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Are you feeling out of control with food or restricting your food in a significant way? You might be curious if there is a blood test for eating disorders that can tell you if you’re sick enough to seek treatment.
You might also be wondering if there are genetic markers that might make you more likely to develop an eating disorder.
Blood tests for anorexia and bulimia can tell you:
- If there are micronutrient deficiencies
- If starvation syndrome is impacting your organs
- What level of care is appropriate for your eating disorder
- If there is a risk for refeeding syndrome in weight restoration
Nutrition related labs for eating disorders can be one small part in the assessment and treatment of people with eating disorders.
This article goes through when you should get a blood test if you have an eating disorder, the most common blood tests done in eating disorder treatment and recovery, and how to correct abnormal labs in eating disorders.
Should I Get A Blood Test If I Have An Eating Disorder
If you have an eating disorder, it is always a good idea to get a blood test. However, it is very unlikely that labs will be “off” if you have an eating disorder.
Most people will not have lab abnormalities until the end stages of an eating disorder. Some people will never show lab abnormalities, even as their organs are not functioning properly from an eating disorder.
Eating disorder related lab values can help you to determine:
- Electrolyte abnormalities
- Kidney function
- Liver function
- Micronutrient deficiencies
- Cardiac risks
However, it is critical to know that you can still have ALL of the above risks associated with an eating disorder even if your labs are all within normal limits.
Common Blood Tests For Eating Disorders
Some of the most common blood tests that are recommended for a person with an eating disorder include:
- Complete metabolic panel
- Lipid panel
- Complete blood count
- Thyroid testing
- Magnesium testing
What Can A Blood Test Tell Me About My ED
A blood test is just one piece of the puzzle when determining the severity of an eating disorder. It can also keep you safe as you begin to re-nourish in recovery.
However, for many people a blood test might tell you nothing at all about the severity of an eating disorder. You should NOT conclude that you do not have an eating disorder or that your eating disorder is not at a dangerous level just because all lab values are within normal limits.
Often lab values in eating disorders are the very last thing to change in an eating disorder. For many people with a life threatening eating disorder, lab values will never be out of normal ranges.
Lab values related to eating disorders can give you information about:
- Micronutrient deficiencies related to malnutrition
- Loss of lean body mass
- If kidneys are impaired because of an eating disorder
- If electrolytes are out of balance because of purging behavior, malnutrition, or overhydration
- If there are shifts in electrolyte balances during refeeding which can be life threatening
- If your body is healing after an eating disorder
Lab Abnormalities In Anorexia
Here are a list of biomarkers that might off and why in anorexia:
- Low blood glucose (indicating missed meals or starvation)
- High chloride (indicating kidney insufficiency or acidosis from starvation)
- High serum magnesium (indicating dehydration, magnesium containing laxative abuse)
- BUN (indicating malnutrition or fluid loading)
- Low white blood cell count (infection or malnutrition)
- High or low creatinine (dehydration, low protein diets, starvation)
- Low hemoglobin (nutrition related anemia)
- Low or high total calcium (loss of bone mineral density)
- Low or high TSH, t3 and t4 (indicating thyroid function decline)
- High B12 (kidney insufficiency)
Lab Abnormalities in Bulimia
Here are a list of biomarkers that might off and why in bulimia:
- Low or high sodium (indicating dehydration, laxative abuse, or purging)
- Low or high potassium (Indicating dehydration, laxative abuse, or purging)
- Low serum magnesium (laxative abuse that does not contain magnesium)
- Low Chloride (vomiting, or diuretic use)
- High blood glucose (diuretic use)
With a bulimia diagnosis, a person can be restricting food in addition to purging. Abnormal lab values seen in anorexia are also commonly seen in people with bulimia.
5 Things To Know About Abnormal Labs In Eating Disorders
- Abnormal lab values can occur in people with a normal weight, overweight, or obese BMI
- Lab values might be abnormal even if no weight loss has occurred for the person with the eating disorder
- Lab values within normal limits does NOT mean your eating disorder is not severe
- For progressed eating disorders, organ damage may be permanent and lab values may never return to normal
- Returning to your usual body weight might not be enough weight regain to make lab values return to normal
Treating Abnormal Labs In Eating Disorders
The only way to permanently correct an abnormal blood test in an eating disorder is to normalize your relationship with food and weight restore. Achieving an overshoot weight goal might also be critical for seeing labs go back to normal.
Treating abnormal labs in eating disorders will require:
- Working with an MD, therapist and eating disorder dietitian regularly
- Following an eating disorder recovery meal plan
- Residential, outpatient, or virtual eating disorder treatment
- Managing medical complications that can occur in recovery
- Using sodium/potassium supplements as you work to reduce purging behavior
- Stopping any compulsive exercise
- Stopping any laxative or diet pill use
Stop purging via self induced vomiting
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