Symptoms of anorexia. Stages and symptoms of anorexia

Anorexia– is considered a violation provoked by the excessive enthusiasm of glossy magazines. But the true nature of the disease lies in deeper reasons that have affected the person in one way or another. In most cases, this type of eating disorder only affects women and girls. The problem requires mandatory diagnosis and treatment, since in the absence of them it leads to critical weight loss and death of the patient.

The basis of eating disorders is neurological mental disorder, which is why the disease is called anorexia nervosa, but there are other subtypes of the disease. The pathology is manifested by a constant and unhealthy desire to lose weight, the patient is afraid of gaining weight even from an extra sip of water. Such patients constantly adhere to cruel diets, rinse the stomach, drink laxatives, and induce vomiting. Because of this behavior, the patient’s weight begins to rapidly fall, which ultimately can lead to failure. internal organs, sleep disorders and long-term depression.

Attention! According to statistics, approximately 15% of all diet addicts bring themselves to one of the stages of anorexia. Among models with similar violation more than 70% of girls encountered.

Anorexia is divided into subtypes, taking into account the characteristics of its occurrence. Today there are the following types of pathology:

neurotic, which arises due to protracted depressions and a constant decrease in the psycho-emotional background, which causes overexcitation of the brain and triggers the process of losing weight;
neurodynamic associated with the emergence of strong physical manifestations, more often pain, which provokes refusal to eat and loss of appetite;
nervous, most often found in patients with anorexia, can be caused by an unstable mental state, depression, schizophrenia, constant desire lose weight.

Anorexia can be registered in children. In them it occurs under the influence of hypothalamic insufficiency or Kanner syndrome.

Reasons for development

The main factor in the formation of anorexia is associated with a mental disorder. But the disease can also occur under the influence of other factors, which include the following:

pathology endocrine system, most often, insufficiency of the functioning of the pituitary gland and hypothalamus;
disorders of the digestive tract, which include inflammation of the gastric and intestinal mucosa, pancreatic incompetence, liver destruction, chronic appendicitis and hepatitis;
renal failure of a chronic type, the severity of the disease does not matter;
the presence of oncological tumors in the body systems;
constant pain of various types;
the formation of prolonged hyperthermia due to past or chronic infectious lesions;
dental diseases;
taking some medicines, anorexia is usually formed under the influence of antidepressants, tranquilizers, sedatives and narcotics.

In children under 12 years of age, the disease is sometimes provoked wrong mode nutrition and non-compliance with the selected diet. Persistent feeding can eventually lead to food aversions, which will eventually completely reduce appetite and cause critical weight loss.

Young girls are more likely to suffer from anorexia nervosa. Patients develop eating disorders due to fear of extra pounds and low self-esteem. Because of this, a mental aversion to food develops, which can cause obesity. On a subconscious level, anorexia becomes a factor that helps maintain beauty, ideal weight and prestige in society.

This idea is especially acute in the teenage psyche because of its inadequacy. She is perceived as overvalued. Because of this, the sense of reality is completely lost and an overly critical assessment of one’s appearance develops.

Those who are ill, even with significant weight loss, do not see the problem and consider themselves fat and continue to torture the body with diets, physical activity or complete starvation. Even if they realize the reality of the problem, they cannot start eating because they experience a fear of food that cannot be overcome.

This condition is worsened by oppression brain function. Lack of nutrients causes dysfunction in the center of the brain responsible for hunger and appetite. The body simply does not understand that it needs to eat and requires vitamins and minerals.

After the development of anorexia, patients act according to one of two scenarios. They may change depending on psycho-emotional state patient:

the addict strictly adheres to restricted diet, fasts and follows recommended weight loss techniques;
due to attempts to lose weight, on the contrary, constant bouts of overeating can be provoked, which ultimately leads to mechanical stimulation of vomiting in order to get rid of food.

The second type of eating disorder is called bulimia. With a mixed course of the disease, treatment becomes significantly more complicated, since the patient’s condition worsens several times faster.

In addition, the sick person constantly tortures himself with physical activity until muscle weakness or atrophy occurs, which does not allow him to continue doing exercises.

Symptoms

Signs of anorexia are divided into several groups. It is important to recognize them in time to help the patient recover and prevent the body weight from falling to critical levels. After this, it is no longer possible to regain lost health, and the likelihood of death is high.

Eating disorders

the patient constantly has a desire to lose weight, despite the fact that the weight is already below normal or within its limits;
so-called fatphobia develops, which causes fear of being fat and provokes negativity towards oneself and fat people;
the addict constantly counts calories, all interests are related only to the rules of nutrition for weight loss;
anorexics constantly refuse food, saying that they have no appetite, they have just eaten;
even after agreeing to take food, the portion becomes small, usually consisting only of low-calorie foods;
food is cut into small pieces, served in miniature dishes, all food is thoroughly chewed or swallowed at once;
the patient refuses to attend events where a buffet is prepared, as there is a fear of breakdown and overeating.

Additional symptoms of the disorder

the patient loads himself with physical activity, becomes very irritated if he fails to perform the most difficult exercise;
clothes become baggy, as there is a need to hide one’s body due to lack of confidence in external attractiveness;
the type of thinking becomes rigid, hysterics may appear when someone expresses other theories about proper nutrition;
the addict becomes withdrawn and avoids society.

Mental manifestations of anorexia

the psycho-emotional background becomes reduced, depression and apathy develop;
concentration of attention decreases several times, physical and intellectual activity decreases;
the patient begins to focus only on his problems, withdraws into himself;
there is constant dissatisfaction with appearance;
sleep problems are often provoked, nightmares may appear;
the patient does not understand that he is sick and does not hear others.

Reaction of body systems to disturbance

body weight begins to decrease;
the patient constantly feels muscle weakness, dizziness, headaches, fainting;
hair falls out, nails peel, baby vellus hairs grow instead of normal hair;
menstruation disappears or becomes rare and short-lived;
the patient is freezing because the blood cannot function normally;
blood pressure drops;
all organs dry out, their metabolic processes are disrupted.

Stages of anorexia

Today, experts identify four stages in the formation of a disorder.

First stage

The first stage can last up to four years. During this period, all ideas and rules of behavior that can help reduce weight begin to be deposited in the patient’s subconscious. The patient is always dissatisfied with his appearance. Such ideas are especially pronounced in adolescence, when the body begins to form and hormonal levels change.

Due to emerging skin rashes, a possible increase or decrease in body weight, thinking becomes painful, the teenager does not understand that all this is temporary. The patient does not react in any way to persuasion and does not understand the seriousness of the situation. One careless remark can cause instant weight loss.

Second stage

This stage is called anorectic. It is characterized by the appearance in the patient of a pronounced desire to lose weight and correct imaginary shortcomings. At this stage of the disorder, the patient may lose half of his body weight. Additionally, serious problems with internal organs appear, and women begin to lose menstruation.

Several methods are used to reduce body weight. They are associated with constant exercise, taking medications such as laxatives, and administering enemas. Often resort to the use of diuretics. After eating, patients induce mechanical vomiting, begin to actively smoke and drink coffee, thinking that this will allow them to lose weight.

Due to the principles adopted at the first stage of anorexia proper nutrition and weight loss methods, the patient’s appearance after the onset of the second stage of the disease is significantly different from what the patient had before the disease. In addition to permanent hair loss, protruding bones, crumbling teeth, peeling nails, the following are diagnosed: dangerous conditions as an inflammatory process in the digestive tract. Because of this, the skin becomes very blue, dark circles appear under the eyes, and the skin becomes dry.

