Anorexia Symptoms
Anorexia is very hard to understand. It is not a diet, it’s a disease. Anorexia is a psychiatric disorder; its defining behavior is self starvation. Those with this disorder starve themselves to a state of severe emaciation, or even death. More people die from anorexia each year than any other mental disorder. Anorexia is addictive, once a person starts, it is very difficult to end the behaviors and go back to normal eating. This disorder impacts everything in an individual’s life: work, home, health, and members of the family.
Dieting is a key part of anorexia; and therefore, many of the most common symptoms surround food and dieting. Although a female with anorexia may have experienced a recent weight loss — 15% or more below her normal body weight – she diets constantly and complains that she feels “fat.” It is not unusual for those with anorexia to have an extreme preoccupation with food, calories, nutrition, and/or cooking. She will probably talk about food a lot and weigh herself several times a day.Although a girl or woman with anorexia rarely consumes food, she denies being hungry. Naturally, this is not true at all. When she actually does eat, it is not unusual for her to engage in odd food-related behaviors. These include cutting food into little tiny pieces, only eating one food at a time, or placing unusual condiments on food items. Episodes of binge eating can also occur, simply due to a loss of control. Remember, these individuals are hungry, so when they finally give in and eat, it is sometimes very difficult to stop.
Starvation is extremely taxing on the human body. To make things worse, those afflicted sometimes exercise to an extreme degree. As a result of inadequate nutrition and high levels of exercise, she will probably experience amenorrhea, which means loss of her menstrual period. Strangely, though the hair on her head may become very brittle and fall out, she may undergo unusual hair growth on her arms and legs; basically, this is an effort by the body to make itself warm. Another obvious ramification of malnutrition is dry, flaky skin. Although she may indicate to those around her that she is at the top of the world, depression is often a symptom of anorexia, as is slowness of thought and memory difficulties. This results from the brain’s inability to function without adequate nutrition.
Anorexia is an extremely dangerous disease, and as such, needs to be treated. If you know someone who displays these symptoms, please encourage them to get help. There is a great deal of good information on the internet or in copyrighted articles. Or you can contact Remuda Programs for Eating Disorders at 1-800-445-1900.
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