Bulimia Flashcards
What is bulimia nervosa?
Eating disorder where people go through periods where they eat a lot of food in a short period of time (binge eating) and then purge as a compensatory behaviour to stop
What are methods of purging in bulimia nervosa?
Self-inducing vomiting
Using laxatives
Using diuretics
Fasting
Doing excessive excercise
What are the signs and symptoms of bulimia? (14)
- Usually at or above normal body weight
- Self-induced vomiting
- Excessive exercise
- Excessive fasting
- Inappropriate use of laxatives or diuretics
- Anxiety
- Preoccupation with food/weight/body shape
- Russell’s sign
- Enlargement of parotid glands
- Teeth discolouration
What Russell’s sign?
Calluses on the knuckles or the back of the hand due to repeated self-induced vomiting
What diagnostic tool can be used to diagnose eating disorders?
SCOFF questionaire
What is the SCOFF questtionaire?
S- Do you make yourself SICK because you feel uncomfortably full
C- Do you worry that you have lost CONTROL over how much you eat?
O- Have you recently lost more than ONE stone
F- Do you believe to be FAT when others say otherwise?
F- Would you say that FOOD dominates your life?
What should healthcare professionals be wary of when potentially diagnosing eating disorders?
SCOFF questionaire and other screening tools should not be the sole method to determine if someone has an eating disorder
People do not have to be underweight to have an eating disorder
What are the short term physical treatment for bulimia?
Oral rehydration solutions
What is ORT and how is it given?
Oral rehydration therapy
Mix of Na+, glucose, K+ and water which treats dehydration and and electrolyte imbalance
Taken by mouth but also nasogastric tube for continual administration
What effect does ORT have at the intestinal epithelium?
- Na+ and glucose moves through Na+ glucose transport protein
- Na+ moves into the epithelial cell by passive diffusion as there is lower conc of Na+ in the epithelium cells than the lumen
- Glucose moves by active transport against conc gradient as lower conc gradient in epithelial cell than lumen
- Energy created from passive movement of Na+ creates energy to transport glucose
- Na+ pumped into blood via Na+/K+ ATPase pump
- Glucose moves into blood by passive diffusion
Where may someone be taken if severely ill with bulimia nervosa?
Short stay unit
For patients requiring hospitalisation until their clinical needs are resolved
What does each part of the normal ECG show?
P wave: atrial depolarising beginning contraction of the atria
PR: atrial depolarisation completed
QRS: ventricular depolarisation begins, atria repolarisation
ST: ventricular depolarisation completing
T wave: ventricular wave
U wave: ventricular repolarisation
What is QT prolongation show?
Slow rate of repolarisation of ventricular myocytes
Hypokalaemia inhibits the conductance of the slow rectifier
K+ channel repsonsible for speeding up the repolarisation of the ventricular myocytes
What does prominent U waves show?
Hypokalaemia causes increase depolarisation of the heart which increases the repolarisation of the purkinje fibres
What is hypokalaemia?
Metabolic imbalance characterised by very low potassium levels in the blood. Can be due to disease or side effect of diuretic drugs
What is hyponatremia? causes?
Low sodium levels in the blood
Caused by hypovolaemia from fluid loss, diuretic use and vomiting
Low serum Na+ means Na+ will move by osmosis due to water potential gradient
What is hypochloremia? causes?
Low chlorine levels
Caused by loss of gastric juices - vomiting, diuretics, metabolic disease, metabolic alkalosis
What causes elevated serum urea?
misuse of diuretics and severe dehydration
Urinary potassium : creatinine ratio meaning if elevated?
Greater than 2.5 suggests renal potassium wasting =
- Too many loop diuretics/barters syndrome
> increased sodium excretion in the urine which stimulates aldosterone release from adrenal
> stimulates kidneys to excrete more potassium
> potassium wasting