Due to the disorder that has arisen, the patient develops wild pain in the abdominal area, stool becomes rare and difficult. Because of inflammatory process even a small portion of food provokes consequences such as suffocation, cardiac arrhythmia, constant dizziness and hyperhidrosis.

Attention! At this stage of the disease, despite big loss weight and severe insufficiency useful substances, the patient still shows normal physical and intellectual activity.

Third stage

This stage of the disease is called cachectic. It is characterized by serious changes in the functioning of internal organs and complete destruction hormonal background.

In women, the menstrual cycle completely stops, and all the fat layer disappears.
You can see on the skin dystrophic processes. All muscles of the skeleton and heart wear out.
The heart rate becomes weak, the pressure reaches critically low levels.
Since the blood circulation process is disrupted, the skin becomes even bluer, reminiscent of the skin of an elderly person. The patient is constantly freezing.
Hair loss becomes more intense, teeth loss begins, hemoglobin drops to virtually zero.

Despite serious exhaustion, the patient still does not see the problem and does not want to be treated or eat food. Because of this, he loses physical activity, the addict spends almost all his time in bed, away from other people. Almost 100% of patients at this stage experience severe convulsions. If treatment is not started in a timely manner, the victim may soon die.

Fourth stage

This is the last stage in the development of pathology, which is called reduction. It usually develops after the patient has been admitted to hospital and has undergone treatment. Due to increased body weight, everyone returns psychological problems and the idea of needing to lose weight again. The patient again begins to take laxatives and diuretics, and is fond of enemas and artificial vomiting.

Such relapses develop in patients within two years after completion of the active stage of therapy. To prevent the disorder from returning, it takes several years of careful monitoring of the former addict. It is recommended to consult a psychotherapist at all times.

Treatment

Therapy for the patient usually begins at the junction of the second and third stages of the disease, when all psychological and physical changes. Anorexia becomes obvious with a banal comparison of the patient’s weight before the idea of losing weight is formed and after the start of active actions on the part of the person suffering from a mental disorder. But therapy begins in almost 100% of cases only after diagnosing acute cardiac or renal failure. After this, measures are taken to restore water and electrolyte balance. The patient is prescribed minerals and vitamins. They are administered intravenously or intramuscularly.

All problems with internal organs must be treated. Drugs are prescribed taking into account the intensity of system dysfunction. Primary attention is paid to the heart, gastrointestinal tract, kidneys and liver. Recovery reproductive system It is carried out only after the recovery of the vital organs necessary to ensure vital functions.

If the patient still refuses to eat, they begin feeding him through a tube. After the critical condition is removed, the addict is transferred to normal nutrition, which is selected individually for each person, taking into account the severity of anorexia and its consequences.

Since all these measures can only eliminate physiological problems, the help of a psychologist and psychotherapist is necessary. The work is carried out not only with the patient, but also with his loved ones. They must also understand the seriousness of the situation and treat the sick person correctly. During therapy, the doctor selects techniques that make it possible to voluntarily treat a person suffering from anorexia, which eliminates the need to use forceful methods, giving practically no results.

Usually the disease is treated in a hospital setting, with the exception of the first stage of the disorder. The course varies in duration, sometimes up to a year. During this time, doctors correct body weight to normal and relieve excessive psycho-emotional stress.

The treatment is serious and has many restrictions. All sick people should deserve to receive bonuses in the form of a walk, meeting with loved ones, and using the Internet. To do this, they just need to follow a routine and eat right. But such therapy is effective only at the second and early third stages of the disease. In advanced cases, only total control helps you get back on your feet.

Attention! Patients who are subject to strict control measures because they lack the desire to be treated almost always return to their previous lifestyle in subsequent years. They must always be under the supervision of a psychologist.

If you notice the first symptoms of anorexia in your loved ones, you should immediately contact a psychotherapist for correction. mental state. If you begin recovery immediately, you will not need to eliminate disturbances in the functioning of internal organs; conversations and taking medications that stimulate positive thinking. In the event that the situation takes critical condition and the patient’s weight can cause his death; hospitalization in a hospital is required. This is the only way to save a person. Long-term psychiatric recovery will be required in the future.

Anorexia is a neuropsychiatric disorder characterized by obsessive ideas about losing weight, dissatisfaction with one's body, and an increased fear of gaining weight. To combat extra pounds and inches, patients use various methods - diets, fasting, cleansing enemas, inducing vomiting and cleansing the stomach. Very often, this condition leads to irreversible consequences and complications, so it is important to know how to recognize anorexia in the early stages and who is at risk by assessing the causes of the disorder.

There can be many reasons for the development of anorexia. In order to understand what leads to an eating disorder, it is worth understanding that it can be nervous, primary and mental.

Primary anorexia develops as a result of the presence of various restrictions or diseases. For example, when hormonal imbalance, neurological diseases, cancerous tumors, etc. The causes of mental anorexia are, obsessions and other. Anorexia nervosa is the most common form, which includes psychological, personality, family and many other factors.

The most common causes of this eating disorder include:

Physical signs of anorexia

A person with anorexia has pronounced physical signs, changes in habits, behavior and appearance. How to recognize anorexia and how it manifests itself physically:

People with anorexia develop hostility to food, which is caused by the fear of gaining excess weight. In most cases, this is manifested by minimal food consumption or complete refusal to eat (hunger strike).
Patients with anorexia constantly try to count how many grams of food and calories they have eaten, chew food thoroughly to create the effect of eating food, but at the same time eat a minimum.
People suffering from anorexia may eliminate certain types of food from their diet that stimulate weight gain. This is first of all simple carbohydrates, fats and foods high in sugar.
Despite a complete refusal to eat, people constantly read cookbooks, look at cooking sites and talk about food, but as a negative phenomenon. In addition, the patient may spend a lot of time in the kitchen, preparing a variety of dishes.
Patients with an eating disorder exhaust themselves with increased physical activity and work out in the gym to the point of exhaustion.
A person loses weight very quickly, and along with it, his healthy appearance is lost: the skin acquires a pale yellow tint and becomes dry; hair loses its color, fragility increases and severe loss; nails lose their strength, quickly break and peel.
People suffering from anorexia, due to a deficiency of subcutaneous fat, are very sensitive to cold, quickly freeze, and the skin acquires a bluish tint.
Eating disorder sufferers often suffer from headaches and periodic blackouts.
After eating, a person suffering from anorexia long time spends in the bathroom. This is inherent in the purging type of eating disorder, when after eating the patient tries to get rid of food in any way by inducing vomiting, performing an enema or cleansing the stomach.
Excessive fatigue, drowsiness and constant weakness, which manifests itself not so much from hard physical work as from nutritional deficiency.
Development various diseases, for example, problems with bones, kidneys, dysfunction of the endocrine, cardiovascular, nervous systems and organs gastrointestinal tract.
, which develops as a result of changes in hormonal levels. This condition leads to irreversible consequences - difficulties in conceiving and bearing a child, as well as the appearance of psychological problems.
The appearance of problems with bowel movements, frequent abdominal pain.

