’d be a professional student forever. Of course in the real world, you can work as hard as you want and still feel like you haven’t quite made it. And it’s not just your career, but that gnawing, frustrating feeling could also apply to friendships and romantic relationships too. I realized that the formulas that seem to work in school, working hard = A’s, just didn’t have a place in real life. Sometimes you could drive yourself crazy trying to force pieces of a puzzle that just didn’t go together. In the whole process of going to school and finally getting out of it, I realized it was�...

Can You Have Too Much Happiness?

World of Psychology — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 15:25:45 +0100

I can safely say that I think few of us struggle with having too much happiness. We turn to the happiness gurus to help us increase our happiness for a reason — who wouldn’t want to be happier? Pretty much all of us do. For many of us, the pursuit of happiness is not only something we’ve grown up on, it’s something we’ve come to expect as a right. I mean, it’s right there in the Declaration of Independence! But like everything in life, too much of a good thing is a bad thing. This includes the pursuit of happiness. Too much happiness can be just as detrimental in your life as not having enough. That’s the finding anyway of Gruber and her colleagues (2011), in a recent review of the happiness research. Let’s see what they had to say. Too Muc...

Best of Our Blogs: January 21, 2011

World of Psychology — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 11:57:40 +0100

I often wonder how much of the world’s problems can be solved with a little bit of empathy. If you think about your own life and the mini-village it takes to run it, how much would it change if we learned to bring more compassion to ourselves and those in it? Would accepting our own mishaps help heal our own wounds and would listening, really listening to those around us, help them as well? It’s a question worth reflecting on. As we get more busy with stuff (our digital toys, job, family, our own problems), are we missing out on the opportunity to connect with those we love? It’s Friday, the end of another week. As we wind down with another list of our popular posts this week, I hope you take the time to think about compassion, presence, and empathy. Then, I hope you will...

Why Ruminating is Unhealthy and How to Stop

World of Psychology — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 12:06:31 +0100

Ruminating is like a record that’s stuck and keeps repeating the same lyrics. It’s replaying an argument with a friend in your mind. It’s retracing past mistakes. When people ruminate, they over-think or obsess about situations or life events, such as work or relationships. Research has shown that rumination is associated with a variety of negative consequences, including depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, binge-drinking and binge-eating. Why does rumination lead to such harmful results? For some people, drinking or binge-eating becomes a way to cope with life and drown out their ruminations, according to Susan Nolen-Hoeksema, Ph.D, a psychologist and professor at Yale University. Not surprisingly, ruminating conjures up more negative thoughts. It becomes a cycle. ...

Pfizer Sued Over Pill For Sex & Gambling Addictions

Pharmalot — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 13:04:24 +0100

More than 100 people who claim they developed gambling and pornography habits after taking drugs used to treat tremors caused by Parkinson’s disease have filed a class-action lawsuitin Australia against Pfizer as well as Aspen Pharmacare, The Sydney Morning Herald reports. Some of the plaintiffs claim they lost hundreds of thousands of dollars and suffered family breakdowns thanks to the compulsive behavior allegedly linked to the pills. Most developed gambling addictions but a few exhibited compulsive sexual behaviour such as looking at pornography on the Internet, the paper continues. The lawsuit claims Pfizer, which sold Cabaser, and Aspen, which sold Permax, failed to provide adequate warnings of increased risk of compulsive disorders. This is by no means the first time such liti...

Which Drugs Are Linked To Compulsive Behaviors?

Pharmalot — Mon, 10 May 2010 22:06:44 +0100

A study of more than 3,000 Parkinson’s disease patients confirms earlier findings that those given GlaxoSmithKline’s Requip or Boehringer Ingelheim’s Mirapex were more likely to develop impulse control disorders, such as pathological gambling, compulsive shopping, compulsive sex or binge eating, according to a report in the Archives of Neurology (see the abstract). The disorders were identified in 13.6 percent of patients, including gambling in 5 percent, compulsive sexual behavior in 3.5 percent, compulsive buying in 5.7 percent, binge eating in 4.3 percent and two or more disorders in 3.9 percent. The disorders were more common in individuals taking the drugs, known as dopamine agonists, compared with patients who were not 17.1 percent vs. 6.9 percent. There have been l...

