Frequency of physician visits for GI complaints by anorexic and bulimic patients.

TO THE EDITOR: It comes as no surprise that anorexics and bulimics suffer from a variety of upper and lower GI ailments as a result of their pathological behaviors. Studies have shown that about one-third of bulimics have esophageal inflammation or erosions on endoscopy (1), and two-thirds of bulimics show abnormalities in esophageal motility (2). Other work has demonstrated that most anorexics suffer from abnormal gastric emptying of solids (3) and prolonged small intestinal transit time (4). Anorexics and bulimics who surreptitiously abuse laxatives show a plethora of physical and endoscopic findings including colonic dilation, hypokalemia, rebound edema after diuretic discontinuation, and Melanosis coli (5).