Psychological signs of anorexia

Very spicy eating disorder reflected in human behavior and psyche. First and main feature– complete denial of the existence of a problem, reluctance to admit and receive help.
How to recognize anorexia by behavioral characteristics:

Anorexia is complicated psychological disorder, which disrupts the functioning of the physical body and leads to mental problems. Problems with eating can arise for various reasons at any age, and in the absence of timely assistance may lead to irreversible consequences. To avoid complications, it is important to know the signs of the disorder and promptly recognize it in a loved one.

Girls are still coming to terms with their short stature, but the fight against supposedly extra pounds becomes for some of them the real meaning of life. It is against this background that anorexia usually occurs - serious illness, characterized by complete exhaustion of the body.

Why is anorexia so dangerous?

This is not just an ordinary eating disorder, but also a mental disorder. Women suffering from anorexia are terrified of gaining weight and are literally ready to starve themselves to death. At the same time, patients do not have a real assessment of the situation: they continue to consider themselves fat, even when their weight is much lower than normal.

Anorexia: symptoms of the disease

Symptoms of a “physical” nature usually include:

severe weight loss, exhaustion;
increased fatigue;
lack of menstruation (mostly girls suffer from anorexia);
disorders of the cardiovascular system;
damage to the musculoskeletal system.

In addition, anorexia (the symptoms of which are not difficult to detect) also causes serious mental disorders.

It only takes a short time to observe the behavior of a sick person to discover:

focusing all thoughts on food;
depression;
refusal to communicate with the usual circle of people (social isolation);
decreased sex drive;
inability to concentrate;
impaired ability to think logically.

By the way, patients with anorexia always show low results testing for intellectual abilities. This shows that not only the body does not like fasting, but also the brain.

Often the body decides to take its toll, and the anorexic is attacked by attacks of uncontrollable gluttony. However, after them the patient still runs to induce an attack of vomiting so that the hated food cannot linger in the body.

How to detect anorexia in the early stages?

The disease anorexia (we listed its symptoms above) most often occurs in teenage girls who imitate their idols from the world of high fashion. The occurrence of this disease can be detected at the very beginning, focusing on the fact that the person began to eat much less than usual. In addition, constant conversations about food, diets or weight loss techniques can give away an anorexic person.

How can I tell if I have early symptoms of anorexia?

My friend at one time almost died due to anorexia - even at that stage when she was a walking skeleton, she did not have periods, she really did not understand that this was abnormal and that she was sick. . Only after persuading her did they drag her to a psychotherapist - she was treated for a long time, progress occurred only after she realized that she was sick! It was difficult, she could not eat for a long time, because her stomach was almost no longer functioning (drank gastric juice etc.), but most importantly, she realized that she was sick and began to be treated! Now alive, healthy and looking great! And it was all because of unhappy love and depression.

The initial period is the formation of dissatisfaction with appearance, accompanied by noticeable weight loss. This is followed by an anorectic period - a decrease in body weight by 20-30%. At the same time, the patient actively convinces himself and others that he has no appetite and exhausts himself with great physical exertion. Due to a distorted perception of his body, the patient underestimates the degree of weight loss. The volume of fluid circulating in the body decreases, which causes hypotension and bradycardia. This condition is accompanied by chilliness, dry skin and alopecia. Another clinical sign-- cessation of the menstrual cycle in women and decreased libido and spermatogenesis in men. The function of the adrenal glands is also impaired, leading to adrenal insufficiency.

Anorexia is a terrible disease, if left untreated, it can lead to dystrophy. There is no beauty in this, complete exhaustion of the body and, as a result, a breakdown of the immune system.

Online test for anorexia nervosa

If food plays an important role in your life, you may be suffering from an eating disorder. Anorexia nervosa is a fairly common eating disorder these days. People with anorexia have a strong, almost overwhelming fear of gaining weight and are overly concerned with the shape or size of their body. They have a distorted view of their own body, as a result of which they feel that they weigh more than they should.

The main symptom of anorexia nervosa is deliberate weight loss. Typically, anorexics strive to have a body weight that is at least 15 percent below what is appropriate for their age, gender, and height. This weight loss is usually achieved by first giving up certain food products, and then from food in general. Sometimes a person also takes excessive physical exercise or uses laxatives and diuretics. Such problems affect millions of people around the world, and the situation is getting worse every day! Anorexics are ready to do anything to lose even more weight, which sometimes even leads to death.

Anorexia nervosa usually develops in girls and young women, although boys and men can also suffer from the condition. As a rule, this disease begins in adolescence. It is difficult to reliably estimate its prevalence, but anonymous surveys suggest that approximately 1 percent of young women have anorexia nervosa. We encourage you to take an online anorexia test to find out if you have or are susceptible to this serious eating disorder.

This test was based on the most common symptoms of people with this eating disorder, as well as anorexics’ own statements about themselves. By answering 20 questions of this test, you can independently and anonymously find out whether you have serious prerequisites for the development of anorexia nervosa, or whether your relationship with food is balanced and within normal limits.

However, remember that even if the test results reveal your predisposition to this disease, do not be upset! This is just a preliminary test. Only a specialist can confirm or refute the diagnosis of anorexia nervosa.

I'm afraid I have signs of anorexia

I’ll start from afar, otherwise you won’t understand. The story will be long, I am very grateful to those who read to the end and give practical advice.

I am prone to being overweight; throughout my childhood and part of my youth I was chubby. But the very first trip to a children's camp (which took place after 9th grade) changed me radically. I began to take an interest in fashion, choose my own clothes (before I wore what my mother bought, I could go through the whole winter in just pants), cut my hair, began to put on makeup and learn to flirt with the stronger sex. The first fans appeared. The first stage of my weight loss dates back to this same period. I am of average height (166 cm), I used to weigh a little, I didn’t watch my diet and, like all children, I loved everything sweet and unhealthy. After the first vacation, that same summer I went to the second camp. But already a completely different person. I lost several kilograms, got fashionable rags and my own cosmetic bag. I also learned how to paint on my nails, which immediately raised my rating among girls. We were fed 5 times a day. So, I ate a maximum of 2 times... I gave lunch, dinner and the second dinner to my friends, actively went in for sports, gained authority with the counselors, looked after the little ones during nap time and managed to change as many as 2 gentlemen in 18 days of rest. I arrived from the camp weighing 1 kg (maybe less, I don’t remember exactly). Up until the 2nd year of college, my weight remained within this range.

In my second year, I met an adult man who completely fooled me. I won’t retell our relationship; this chapter is worthy of a separate book. He shoveled me to the fullest, his main condition was that his companion should be the weight of a feather. And the second stage of weight loss began. In the winter of the year I weighed 46 kg, ate practically NOTHING, drank hot tea, was wildly cold, smoked a lot to kill hunger... In short, darkness. By spring, I still gained my rightful 50 kg. Then we broke up with this man, I was worried so much that I even signed up for a sports club for 4 days a week, killing myself there completely to drown out the pain. Alcohol didn’t appeal to me; I didn’t want to eat. In a week I lost 4 kg and again looked like a prisoner of Buchenwald. Then I met a positive young man who restored my peace of mind. In the end, I moved to live with him. Cohabitation made itself felt - I learned to cook well and got used to eating deliciously. The result was disastrous - out of all the pants, only jeans could hardly fit on me. I don’t know my weight, but I think kg for sure.

