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Females :Eating Disorders
Females: Steroids
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Eating Disorders in Females
Steroids in Females
Eating Disorders:
As most people already know, there are many more females with eating disorders than men. In fact, more than 90% of people with eating disorders are females from 12-25. Some people may think eating disorders are not to be taken seriously or rarely occur, when in fact eating disorders are the third most common chronic illnesses among adolescents. As well, it is estimated that 7 million women and 1 million men have eating disorders world wide. Eating disorders have been recognized as a very serious and very real psychological ailment. The three types of eating disorders are anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa and binge-eating disorder. (Binge-eating disorder is not always accepted as a medical condition.) As we explore the facts and reasons behind these disorders, you may be shocked at what media and peer pressure have done to many adolescents world wide.
48% of women describe themselves as overweight. Women usually go on diets to lose weight while men exercise.
Anorexia Nervosa:
Symptoms:
Resistance to maintaining body weight at or above a minimally normal weight for age and height
Intense fear of gaining weight or becoming fat, even though underweight
Disturbance in the way in which one's body weight or shape is experienced, undue influence of body weight or shape on self-evaluation, or denial of the seriousness of the current low body weight
Infrequent or absent menstrual periods (in females who have reached puberty)
About Anorexia:
People with this disorder think they are fat even when they become dangerously thin.
They are obsessed with losing weight and often weigh themselves frequently, develop unusual eating habits, such as avoiding meals, weighing and carefully proportioning meals and in some cases, the individual compulsively exercises and/or abuses laxatives, enemas and diuretics. This eating disorder can cause stunts in normal growth patterns and can delay the menstrual cycle or stop it completely, as a certain percent of body fat is needed to start and maintain the menstrual cycle. Most anorexics fall below the average weight for their age and height.
Behavioral Characteristics:
Excessive dieting, fasting, restricted diet
Food rituals
Compulsive exercise
Difficulty eating with others, lying about eating
Frequently weighing self
Preoccupation with food
Disgust with body size or shape
Distortion of body size
Emotional and Mental Characteristics:
Almost a phobia of gaining weight
Depression
Social isolation
Strong need to be in control
Difficulty thinking and concentrating
Conflict over sexual identity or sexual preference
Low self-esteem
Difficulty expressing feelings
Have the need to be good at everything
Insomnia and germaphobic
Physical Characteristics:
15% or more lighter, which is below what is expected for age, height, activity level
Fatigue; powerless
Muscular weakness
Lowered body temperature, blood pressure, pulse rate
Thinning hair or hair loss
Heart arrhythmia
Bulimia Nervosa:
Symptoms:
Recurrent episodes of binge eating, characterized by eating an excessive amount of food within a discrete period of time and by a sense of lack of control over eating during the episode
Recurrent inappropriate compensatory behaviour in order to prevent weight gain, such as self-induced vomiting or misuse of laxatives, diuretics, enemas, or other medications (purging); fasting; or excessive exercise
The binge eating and inappropriate compensatory behaviours both occur, on average, at least twice a week for 3 months
Self-evaluation is unduly influenced by body shape and weight
About Bulimia:
People with this disorder eat a large amount of food at one sitting (binging) and then feel guilty for eating so much, are disgusted by the amount of food they’ve eaten and/or are afraid of gaining weight, so they throw up promptly after. (Purging). Bulimics, like anorexics, are intensely dissatisfied with their bodies. Bulimics, unlike anorexics, usually fall into the normal weight category for their age and height.
Behavioral Characteristics:
A sense of no control
Vomiting, misuse of laxatives, diuretics, or fasting, compulsive exercise (possibly including excessive running, body building, or weight lifting) are done
Hiding food and eating in secret
Frequently weighing self
Focus on certain body parts; e.g., buttocks, thighs, stomach
Disgust with body size or shape
A feeling of being fat when average or thin
Emotional and Mental Characteristics:
An almost phobia with gaining weight
Shallow
Works hard to please others
Depression
Social isolation
Conflict over sexual identity or sexual preference
Difficulty expressing feelings
Physical Characteristics:
Weight fluctuations
Loss of dental enamel due to self-induced vomiting
Constipation
Swollen salivary glands
Cardiac arrhythmia due to electrolyte imbalances
Esophageal tears, gastric rupture
Fatigue; poweless
Treatment
1) Restoring weight lost to severe dieting and purging
2) Treating the psychological problems that accompany eating disorders: distortion of body image, low self-esteem, and interpersonal conflicts
3) Achieving long-term success in maintaining normal weight, eating patterns and growth patterns, or full recovery.
Steroids:
Anabolic steroids are taken to enhance physical performance and increse muscle size. Males face a larger issue, but females also have problems with steroids. Females who have taken steroids result in the growth of facial hair, male-pattern baldness, changes in or cessation of the menstrual cycle, enlargement of the clitoris, deepened voice.
Males and females who use anabolic steroids have a higher risk of transmitting or contracting HIV/AIDS or hepatitis..
People who take steroids become more aggressive, suffer from insomnia, extreme irritability, delusions, and impared judgement.
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