Anorexia Nervosa

This Is "Debbie" she was an Anorectic for 3 years.  She got help and today is healthy and happy.

Anorexia Nervosa is a condition, usually affecting females but also males as well, in which the sufferer has a morbid fear of gaining weight and fat and calories. It is an obsession with being slim. However, it is much more than simply a diet to avoid consuming food and will attempt to eat as little as possible. In the past, anorexia was largely seen as a physical condition, rather than as a psychological one. Nowadays, it is widely recognized as the latter. An estimated 1% of female colleges students are anorexic. Fortunately, there is now more help than ever available. Sufferers are also prone to bulimic tendencies, such as laxative and diuretics abuse; any attempt to purge the body of food.

Interesting Facts About Anorexia:

• 1 in every 100 girls and young women has Anorexia Nervosa
• Doctors will diagnose a person with Anorexia  after they have lost 15% or more of their natural body weight
• There are two categories of anorectics: the "restructure" group: they refuse to eat food at all and the "bulimic" group who restrict their food intake, but suffer from bouts of the binge-eating and purging cycles

Signs and Symptoms:

-The person will have a fear of weight gain- even small gain
-The person cannot keep up their own regular body weight because of self starvation
-The person will always believe that they need to eat less
-They will have a loss of more than 25% of their natural body weight.
-They deny that they are hungry
-They tell themselves that they are fat or not thin
-These people will be very tired but still very active
-Amenorrhea (loss of menstrual period) in women and girls
-They will cut their food into very small pieces
-They will have a new interest with baking for other people
-They will be constantly cold
-They may take laxatives after eating
-They will have a difficulty concentrating
-They will have a low self-esteem
-They will isolate themselves from their friends and family
-They will have abnormal growth of body hair
-They will have a loss of hair on their head
-These people will be obsessive about certain little things
-They will have constipation and abdominal pain

Behavioral Signs:

-Severely restricting food intake or fasting
-Ritualistic food behaviors such as counting bites, cutting food into tiny bites,playing with their food on the plate or preparing food for others and refusing to eat it
-Excessive exercising to lose weight
-Extreme fear of becoming fat
-Dressing in baggy or layered clothing to hide weight loss
-May binge, use laxatives, diuretics or enemas to get rid of the food they eat
-Mood swings
-Feeling of inadequacy about his/her abilities
-Feelings of self-worth determined by what is or isn't eaten

Physical Dangers:

• Frequent dizziness and light headedness
• Fatigue
• Electrolyte imbalance
• Anemia
• Dehydration
• Internal organs may get too small
• Low pulse
• Kidney Troubles or failure
• Heart Arrhythmia- leading to possible heart failure
• Osteoporosis
• Drying of the skin

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