The third stage of weight loss occurred in the spring of 2009, when I broke up with that person, moved in with my mother, started taking long walks every day, and meeting more with friends. In a month I regained my 50 kg. Then I met my future husband, got pregnant, got married and family life began... I ate like... I can’t even find a comparison. I had cake for breakfast homemade, dined on chocolate, indulged in chips, indulged in fresh pastries in the institute’s canteen, and at home, fried pies with all the fillings and all sorts of kulebyaki were permanent residents of our refrigerator. The result was not just deplorable - it was catastrophic! During pregnancy I gained 33 kg, 13 of which were lost after childbirth, another 5 were lost in the first 6 months of being a mother. By the fall of 2010, I weighed 65 kg. I didn’t consider myself fat, I didn’t refuse food. I could make some full pan pasta, fry them in butter, grate cheese and eat it all by myself... However, some remarks from my husband’s friends made me look at myself from the outside. I began to feel complex and desperately envy young girls with slender figures. As a result, I developed a hatred for my figure, for my weakness of will, I often refused intimacy with my husband, scandals began... In November-December, I almost came to a divorce. And I gave myself my word of honor - from the New Year until the summer season, I must get my figure back!

And the 4th stage began, which continues to this day. On January 3, I went on the Kremlin diet, which I stayed on for exactly 2 weeks. I was so hungry, I beat myself on the hands! There was no effect, the weight did not decrease one gram. Then a friend suggested going to a sports club. My husband and I discussed that, in principle, we have a couple of thousand spare for sports. And on January 17 I came to Gym. We studied 3 times a week for 2 hours. The first month we walked on our own. There was no particular effect - the weight stayed the same, but the volume began to fall. For the next 2 months, we began training under the guidance of an experienced coach - a prize-winner in bodybuilding. She drove us mercilessly, we literally dragged our feet after her training. We did the same, but now it was 1 hour on our own and 1 hour with a trainer. I bought myself a Vulcan belt, and on March 8 my husband gave me Artemis pants. It became warmer outside, and the frequency and duration of walks with the baby increased. The weight suddenly started down. If at the beginning of March I could fit into only one pre-pregnancy jeans, then at the beginning of April there were 3 of them, and at the beginning of May I fit into all my clothes, including summer ones. I had to stop training because... there were no available funds. But I walked a lot with the child, ate almost nothing (coffee and kefir are about my diet). By mid-May I weighed 50 kg. Very pleased with the result, I began to allow myself some excesses such as a pack of chips, a piece of Uzbek flatbread, and removed kefir from my diet... The weight continued to fall. Slowly but surely. It was probably then that I experienced a phase shift. I began to reduce food portions, preferred to take small bites, and was very happy if I spent the whole day on the street without an ounce of food in my mouth. One fine hot day, I almost fainted... When my husband came for me and took my son and me home, he said that I was sick, and my behavior already smacked of anorexia. I went online, read the signs of this mental illness and was horrified, because... I found some signs in my behavior. Namely:

“In anorexia there is pathological desire weight loss, accompanied by a strong fear of obesity. The patient has a distorted perception of his image, namely concern about imaginary weight gain, even if this is not observed.

2. Purification – i.e. through various procedures: gastric lavage, enemas, artificially induced vomiting after eating.

Denial of maintaining a minimum weight, no matter how low it may be. (at first I was pleased with the weight of 50 kg, then 49, and 50 was already considered excessive, then the bar dropped to 48, now to 47...)

A constant feeling of fullness, in particular certain parts bodies. (I always feel like my belly and fat thighs are hanging)

Eating method: eat standing, break food into small pieces. (I noticed that I tear one pancake into several pieces and eat it in pieces several times a day. I always leave a small piece of a piece of flatbread, I can take out a jar of sour cream and eat just a couple of spoons.)

Sleep disturbances (this is not observed, but there is constant fatigue, by the end of the day I fall off my feet)

Isolation from society (not my case, I enjoy walking and meeting friends)

Panic fear of gaining weight (but this is mine, I’ll explain below)

Having been in the body once plump woman, I'm just terribly afraid of a repeat of the situation. I’m ready to give up all excesses, I eat grapefruits and green peas. I calculated in one calculator that the percentage of fat in my body is 18%. It seems still uncritical... But there is a deficiency of body weight. another sign of anorexia, but this time physical - unreasonable weight loss, my weight is still falling, although I seem to be eating... My husband says that I am thin, it was better before.

I'll post a few photos taken in the summer of 2009 and taken a few minutes ago (please don't judge too harshly, I'm not very comfortable taking pictures of myself).

So, summer 2009:

The last photo is not very good, but you can see a small belly, which I didn’t pay attention to then.

Here's a photo from today:

Belly that always seems fat to me:

My “fat” thighs:

Once again sorry for the quality of the photos.

Girls, do I look like an anorexic? From my husband’s friends I hear compliments like “skeleton”, “skinny”, “thin”, etc. My husband seems to like it... but he thinks that I’m too obsessed with my figure. In principle, I don’t want to lose any more weight; I already have problems with my menstrual cycle. But as soon as I think that I need to eat, it’s as if a block appears in my head, a panicky horror of food. But the growling of a hungry stomach for me - The best music. Even when I just drink water, a few sips, and feel my stomach filling, I feel guilty - and this is another sign of anorexia - a feeling of guilt and self-hatred when eating food. I can’t do this anymore, I think I’m going to go crazy soon! I’m terribly afraid of gaining weight, but I don’t want to ruin my health either. What should I do? Maybe before it’s too late, go to a psychotherapist?

Anorexia - signs and how to recognize its symptoms?

The last century brought not only outstanding discoveries, Nobel Prize winners and computer technology, but also new diseases, one of which is anorexia. The pursuit of fashion and the ideal of painful thinness became the reason that many young people sought to lose weight, sometimes even at the cost of their health.

You might be interested to immediately read:

Why does anorexia occur?

Anorexia refers to a neuropsychiatric disorder characterized by an obsessive desire to lose “extra” weight and a deliberate refusal to eat. Signs and symptoms of anorexia appear against the background of fear of imaginary obesity, and the disease can reach an irreversible stage in its development, when even modern medicine cannot help such patients.

It has been proven that more than 80% of all cases of anorexia appear at the age of one year, that is, at the time of personality formation. All causes of the disease are conventionally divided into genetic, social and psychological.

Of all the reasons stand out social factors and influence environment on the unformed psyche of a teenager, as well as the desire to imitate and expect attention to one’s person. Psychologists have concluded that the symptoms of anorexia appear at a time when a person is unsure of himself. Add to this dissatisfaction with your appearance, hormonal changes, stress, low self-esteem, unrequited love and family problems...

The picture is presented in such a light that the teenager has no choice but to take care of his appearance after the assessment successful people around. At the same time, they usually do not let parents and friends know about their plans, and when it becomes clear to them that something wrong is happening with the child, it is usually too late.

The most terrible complication anorexia – triggering the body’s mechanisms for self-destruction, when, due to a lack of nutrients, cells feed on the same cells, that is, they eat themselves. How to identify anorexia and recognize its signs in time?

Stages of anorexia

1. Signs of anorexia manifest themselves in different ways, depending on the stage of the disease, which can be characterized as follows:

2. Dysmorphomanic – in patients, thoughts begin to prevail that they are inferior due to excess weight. It is during this period that it is important to be able to recognize the first signs of anorexia.

3. Anorectic – when patients no longer hide the fact that they are starving. The weight of patients at this stage of the disease decreases by 25-30%. At this time, it is not difficult to make a diagnosis, since there are obvious symptoms nervous disorder.

