It can be accurately diagnosed and treated. If untreated, the bulimic person will feel an increasingly intense compulsion to binge and then purge. Abuse of laxatives and diuretics is common in bulimia. Bulimic people often experience dramatic swelling of the salivary glands, which leads to enlarged cheeks. Teeth darken, and the esophagus can become irritated and in fact burst.
Ulcers are common.
There may be rupture of the large or small intestine. Each of these effects can kill you. The majority of people who have these disorders began feeling their effects before they got to college. Normally they begin as teenagers, though the age range is growing, so that even girls as young as five or six are being treated for these disorders, which is in part attributable to what is being called second-generation anorexia, so that these youngsters are copying their own mother's behavior. However, the loneliness and anxiety that accompany leaving home can be a trigger for anorexia and bulimia.