Overview

An eating disorder is a compulsion to eat, or avoid eating, that negatively affects both one's physical and mental health. Eating disorders are all encompassing. They affect every part of the person's life. According to the authors of Surviving an Eating Disorder, "feelings about work, school, relationships, day-to-day activities and one's experience of emotional well being are determined by what has or has not been eaten or by a number on a scale." Anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa are the most common eating disorders generally recognized by medical classification schemes, with a significant diagnostic overlap between the two. Together, they affect an estimated 5-7% of females in the United States during their lifetimes. There is a third type of eating disorder currently being investigated and defined - Binge Eating Disorder. This is a chronic condition that occurs when an individual consumes huge amounts of food during a brief period of time and feels totally out of control and unable to stop their eating. It can lead to serious health conditions such as morbid obesity, diabetes, hypertension, and cardiovascular disease.

Monday, January 25, 2010

People With Anorexia Can Develop Many Secondary Problems

The signs of anorexia are quite obvious as someone with this disorder usually looks abnormally thin. He or she may go to extreme measures to lose weight by:

Making her or himself throw up
Taking pills to urinate or have a bowel movement
Taking diet pills
Not eating or eating very little
Exercising a lot, even in bad weather or when hurt or tired
Weighing food and counting calories
Eating very small amounts of only certain foods
Moving food around the plate instead of eating it

People with anorexia may also have a distorted body image show by:

Thinking she or he is fat
Wearing baggy clothes
Weighing her or himself many times a day
Fearing weight gain

Anorexia also sometimes causes people to not act like her or himself. She or he may:

Talk about weight and food all the time
Not eat in front of others
Be moody or sad
Not want to go out with friends

People with anorexia may have other psychiatric and physical illnesses that include:

Depression
Anxiety
Obsessive behavior
Substance abuse
Issues with the heart and/or brain
Problems with physical development

When a person has anorexia the body does not get the energy from foods that it needs, so the body slows down:

Brain and Nerves can't think right, fear of gaining weight, sad, moody, irritable, bad memory, fainting, changes in brain chemistry
Hair thins and gets brittle
Heart has slow rate, low blood pressure, fluttering of the heart (palpitations), heart failure
Blood: anemia and other blood problems
Muscles, joints and bones: Weak muscles, swollen joints, bone loss, fractures, osteoporosis
Kidneys: Kidney stones, kidney failure
Body Fluids: Low potassium, magnesium, and sodium
Intestines: Constipation and bloating
Hormones: Periods stop, problems growing, trouble getting pregnant. If pregnant, higher risk for miscarriage, having a C-section, baby with low birth weight, and post partum depression
Skin: Bruise easily, dry skin, growth of fine hair all over body, get cold easily, yellow skin, nails get brittle.

Disclaimer: This article is for information only. Please consult a professional health care provider for all health problems. This article is not meant to diagnose or treat individuals.



Autor: Connie Limon

Written by: Connie Limon Please visit my website for more information about eating disorders at http://smalldogs2.com/EatingDisorders


Added: January 25, 2010
Source: http://ezinearticles.com/

Posted by admin at 5:42 AM

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