4. Cachectic – a period when internal restructuring of the body and irreversible processes begin. Weight deficiency is more than 50%.

How to identify the signs and symptoms of anorexia?

Among all nervous disorders and diseases associated with mental changes, mortality from anorexia ranks first. And the statistics today are that 8 out of 10 girls of age are trying to reduce their weight through diet or dietary restrictions.

Some of them simply refuse to eat, while others try to get rid of the food they eat through vomiting, laxatives and enemas. According to this criterion, all patients with anorexia are divided into 2 types - restrictive and purifying.

The main difference is that some do not eat until they feel full, while others eat as much as they want, but at the same time try to remove the eaten food from the body in any way. From the point of view of mental disorders, both of these signs indicate the presence of a disease.

In addition, to the first symptoms of anorexia early stages diseases include:

Decreased appetite caused by dissatisfaction with one's appearance.

Increased time spent in front of the mirror.

Abdominal pain (especially after eating).

Increased fragility and dryness of hair, as well as hair loss.

Irregularity or cessation of menstruation.

Increased interest in diets, calories, famous models in the world of fashion.

Frequent fainting conditions.

Increased chilliness and cold intolerance.

Staying on the toilet for a long time, which can be caused by constipation or attempts to get rid of food using the gag reflex.

The appearance of body hair (due to changes in hormonal levels).

Also in the section: Psychology of weight loss: “excess weight” sits in the head

If at this stage parents or loved ones fail to recognize the signs of anorexia, the disease progresses to the next stage.

To more late signs Anorexia includes the following symptoms:

People suffering from anorexia try to treat and feed other people delicious food, while refusing it themselves. The methods that patients resort to at this stage are the method of simulation (they ate not so long ago) or a demonstrative refusal to eat.

Classes physical exercise in an intense mode, up to exhaustion and exhaustion.

Hair loss and tooth damage.

Disruption of the digestive process, as well as the appearance of symptoms of vitamin deficiency and diselementosis. An anorexic person experiences flatulence, a feeling of heaviness in the abdomen after eating, and a tendency to constipation.

Persistent decrease in blood pressure and body temperature.

Cardiac dysfunction (irregular rhythm and bradycardia).

Symptoms associated with impaired nervous activity - increased irritability, anger, aggressiveness, sudden mood swings, sleep disturbances.

The appearance of blood vessels on the face (due to frequent bouts of vomiting).

Violation of relationships with the opposite sex.

Signs of anorexia in women who are sexually active are manifested by a decrease in interest in sex or a complete refusal of it.

Tendency to loneliness and lack of desire to communicate with other people, depression.

Signs of anorexia nervosa at this stage are easily recognized, but make patients see a doctor for medical care almost impossible. If treatment for the disease is not started, patients develop a terminal stage, which leads to disruption of the functioning of all organs and systems, and in some cases to death.

The first signs of anorexia

Anorexia is a mental illness that results in a person’s eating disorder. The disease manifests itself as a conscious restriction in food up to complete refusal of it in order to achieve the goal of losing weight. The danger of the disease is that the patient’s vision of his body is distorted, even when weight indicators reach critically low levels, he continues to consider himself fat and loses weight in all possible ways.

The disease develops mostly in adolescents and young girls, but can also occur in children, women, and men. The onset of anorexia can be triggered by somatic or mental illnesses, psychological trauma received in childhood, inferiority complex, stressful situations.

Stages of the disease

There are three main stages of anorexia:

The first stage of anorexia (initial) is characterized by an active expression of criticism towards one’s body and an irresistible desire to bring it to ideal proportions. Interest in diets and intensive physical activity programs begins to appear. The first steps in correcting your body are being taken.

The anorectic stage of the disease is characterized by weight loss in amounts dangerous to health. The cachectic stage of anorexia manifests itself in the gradual depletion of the body to a state of organ degeneration. At this stage of the disease, the stomach refuses to accept and digest food, rejecting it. The cachectic stage of the disease causes the most great harm the body, affecting all vital organs, which can lead to death.

First signs of illness

The symptoms of how anorexia begins are quite difficult to determine. This is due to the fact that they can be observed separately from each other in almost every one of your friends. The most elusive to define is anorexia in the 1st degree of development.

One of the main problems in defining the disease is that anorexics themselves do not consider their condition a problem at all. The desire for standard, from the point of view of modern times, parameters of weight and figure is actively encouraged by society, the media, and even close people of the patient. The fact of achieving your goal encourages you not to stop there. As a result, the body’s physiological needs for nutrients, minerals, and vitamins are relegated to the background. And the understanding that the disease is progressing in the body comes only when exhaustion reaches a life-threatening level.

However, by carefully studying a person’s behavior and appearance, it is possible to identify the disease even in its first stages of development. At the initial stage of anorexia, signs of the disease appear, first of all, in a person’s behavior, and only then in changes in his weight. Signs of the disease are divided into: physiological and behavioral. The first behavioral signs of stage 1 anorexia include:

dissatisfaction with one's own weight and figure;
constant fear of weight gain;
passion for strict diet programs;
limiting your diet to low-calorie foods only;
periodic fasting to achieve results;
refusal to eat in in public places and in the company;
food caches from ourselves;
spitting out chewed food or provoking vomiting to cleanse the body of what has been eaten;
physical activity, regardless of how you feel.

The first signs of the eating disorder anorexia do not appear clearly and can be taken over a short period of diet to bring the body back to normal. However, there are also physiological manifestations anorexia at stage 1.

The first physiological symptoms of anorexia manifest themselves in the form of significant weight loss (not due to illness) over a short period and deterioration in well-being (dizziness). Alarm signal is weight loss of 20% of body weight.

At what exact weight anorexia begins is determined individually for each person. To do this, it is enough to calculate the body mass index, which is defined as the ratio of weight in kilograms to height in meters squared (55 kg / 1.702 m = 19.03). The norm is a body mass index in the range from 18.5 to 25, the critical indicator is at 17.5. It is not difficult to calculate how many kilograms anorexia begins at; it is enough to know your height and understand that the disease develops at a body mass index of 17.5 and below.

In order to understand how anorexia begins, you need to understand the mental nature and causes of the disease. In some cases, anorexia can be instilled in a child who is constantly reproached for not being slim enough. And later, already at a conscious age, such a person can fall into a similar stressful situation, which will give impetus to the development of the disease.

Often, the first symptoms of anorexia appear in the behavior and appearance of the patient as a result of experiencing a stressful period or in an attempt to take control of their life. In search of distraction or a goal of control, patients choose their own weight. Changing it for the “better” gives you a feeling of control over one of the areas of your life, brings confidence and satisfaction in the form of the opportunity to wear clothes in smaller sizes.

If you detect the first symptoms of the disease, you should immediately seek medical help. Timely treatment can save the patient’s health and life.

Found 25 doctors treating the disease: Anorexia

How can you tell if you have anorexia?

In our difficult times, there are millions of stereotypes that many strive for. These patterns are present in all areas of our lives. The created parameters of female and male beauty haunt many girls and boys, and sometimes the desire to achieve them goes beyond all boundaries. The frequency of anorexia has increased, especially for nervous anorexia, which develops against the background of psychoneurological disorders.

Anorexia

In fact, every person has had anorexia at least once for a short period of time. After all, this is a lack of appetite and a feeling of hunger when there is a certain need for nutrition. This condition can occur when:

This is a very rough list of reasons when anorexia may occur.

