Anorexia Symptoms
Anorexia nervosa, typically called anorexia, is a type of
eating disorder that mainly affects girls and young women. A person with this disorder has an intense fear of gaining weight and limits the food she eats, essentially self-starvation. In severe cases, anorexia can be life-threatening. Symptoms of anorexia include:
- Weight loss, sometimes achieved by self-induced vomiting, abuse of laxatives, use of diuretics or exercise
- Refusal to maintain normal body weight, sometimes maintaining a weight 15 percent or more below normal body weight
- Intense fear of gaining weight
- Negatively altered body image
- In females, menstrual changes or the absence of menstruation
- Anxious or ritualistic behavior at mealtimes
- Fatigue
- Depression
- Irregular heart rate
- Lightheadedness
- Mild anemia
- Brittle nails and hair
- Bulimia
Most teenage girls, and some teenage boys, go on diets to lose weight and stop dieting after a few weeks. As a parent, be careful not to mistake occasional dieting with an eating disorder. The problem occurs when your child stops gaining weight during preadolescent years, when your child should be gaining as much as 10 pounds a year during an active growth spurt.
Behaviors that may indicate your child has a potential eating disorder:
- Not wanting to eat meals with the family
- Frequent, long visits to the bathroom during or just after meals, your
teenage child may run water to obscure the sound of induced vomiting
- Excessive exercise or preoccupation with weight
- Wanting to be alone
- Weighs herself/himself many times a day
- Talks about weight and food all the time
- won't eat in front of others
- Acts moody or depressed
- Doesn't socialize
Different types of health care providers, like doctors, nutritionists, and
therapists, can help the anorexia patient get better. These providers will help
the patient regain the weight, improve physical health and nutrition, learn
healthy eating patterns, and cope with thoughts and feelings related to the
disorder.
Anorexia Symptoms
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