National Eating Disorders Awareness Week 2010

World of Psychology — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 21:31:57 +0100

Eating disorders affect five times as many people as schizophrenia, and twice as many people who have Alzheimer’s disease. And yet Alzheimer’s and schizophrenia regularly make the news and research headlines, while eating disorders are relegated to the equivalent of the back pages of the public’s interest in mental health. Sadly, eating disorders receive significantly less research funding than either schizophrenia or Alzheimer’s, for no good reason. People with an eating disorder no more “ask for it” than someone “asks” for schizophrenia. Yet schizophrenia received $350 million in research funding in 2005, while eating disorders received less than 10 percent of that amount. We clearly have a lot of work to do. Somewhere between 3 to 4 percen...

Anorexia Nervosa

Inside Surgery — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 23:38:05 +0100

Pathophysiology severe disturbance of caloric intake with refusal to maintain an adequate body weight Signs and Symptoms 1) self-starvation and over concern with body weight and shape 2) binge eating and purging 3) weight < 85% of normal 4) fear that weight will get out of control with even small caloric intake 5) distorted body image (patients see themselves as fat even when emaciated) 6) lack of menses 7) acrocyanosis of digits cold intolerance 9) hypothermia 10) self-induced vomiting 11) decreased cardiac output 12) cardiac failure 13) bradycardia 14) enlarged salivary glands 15) dental erosion 16) edema 17) lanugo (soft downy hair on body) 18) onset usually in mid to late adolescence Characteristic Test Findings Laboratory – 1) hypoglycemia 2) decreased estrogen 3) increased T4 ...

A Review of the DSM-5 Draft

World of Psychology — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 21:22:23 +0100

The new DSM-5 draft is out (and it appears the APA is finally dropping the silly roman numeral designations). Analysis is starting to pour in from around the country about the ramifications of the new diagnoses and proposed changes. To start with, however, I want to congratulate the American Psychiatric Association for reaching this milestone and embracing the ability for the public to comment on the proposed changes. We first called for such an option back in December of last year and it appears somebody at the APA was listening. Kudos for being willing to take the barrage of criticism that is coming your way, APA. However, we wish it was an open commentary model, where the comments appears online for all to read (it appears to be a closed model, where your comments disappear into cybers...

Group Therapy for Binge Eating

World of Psychology — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 17:30:45 +0100

Binge eating disorder is characterized by a person having frequent episodes of eating what others would consider an abnormally large amount of food, while at the same time feeling out of control — the personal feels like they are unable to control what or how much is being eaten. According to government statistics, people with binge eating disorder are considered clinically obese, but plenty of people can engage in binge eating while maintaining an average or less-than-obese weight. Binge eating disorder probably affects 2 to 3 percent of all adults. People with a binge eating problem often experience: Eating much more rapidly than usual. Eating until uncomfortably full. Eating large amounts of food, even when not physically hungry. Eating alone out of embarrassment at the quantity ...

Overcome the Guilt of Overeating

Balanced Health and Nutrition Rebecca Scritchfield's Blog — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 03:45:55 +0100

I’m sure nearly everyone trying to manage their weight feels guilty when they overeat. There’s a reason they call it “stuffed.” It doesn’t feel good being bloated, especially after some time of eating reasonable portions and re-training the stomach to understand what a comfortable, full feels like. My mom had a magnet on our refrigerator that said “a moment on the lips, a lifetime on the hips!” Of course, there was a picture of a pig eating a piece of coconut cream pie on it. (Lest you think I come from a family of skinny-minnies, quite the contrary. Most adult women in my family weigh in the 200-300 pound range). As a nutrition expert who works with emotional eating, eating disorders, and weight management I honestly think that magnet should say “a moment on the lips, a li...

Perfectionism as Situation for Binge Eating

The Situationist — Sun, 17 May 2009 04:23:13 +0100

Last month, ScienceDaily had a helpful review of recent research revealing how perfectionism can contribute to eating disorders. Here are some excerpts. * * * In everyday life, someone who takes a perfectionist’s approach to activities might be admired or even rewarded with a pat on the back. These attitudes are tied to a commonly held, but mistaken, belief that perfectionism will ultimately produce achievement and social success. But a psychologist warns that perfectionism is not a healthy, or even effective, approach to life’s challenges. “Perfectionism is a double-edged personality trait,” says Simon Sherry, assistant professor of psychology. A newly-published study shows why individuals with a high degree of perfectionism are often setting themselves up for a host of physical, ...