What to do?

If you suspect you have anorexia, then you need to find out the reason. For acute viral and bacterial infections no feeling of hunger at all normal phenomenon. The body, as it were, redistributes its forces and sets priority tasks. IN acute period For such diseases, it is more important to spend resources on developing immunity rather than on digesting food. Many, especially mothers of sick children, are worried about this and try in every possible way to fight it.

At infectious diseases You should not insist on eating nourishing food.

It is better to include more drinks in your diet that provide energy value. Liquid during intoxication the best remedy, and vitamins and minerals can be dissolved in it. You can drink milk, compote, jelly, even low-fat chicken bouillon. If anorexia persists after illness, then this is not very good and requires attention from the attending physician.

Metabolic and endocrine diseases Most often, these two groups of problems arise together or are a consequence of each other. In this case, a patient with anorexia will not be able to cope on his own, since an examination is necessary to determine the level of the problem, and corrective drug treatment is necessary.

At oncological diseases often perverted taste sensations, the desire to eat certain foods, for example, meat or milk, disappears.

Almost always, along with this, obvious signs of a tumor of one or another organ appear. You should not wait if you have concerns about your health or loved one, it’s better to play it safe and consult, at least with a therapist.

Anorexia nervosa

In previous cases, lack of hunger and appetite was one of the symptoms of some pathology, but there is anorexia nervosa, which is an independent disease.

Anorexia nervosa is a neuropsychiatric disorder characterized by a pathological desire to lose weight.

On the one hand, it seems like a normal desire of any person, but in this case the desire to reduce one’s weight becomes absurd.

Anorexia nervosa is rare in men; it is more often a problem of young girls who suffer from complexes about their appearance. First, they go on a diet, induce vomiting after eating, then their appetite and feeling of hunger disappear. Having reached a certain weight, which initially seemed ideal to people with anorexia, they do not stop and lower the bar.

Stereotypes of modern industrial society, combined with mental characteristics, have become the main cause of this disease. No matter how much weight decreases, people with anorexia still consider themselves not thin enough. If you conduct a test and ask them to draw approximately their outlines on the wall, then they are much wider than the true size of girls and boys suffering from this mental disorder.

In addition to almost one hundred percent refusal to eat and unnatural thinness, there are other symptoms:

Denial of the problem. Patients believe that they are striving for an ideal and that others simply do not understand them or are jealous.
No matter how much weight a patient with anorexia loses, he is still fat in his eyes. Moreover, a phobia (fear) of gaining at least 100 g is formed.
Sleep disturbance and depression. All cells, including the brain, experience pathological starvation.
With all this, there is often an increased interest in cooking. Anoreticians prepare grand dinners for loved ones, but do not sit down at the table themselves.
A feeling of resentment because, again, they do not want to recognize their body as ideal.
Isolation, distance from loved ones and friends. The desire for loneliness.
Episodes of euphoria, probably associated with low level blood glucose.
Girls experience amenorrhea.
Constant weakness, fatigue, fainting.
Cardiac arrhythmia.

There are three stages in the development of this disease.

At first, a person, due to a feeling of inferiority, begins to try diets, gradually reducing the amount of food. On the second, when the weight is reduced by approximately 25%, euphoria sets in, which potentiates the tightening of the criteria ideal weight followed by a reduction in food intake. Having reached the third stage, organ dystrophy develops, which is almost irreversible.

Treatment and prognosis

The symptom of anorexia disappears along with recovery from the underlying disease. It does not require any special treatment, but in case of a protracted variant, doctors select an individual diet that allows you to replenish the body’s energy reserves.

In case of anorexia nervosa, the intervention of doctors, especially psychotherapists, since the nature of the disease is psychoneurological. Attempts at self-medication can result in lost time. The third stage, from which it is almost impossible to return to normal life, develops in 1.5-2 years.

How to understand that a person has anorexia

An eating disorder is a serious problem that affects more people than you might imagine. Most often, this disease affects young girls, but men or older women can also experience it. One recent study found that 25% of people suffering from anorexia are men. Anorexia is a serious illness characteristic feature which is the loss of significant body weight. Anorexia is primarily associated with the fear of gaining weight. Anorexia is based on psychosocial problems, more precisely social and personal factors. Anorexia is serious disorder and can lead to dangerous consequences. Anorexia has the highest mortality rate among mental illness. This article will give you some tips on how to figure out if you or a friend has an eating disorder.

Steps Edit

Method 1 of 5:

Observe a person's habits Edit

Anorexia: causes, stages, symptoms, treatment

This is a disease to which a person dooms himself; in fact, he himself organizes it. Anorexia nervosa (under this name it is included in the international classification of diseases) is a meaningful and deliberate refusal to eat, purposeful weight loss beyond all reasonable limits. It's an obsession behavioral disorder, so the characteristic “nervous” is very appropriate here.

Anorexia nervosa is common in young girls during puberty (rarely in boys: nothing is impossible in this world); with age, the likelihood of developing anorexia decreases. The disease manifests itself as an obsessive phobia of overweight, forcing you to sharply reduce your diet and preventing you from taking a sober look at yourself from the outside. The number of people with anorexia has increased significantly over the past quarter century. This was greatly facilitated by the introduction into the immature teenage souls of the cult of slender fashion models, forcing thousands and thousands of unlucky followers from the pages of fashion magazines to adapt the phenotypic characteristics of thousands and thousands of unlucky followers to their appearance.

Causes of anorexia

Don't expect any specifics here, because... There are more than one or two theories trying to explain the reasons that provoke a mental disorder in the form of anorexia. The vulnerable soul of a teenager keeps many secrets. During this period, serious physiological and psychological changes occur in the body; there is such a phenomenon as a disharmonious teenage crisis, i.e. exaggeration of one’s problems and experiences. Thus, the seeds of potential anorexia lie in fertile ground. And here it is more appropriate to talk not about the causes, but about the factors that can provoke the development of the disease:

hereditary factors. Scientists have found that there is a special gene that induces a tendency towards anorexia. In the presence of other unfavorable factors (psycho-emotional overload, unbalanced diet), carriers of this gene are more likely to develop anorexia nervosa. Of considerable importance is the presence in the family of people suffering from anorexia, depressive disorders or alcoholism;
physiological factors (excess weight, early start menstruation);
personal factors (low self-esteem, self-doubt, feelings of inferiority, perfectionism). Anorexics are characterized by such character traits as excessive punctuality and accuracy;
sociocultural factors. Anorexia is more common in developed countries, where the primary needs of the population are fully satisfied, and the desire to comply with fashion trends and aesthetic trends comes to the fore.

Stages and symptoms of anorexia

In its development, anorexia goes through 4 stages.

The initial stage lasts from 2 to 4 years. It lays the foundations of those overvalued and delusional (this is a psychiatric, not an abusive term) ideas that will later lead to such disastrous consequences for the body. The patient is dissatisfied with his own appearance, and this is due to actual changes in it, which is characteristic of puberty. The positive opinions of others have virtually no weight for a potential anorexic. A careless remark, on the contrary, can give rise to a mental disorder.

Start next stage- anorectic - can be identified by the patient’s active desire to correct his own imaginary shortcomings, which leads to a significant loss of body weight (up to 50%), the development of somatohormonal abnormalities, a decrease or cessation of menstruation.

The most used for weight loss different methods: exhausting workouts in the gym, limiting the amount of food consumed, taking laxatives and diuretics, enemas, artificially induced vomiting, smoking, excessive coffee consumption.

