Pain perception in recovered bulimia nervosa patients.
OBJECTIVE
Decreased pain sensitivity is found in individuals who are ill with bulimia nervosa (BN). The purpose of this study is to determine whether altered pain perception persists after recovery from bulimia nervosa (RBN).


METHODS
Eleven women who were recovered from BN for more than 1 year were compared with 15 healthy volunteer women. The participants received two pain evaluations--thermal pain stimulation (TPS), which evaluates threshold and tolerance to heat, and the submaximal effort tourniquet test (SETT), which assesses threshold and tolerance to ischemic pain induced by inflation of a blood pressure cuff.


RESULTS
Compared with the controls, the RBN women showed elevated pain threshold as measured with the SETT and a tendency to elevated pain threshold on the TPS.


CONCLUSIONS
Decreased pain sensitivity persists after recovery from BN and may reflect altered modulatory function in this illness.
Stein
Daniel
D
Sheba Medical Center, 21Tel Hashomer, Israel.
Kaye
Walter H
WH
Matsunaga
Hisato
H
Myers
Daniel
D
Orbach
Israel
I
Har-Even
Dov
D
Frank
Guido
G
Rao
Rhadika
R
D000328:Adult; D002032:Bulimia / Q000150:complications* / Q000534:rehabilitation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D017288:Pain Threshold; D016896:Treatment Outcome