Anorexia Nervosa is a disorder where the main characteristic is the restriction of food and the refusal to maintain a minimal normal body weight. Most Anorexics lose weight by restricting their food intake. Anorexics may start by limiting or excluding foods that they perceive as having high fat or caloric content.
Once the disorder of Anorexia Nervosa takes hold, the individual usually ends up with an extremely restrictive diet that is sometimes limited to only a small number of foods. Additional methods of weight loss for Anorexics can include vomiting, laxative abuse, diuretic abuse, insulin abuse, chew-spitting, and excessive exercise.
For individuals suffering from Anorexia Nervosa, any actual gain or even perceived gain of weight is met with intense fear of becoming fat. With Anorexia Nervosa, weight loss usually does not lessen the fear, and in fact, the fear often increases following the weight loss. Not only is there a true feeling of fear, but also once in the grasp of the disorder, Anorexics experience body image distortions. Most individuals suffering from Anorexia have an overall feeling of being overweight.
Some Anorexics have an understanding that they are thin, but are concerned that parts of their bodies are fat. Those areas of the body usually representing maturity or sexuality including the buttocks, hips, thighs, and breasts are visualized by the Anorexic as being fat. An individual with Anorexia Nervosa will often obsessively check their body size and weight through frequent weighing, measuring, pinching, and viewing themselves in a mirror.
With Anorexia self-esteem and self worth is tied directly to the Anorexic's body shape and weight. For an Anorexic, weight loss is viewed as a success, a sign of extraordinary self-discipline, and control over life. It may be that some people have a genetic tendency toward perfectionism, sensitivity and perseverance, all traits associated with anorexia. There's also some evidence that serotonin — one of the brain chemicals involved in depression — may play a role in anorexia. Modern Western culture often cultivates and reinforces a desire for thinness. The media are splashed with images of waif-like models and actors. Success and worth are often equated with being thin. Peer pressure may fuel the desire to be thin, particularly among young girls. Any real or perceived weight gain is seen as a personal failure and loss of control for the Anorexic.
For some female Anorexics, weight loss is so severe there is a loss of menstruation. Medical complications for individuals with Anorexia Nervosa can be severe and even life threatening. Some of the more common potential medical complications include emaciation, bradycardia (abnormally slow heart rate), hypotension (abnormally low blood pressure), hypothermia (subnormal body temperature), impaired kidney functioning and gastrointestinal problems. If Anorexia Nervosa is left untreated, it can be fatal.
Some people with anorexia lose weight mainly through severely restricting the amount of food they eat. They may also try to lose weight by exercising excessively. Others with anorexia engage in binging and purging, similar to bulimia. They control calorie intake by vomiting after eating or by misusing laxatives, diuretics or enemas.
No matter how weight loss is achieved, anorexia has a number of physical, emotional and behavioral signs and symptoms.
Physical anorexia symptoms:
• Extreme weight loss
Emotional and behavioral anorexia symptoms
• Refusal to eat
Anorexia red flags to watch for
• Skipping meals