The anorectic stage is followed by the cachectic stage of anorexia, in which somatohormonal disorders predominate. Menstruation stops completely, no traces remain of the subcutaneous fatty tissue, dystrophic changes in the skin, heart and skeletal muscles, heartbeat slows down, blood pressure drops, body temperature drops due to a decrease in peripheral circulation the skin turns blue and loses elasticity, the patient constantly feels cold, nails become brittle, hair and teeth fall out, and anemia develops.

Even in the phase of extreme exhaustion, patients continue to refuse good nutrition, being unable to adequately look at oneself (literally and figuratively). Mobility is lost, and the patient spends more and more time in bed. Due to water-electrolyte imbalance, convulsions are possible. This condition, without any assumptions, should be recognized as life-threatening and forced inpatient treatment should begin.

Anorexics constantly consider themselves fat Final stage Anorexia is a reduction stage. In essence - the return of the disease, its relapse. After therapeutic activities weight gain is observed, which entails a new surge of delusional ideas in the patient regarding his appearance. His previous activity returns again, as well as the desire to prevent weight gain using all the “old” methods - taking laxatives, forced vomiting, etc. It is for this reason that anorectics, after leaving the cachectic stage, must remain under constant supervision. Relapses are possible within two years.

Treatment of anorexia

As a rule, treatment of anorexia begins at the junction of the anorectic and cachectic stages (of course, ideally it should begin much earlier and with an emphasis on the psychological component, but the patient in the preliminary stages of the disease simply does not fall into the hands of a doctor). In the cachectic stage, treatment sets itself three main goals: to prevent irreversible dystrophy and restore body weight, to prevent massive fluid losses, and to restore electrolytic balance in the blood.

The treatment regimen is bed. The diet is increased gradually, dividing food into small portions: a sharp increase in calories overloads digestive tract. After eating, the patient should not be allowed to burp.

To increase appetite, insulin is administered daily. Sometimes a 40% glucose solution is added intravenously to insulin. Over time, appetite increases, which makes it possible to increase the caloric content of the diet.

Gradually the patient is transferred from bed to normal mode. The psychological component of treatment consists of taking tranquilizers, psychotherapy sessions and (sometimes) hypnosis.

Symptoms of anorexia

Meet the disease: anorexia. Well known to psychiatrists and psychotherapists, anorexia neurotic is a pathological eating disorder that most often occurs in adolescents. It manifests itself in voluntary and persistent restriction of food intake for the purpose of losing weight, which ultimately leads to a complete refusal to eat.

Anorexia neurotic syndrome occurs in a number of diseases: neuroses, psychopathy, schizophrenia. There is also a separate disease - anorexia of adolescence, as a special type of pathological personality development. Anorexia in adolescence often occurs after traumatic comments from others about the teenager’s obesity or conversations about the ugliness of an obese figure.

Girls get sick more often than boys; the ratio of women to men is 10:1. The onset of anorexia most often occurs between the ages of 14-18 years, but sometimes it begins in people 20-28 years old.

What causes anorexia? Anorexia nervosa is considered as a disease whose development is influenced by both biological and psychogenic factors. Hereditary burden is rare. Contribute to the development of anorexia emotional conflicts a person of a special type, overprotective mother.

From a psychological point of view, people with anorexia are often distinguished by the following character traits: punctuality, pedantry, perseverance in achieving goals, accuracy, painful pride, rigidity, uncompromisingness, a penchant for overvalued ideas, and hysterical traits are also possible. In childhood, people prone to anorexia are strongly attached to their mother and react heavily to separation from her.

There are clear criteria for understanding how anorexia manifests itself. The most common symptoms of anorexia are:

Refusal to eat is always associated with the overvalued idea of being overweight, and strong desire fix this "defect". Dysmorphophobia and the desire to lose weight are carefully hidden. At first, food restrictions happen from time to time. In the future, the fight against “excessive obesity” becomes more and more persistent. Anorexics throw away or hide food, secretly induce vomiting, take laxatives, and do gastric lavage.
Patients strive for constant physical activity. They willingly do jogging, gymnastics, and do housework that requires physical activity. Girls sometimes tie their waists or wear a tight bandage.
Perversions of eating habits are noted; anorexics like to prepare food for others, but do not eat anything themselves.
Anorexia is often accompanied by depression. In the initial stages, irritability predominates, combined with anxiety, tension and low mood, sometimes hyperactivity; later depression is accompanied by exhaustion, lethargy, physical inactivity and a narrowing of interests.

The first stage of anorexia (dysmorphophobia) is characterized by the fact that the patient thinks that he is fat. He begins to think that this imaginary fullness is the reason bad attitude those around him, and that everyone around him is laughing at him. A person is in a depressed state, he constantly monitors his weight and stops eating high-calorie foods. Hunger is still present, so patients often sneak to refrigerators at night to eat.
The second stage of anorexia (dysmorphomania) - a person is firmly convinced that he is very fat. People get obsessed with being overweight and that's all they talk about. At the same time, they secretly starve, and in public they consume a large number of water. Food eaten is often removed from the body by artificially inducing vomiting or using enemas. You may also become dependent on diuretics or laxatives.
Third stage (cachexia). At this stage, there is no appetite, since frequent induction of vomiting leads to the development of a gag reflex when food enters the stomach, and an aversion to food develops. The phenomena of dystrophy begin, the person loses 50% of the initial weight, but does not notice it. The symptoms of anorexia become more and more noticeable: fat disappears completely, muscles become thin and flabby, skin dries out and flakes, teeth deteriorate, hair and nails become brittle and dull. Amenorrhea develops (in women), decreases blood pressure and body temperature. The heart muscle suffers from dystrophy, and the pulse becomes rare. Gastritis, intestinal lethargy, and prolapse of some organs are observed. Often patients at this stage of the disease begin to visit therapists or gastrologists. Although only a psychiatrist will help them in this case.

The prognosis for treatment of anorexia is usually favorable, although now everything occurs more cases with fatal outcome. In men, the prognosis is less favorable. Symptoms of anorexia diagnosed in men always indicate schizophrenic processes.

Relatives of patients often wonder whether anorexia can be cured at home. Outpatient treatment of patients with anorexia includes the same methods as inpatient treatment, but is possible in cases where these patients do not have cachexia. Cases of cachexia clearly require treatment in a clinic. For the success of treatment, outreach work with relatives and friends is very important, correct mode for patients and monitoring treatment.

Anorexia

This is a very rough list of reasons when anorexia may occur.

What to do?

If you suspect you have anorexia, then you need to find out the reason. During acute viral and bacterial infections, the lack of hunger is quite normal. The body, as it were, redistributes its forces and sets priority tasks. In the acute period of such diseases, it is more important to spend resources on developing immunity rather than on digesting food. Many, especially mothers of sick children, are worried about this and try in every possible way to fight it.

In case of infectious diseases, you should not insist on eating rich food.

It is better to include more drinks in your diet that provide energy value. Liquid is the best remedy for intoxication, and vitamins and minerals can be dissolved in it. You can drink milk, compote, jelly, even low-fat chicken broth. If anorexia persists after illness, then this is not very good and requires attention from the attending physician.

Metabolic and endocrine diseases most often these two groups of problems arise together or are a consequence of each other. In this case, a patient with anorexia will not be able to cope on his own, since an examination is necessary to determine the level of the problem, and corrective drug treatment is necessary.

