Anorexia Nervosa - Symptoms and Treatment
Introduction And Definition:
- Anorexia nervosa means going on a diet or not eating to the point that a person loses weight to less than 15% of their ideal weight and is characterized by a pathological fear of gaining weight or a person inaccurately believing that they are overweight and the use of compulsive weight loss rituals .
- Bingeing: It is also called bulimia nervosa or binge eating disorder, which is eating huge amounts of food in a short period of time followed by forced vomiting or excessive use of laxatives, and both disorders usually begin in early or middle adolescence.
- About 90% of women with anorexia nervosa and about 0.7 percent of all women in the United States, for example, have the condition.
- And binge eating is much more common. Studies conducted on female students from high school and university colleges have found that 4.5% to 18% of them suffer from bulimia.
- Like many mental disorders, anorexia and bulimia seem to have genetic causes if they are found to run in certain families.
- Loss of appetite and gluttony may cause many serious complications, including hormonal disorders with the absence of menstruation, osteoporosis and imbalance in the rates of many salts, thus causing a serious disturbance in the heart rate and even death.
Symptoms:
Patients begin to eliminate certain foods from their meals and skip meals and are sometimes obsessed with exercising excessively. They may feel that they look fat, even though they may actually be thin. There may be alternating periods between eating at all and binge eating, and the cycle may stop. monthly.
As their weight drops, their health deteriorates and the skin appears pale and smaller. Other symptoms include brittle nails, hair, constipation, or anemia (anaemia), joint swelling, feeling constantly cold, sores that do not heal, and difficulty concentrating and thinking.
People with binge eating also fear weight gain, but unlike people with anorexia, they often realize that their behavior is abnormal and may become depressed after eating a heavy meal, and the health consequences may be dire, including fatigue, wasting, constipation, bloating, swollen salivary glands, and enamel erosion. Teeth, sore throat as a result of vomiting, excessive use of laxatives may cause a serious loss of fluid and mineral amounts.
Treatment:
Treatment for both disorders works best the sooner it starts. If you suspect that you or someone you know has anorexia or bulimia, seek medical help as soon as possible. Your doctor may recommend hospital admission if your weight is more than 30% less than your ideal weight. .
Customary therapy seeks to convince sufferers that their opinion that they are overweight is a mistake and that their attempts to lose weight are not rational in anything. Behavioral therapy involves developing contact with the person and encouraging him to gain weight in exchange for certain promised rewards.
Family therapy is important to help families understand the nature of the disease. Medicines may be prescribed so that those with depression or compulsive habits can respond. Many young women have either anorexia or binge eating.
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