Making The Same Mistakes

Diabetes Daily — Mon, 04 May 2009 23:17:58 +0100

I've been wresting with myself the past few days.I did something I knew very well I shouldn't. In fact I did it three times. And each time I was miserable and scared afterward. And once I was done being scared I felt guilty.Mistakes in life happen, and are necessary. We need to make mistakes in order to learn. We are supposed to learn from our mistakes, and then not repeat... (Source: Diabetes Daily)

Drug for Cocaine Addicts Causes Weight Loss

Addiction Inbox — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 17:17:00 +0100

Is Vigabatrin the next big diet pill?The U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory announced that obese rats lost weight on the experimental anti-cocaine drug vigabatrin, reinforcing the idea that certain forms of obesity--particularly binge eating--result from the same kinds of neurotransmitter disturbances that underlie vulnerability to addictive drugs like cocaine.Amy DeMarco, lead author of the study, said in a press release from Brookhaven that the results "appear to demonstrate that vigabatrin induced satiety in these animals."Earlier, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had given Fast Track designation to vigabatrin, an anticonvulsant, for evaluation as an anti-craving drug for cocaine and methamphetamine addiction. If successful, it would be the first medic...

The Biggest…Trigger

bipolar chicks blogging — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 05:59:50 +0100

Yeah, I’ve been watching. The Biggest Loser. *disclaimer…the show is ok…the site…could be anorexic trigger or relapse city* I was thinking: “Is this bad for me? They’re on a scale, they count calories…work out like maniacs….weight loss as a competition….oh_my_gawd” I’m not going to get into how “their weeks probaby really aren’t weeks…training time, water consumption, etc” that is not what this post is about. Like I said, “Is this bad for me to be watching? If so, how bad?” I actually didn’t have much of a choice. A certain relative had become hooked on this show during the writers’ strike. So hooked, he took it upon himself to invite himself over for his “weekly big, hom...

At last: an explanation how stress causes obesity

The Doctor Weighs In — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 03:21:24 +0100

By Dov Michaeli MD, Ph.DIt is a well-known phenomenon: people under stress hit the fridge, and gorge on candy and fatty food. A gallon of ice scream in one sitting is not unheard of. But people who think deeply about such things asked themselves: why don’t they (people under stress) gorge on veggies? And what is the nature of the connection between stress and obesity? Is it simply overeating equalsobesity, or is there a deeper connection, involving the brain? After all, stress is a mind thing.The physiology of acute stress Almost every physiological action in our body is controlled by two systems: the autonomic nervous system, and the endocrine system. The autonomic nervous system has this name because it is, well, autonomic: it marches to its own drum, if you will, independently of ...

Thanksgiving meal over—are you still OK?

The Doctor Weighs In — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 21:51:04 +0100

By Dov Michaeli MD, Ph.DPhew…that was something. We ate and we ate, and drank and drank—I thought we are going to burst. Literally. I hope everybody in our Thanksgiving party (over 30 people) survived intact. Being a doctor, and a worrier, the thoughts of what could go wrong were never quite banished by the pleasures of gluttony. What dangers were going through my mind?The burst stomachHave you ever seen a snake swallowing a whole turkey? You can actually see the poor creature traveling through the long intestines of the tubular glutton. Well, a burst stomach is extremely rare, and happens only in rare conditions where the brain center controlling hunger and satiety is malfunctioning. Normal stomach capacity is about 8 cups, although it can range form 4 to 12, according to Dr....

Diabulimia - underdosing on insulin - a dangerous way to lose weight

The Doctor Weighs In — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 22:59:41 +0100

by Pat SalberI was pretty shocked when I first heard about diabulemia. This is a practice some teens and young women with Type 1 diabetes, are using in order to lose weight. They purposely underdose their insulin allowing their blood glucoses to skyrocket. The excess blood glucose is eliminated in the urine. “Traditional” bulimics purge excess calories by forcing themselves to vomit. Diabulimics purge excess calories by underdosing on insulin and peeing out unmetabolized glucose.Girls and young women with diabulimia will tell you they feel really crummy as their glucose levels increase and they increasingly rely on metabolizing fatty acids for energy instead of glucose. The end result of underdosing insulin is a state known as diabetic ketoacidosis, that is characterized b...

Binge eating: my brain made me do it.

The Doctor Weighs In — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 01:37:47 +0100

By Dov Michaeli MD, Ph.DHave you ever wondered why do people reach for food, any food, when they are under stress? With most people, this stress reaction is mild and episodic. But in others, it is extreme and frequent; they can consume 6, 7, 8 thousand calories in a single day. This syndrome of binge eating has attracted much attention among psychologists for a long time; and now neurobiologists have taken notice as well.What’s going on?I remember from my marathon racing days that at about 18-20 miles I would hit a psychological low. I would be dragging my feet, having lost my motivation to make a new personal best, struggling with my rationalizations that I should just quit, even vowing to myself to never again engage in this idiotic effort. But then I would pop something sweet (cal...