Anorexia nervosa

 

Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder that affects the eating habits of an individual. An individual suffering from this disorder tends to avoid taking in food as they think that eating would increase their body weight. They also tend to over exercise in order to maintain their weight as they have a negative body image. 

Anorexia nervosa is a serious disorder that might affect the sufferer’s health. The fear of gaining weight, refusal to maintain healthy body weight and a negative body image are few signs that show that an individual might be suffering from this eating disorder. The sufferer’s priority might be his body, food and dieting, these individuals tend to think about reducing body weight during the day. Extreme weight loss, insomnia, dizziness, reduction in volume of the scalp hair, low blood pressure, etc are few physical symptoms that imply that a person might be suffering from this disorder. 

There are two types of anorexia, the resisting type and the purging type. A person suffering from the refusal type refuses to eat, thus attaining their goal which is weight loss and the purging type achieve weight loss by forcefully vomiting out food they have taken. Refusing to eat, denying hunger, afraid of gaining weight, etc are some of the emotional behavior exhibited by these individuals.

Several complications also arise in those suffering from this disorder. In individuals suffering from this disorder abnormal heart rates are quite common. These individuals also tend to suffer from gastric disorders such as constipation and also tend have a change in enzymes function and liver damage.

This disorder also effects kidneys and bone density and also causes other physical complications.
Treatment that is provided for this condition focuses on weight gain, either a patient is fed through feeding tubes or the sufferer is prescribed a well balanced diet; this is done to treat malnutrition. Psychological treatments and counseling help prevent an individual from relapsing into this condition.