With cancer, taste sensations are often distorted, and the desire to eat certain foods, for example, meat or milk, disappears.

Almost always, along with this, obvious signs of a tumor of one or another organ appear. You shouldn’t wait if you have concerns about your or a loved one’s health; it’s better to play it safe and consult, at least with a therapist.

In previous cases, lack of hunger and appetite was one of the symptoms of some pathology, but there is anorexia nervosa, which is an independent disease.

Anorexia nervosa is a neuropsychiatric disorder characterized by a pathological desire to lose weight.

On the one hand, it seems like a normal desire of any person, but in this case the desire to reduce one’s weight becomes absurd.

In addition to almost one hundred percent refusal to eat and unnatural thinness, there are other symptoms:

Denial of the problem. Patients believe that they are striving for an ideal and that others simply do not understand them or are jealous.
No matter how much weight a patient with anorexia loses, he is still fat in his eyes. Moreover, a phobia (fear) of gaining at least 100 g is formed.
Sleep disturbance and depression. All cells, including the brain, experience pathological starvation.
With all this, there is often an increased interest in cooking. Anoreticians prepare grand dinners for loved ones, but do not sit down at the table themselves.
A feeling of resentment because, again, they do not want to recognize their body as ideal.
Isolation, distance from loved ones and friends. The desire for loneliness.
Bouts of euphoria, probably associated with low levels.
The girls are getting it.
Constant weakness, fatigue, fainting.
Heart.

There are three stages in the development of this disease.

At first, a person, due to a feeling of inferiority, begins to try diets, gradually reducing the amount of food. On the second, when the weight is reduced by approximately 25%, euphoria sets in, which potentiates the tightening of ideal weight criteria with a subsequent reduction in food consumption. Having reached the third stage, organ dystrophy develops, which is almost irreversible.

Treatment and prognosis

Modern reality places special, more stringent demands on a person’s appearance. Slender movie stars, tall, thin models, wives of oligarchs with ideal forms by modern standards look out from the pages of glossy magazines; pop stars “light up” on TV screens, demonstrating a beautiful half-naked figure. Observing all this, female representatives - both young teenage girls and already established ladies - involuntarily think about the compliance of their figure with the standards established by the fashion world.

It is from this moment that a woman begins to fight for prestigious thinness. Most often, to achieve the goal, the wrong path of exhausting starvation diets is chosen. To increase the rate of “burning” fat, enormous physical activity and various dietary supplements for weight loss are used. As a result, those trying to lose weight develop a terrible and sometimes irreversible disease called anorexia nervosa.

Millions of girls and women around the world suffer from this terrible disease. Patients with this disease completely focus on food and its calorie content. Gradually, they begin to be afraid to eat even low-calorie foods for fear of gaining even one extra gram. The consciousness of an anorexic is completely distorted. Looking at her reflection in the mirror, an anorexic patient sees herself as outrageously fat, and this despite the fact that her weight has already become significantly below normal. The danger of the disease lies in the fact that in its development it triggers the body’s mechanisms to destroy itself.

It is also gaining serious proportions.

"Risk" group

Among all mental illnesses, mortality statistics from anorexia place it in first place. The danger of the possible development of the disease is evidenced by survey data, according to which 8 out of 10 girls aged 12 to 14 years are trying to change their weight in the direction of reducing it through diet or food restrictions. The most dangerous period for the development of this disease is adolescence and young adulthood.

According to medical statistics, more than 80% of all cases of anorexia are recorded in adolescents aged 12-16 years and girls aged 17-24 years. It is during this period, according to experts, that personality formation occurs. Inner world a teenage girl is so fragile that any intrusion can “break” him.

To prevent the development of the disease, loved ones and those around them should pay attention to any changes occurring in the child’s life. Due to the fact that anorexics do not notify loved ones about their plans, unfortunately, relatives do not notice that something bad is happening to their child, and when the symptoms of the disease are obvious, the disease takes a serious and sometimes irreversible course.

How to recognize the disease

Any person who is not qualified as a psychologist or psychiatrist can see the first signs of anorexia. Usually, at first, a person simply begins to limit the amount of food consumed, but later, in his opinion, this becomes not enough and a type of anorexia develops, which is indicated by certain symptoms.

The sick person can either refuse to eat or get rid of what he has eaten through vomiting, laxatives and enemas. On this basis, it is customary to divide patients with anorexia into two types:

Cleansing
Restrictive.

The differences between these two types are that some patients take an almost unlimited amount of food of any calorie content, but subsequently they remove it from the body in any way. in an accessible way, and the latter eat very little, do not feel full, maintaining constant feeling hunger. According to experts, the presence of any of these signs indicates the presence of the disease.

We also note that the signs of anorexia can manifest themselves in different ways. This largely depends on the stage of the disease.

There are three known stages of anorexia:

Dysmorphomaniac. During this period, the patient’s consciousness begins to submit to the thought of his inferiority due to excess weight. It is characterized by refusal to eat, restrictions on food intake, and increased counting of calories eaten. The patient is still hiding his true intentions to lose weight.
Anorectic. At this stage, the anorexic no longer hides the fact of his fasting, the results of which become quite obvious. Weight during this period decreases by about 25-30%. Making a diagnosis at this time is not difficult, as there are obvious symptoms of the disorder.
Cachectic. At this time, the disease reaches the “point of no return.” An internal restructuring of the body begins, giving rise to irreversible processes of self-destruction. At this stage, weight loss is more than 50%.

Among the first signs of the development of anorexia are:

Chronic fatigue
Dizziness<
Decreased appetite
Refusal to eat
Expressions of dissatisfaction with one's figure
Increased time spent in front of the mirror
Abdominal pain that often occurs after eating
Decreased hair quality. They become brittle, dull, and begin to fall out.
Intolerance to low temperatures and increased chilliness
Menstrual irregularities
Interest in diets and caloric content of foods
Prolonged stay in the bathroom, which may be associated with attempts to get rid of what you have eaten
Body hair growth.

For teenagers, taking care of their figure is common, so parents cannot always recognize the first “bells” of the disease. In this case, anorexia develops further and symptoms such as cardiac dysfunction, sudden mood swings, and depression appear. This is why psychologists recommend being more attentive to children as they grow up. At the first signs of illness, you should immediately seek help from a specialist.

Signs of the disease in women

Anorexia nervosa, a mental disorder, is characterized by an obsessive desire to lose “extra” weight and, as a result, a deliberate refusal to eat. Signs of anorexia in women appear against the background of fear of imaginary obesity. The disease may reach an irreversible stage in its development. In such cases, even modern medicine is not able to save the sick woman.

Women, especially those under the age of 25-27, are susceptible to developing this disorder. This is most often associated with problems in personal life. In search of the reasons for her failures, a woman switches to her appearance, which she has the power to change, whereas, for example, it is sometimes impossible to return a loved one.

The signal about the onset of the disease should be a change in the woman’s appearance. Sudden weight loss, unhealthy complexion, headaches, frequent ailments, talk about diets and willpower of stars who managed to achieve ideal proportions.

Let us note that the anorexic himself does not recognize his problem, due to changes in consciousness, which is why the listed signs of the disease should become a warning about a possible danger to the life of a loved one. There is no point in fighting this disease on your own. Lost time can cost the patient's life. Only timely help from a qualified specialist will save a loved one.