Symptoms of anorexia

Symptoms of anorexia are a combination of primary and subsequent signs by which you can recognize the onset of this terrible disease and try to prevent its development.

The standard of female beauty in the modern world is thin, graceful and slender girls, shining with their beauty on fashion catwalks and from the screens of Hollywood films. It is no wonder that most teenagers, especially the fair sex, with all the fervor of youthful maximalism, strive to resemble their famous idols in everything. Therefore, they consciously and purposefully refuse food, go on strict diets and simply starve themselves in order to achieve aristocratic pallor and physique like that of well-known stars. But such a mockery of one’s own body does not pass without a trace, most often it leads to the development of such a disease as anorexia.

What is such a disease? Why does it occur and how does it start? What are the first signs of the disease and what should you focus on?

Anorexia and its varieties

The very name “anorexia” is borrowed from the Greek language and literally translated as “no appetite.” It manifests itself in a complete refusal to eat, which leads to a rapid weight loss and entails mental disorders and nervous disorders, the main manifestations of which are a phobia of fullness, a manic desire to lose weight, unreasonable anxiety about increasing body weight, as well as a false painful perception of one’s physical body. forms.

Approximately 80% of patients with anorexia are adolescent girls from twelve to twenty-four years old. The remaining 20% ​​are older women and men.

The worst thing is that this disease leads to very sad consequences and in 20% of cases ends in death, the vast majority of which is suicide. Anorexia is considered an occupational disease of models, where it accounts for approximately 72% of cases. Timely qualified medical care leads to a complete recovery of patients only in 40-50%.

Unfortunately, this disease has become so deeply embedded in everyday life, has spread so widely among the population, that in some countries it is forbidden at the legislative level to give work to excessively thin models or anorexic models with unhealthy thinness.

This disease has several varieties.

According to the mechanism of development, anorexia happens:

• neurotic – when food refusal is caused by a strong negative emotional background, pathologically affecting the cerebral cortex;
• neurodynamic – when the decrease and loss of appetite are due to the impact on the brain of strong non-emotional stimuli, such as, for example, strong and intense pain;
• neuropsychiatric – otherwise neurological, nervous, psychogenic anorexia or cachexia, which occurs against the background of a purposeful and conscious refusal to eat and is considered as a severe mental disorder – one of the varieties of self-destruction, classified by several degrees of severity.

According to the causative factors, anorexia is divided into:

• true anorexia – mental anorexia, in which refusal to eat is caused by severe endocrine, mental or somatic disorders, due to disturbances in the functioning of the digestive center in the cerebral cortex;
• false anorexia – more similar to nervous, when the refusal to eat is due to a critical attitude towards one’s own appearance, the conviction of one’s own inferiority and imperfection.

Children’s varieties of anorexia:

• primary – a disease caused by failures and disorders in the baby’s nutrition;
• secondary – anorexia, provoked by disturbances in the work of the digestive organs or any other systems.

Recently, scientists have identified another type of anorexia – senile, when completely healthy older people begin to refuse food, become discouraged, apathetic, and rapidly lose weight. It turns out that biological changes in the body caused by an increase in the level of certain hormones are to blame. However, senile anorexia is just as dangerous as nervous anorexia – the privilege of the younger generation.

Signs and symptoms of a psychological disorder

The initial symptoms of the disease are most often expressed in:

• the patient’s dissatisfaction with his body, a constant feeling of fullness and extra pounds of weight;
• rejection of the presence of serious problems in the patient;
• a noticeable reduction in portions, eating while standing;
• sleep disturbance and insomnia;
• depression, increased irritability and resentment, sometimes aggressiveness;
• phobias get better;
• manic sports, with an ever-increasing load;
• refusal of various events where eating is planned;
• frequent and long visits to the toilet;
• zealous enthusiasm for various strict diets.

Speaking about the symptoms of this disease, they often mean anorexia nervosa, since its true form is only the result of the underlying disease. The symptoms of anorexia are very diverse, and many symptoms appear only at any particular stage of the disease.

The first symptoms to look out for are the symptoms of eating behavior. These include:

• a manic desire to lose weight at normal weight or its deficit;
• fatphobia – fear of fullness;
• regular avoidance of eating for various reasons;
• looping thoughts on calories, weight loss, diet food;
• fractional nutrition, a sharp reduction in the number of usual portions;
• thorough and prolonged chewing of food;
• avoiding activities that involve eating.

Mental health symptoms are as follows:

• severe apathy, constant depression and depression;
• inattention and distraction;
• low performance;
• insomnia and restless sleep;
• obsessive thoughts about losing weight, obsession with ways to lead to this;
• denial of one’s own appearance, disgust for weakness, dissatisfaction with the results achieved;
• mental instability;
• feeling of own worthlessness and uselessness;
• rejection of oneself as a sick person, refusal of treatment;
• rejection of an active lifestyle.

Other behavioral changes associated with this disease include:

• the desire for heavy physical exertion, irritation when it is impossible to achieve the goals;
• preference for baggy, loose clothing of any other, believing that in this way their imperfect body will not be noticeable;
• fanatical beliefs, the upholding of which causes embitterment and aggression;
• desire for introversion, avoidance of mass gatherings, avoidance of any society;
• easy rapprochement with like-minded people.

Physiological manifestations of anorexia symptoms:

• weight loss by 30% of the norm;
• general weakness, fainting and dizziness, as a result of a strong decrease in pressure and poor circulation;
• growth of vellus hair all over the body, baldness;
• decreased potency and libido;
• violations of the menstrual cycle, up to the complete cessation of menstruation, infertility;
• constant feeling of cold, blue fingertips and nose;
• tendency to fracture, increased bone fragility.

With prolonged refusal of food, other external signs appear that can be distinguished into separate categories.

Symptoms of anorexia in girls

Girls are more susceptible to this disease than men. It is especially pronounced in adolescent girls with their youthful maximalism, which manifests itself in almost everything. Here is how this disease manifests itself in the fair sex:

• earthy complexion, thin and dry skin;
• fragility and painful appearance of hair and nails;
• pronounced thinness of the whole body;
• frequent headaches;
• pain in the epigastric region;
• general weakness and malaise;
• insomnia and sleep disorders;
• dysmenorrhea and amenorrhea leading to infertility;
• dystrophy of internal organs;
• coma and death.

Symptoms of anorexia in men

In men, the disease proceeds a little differently than in women. However, they are also susceptible to this disease to varying degrees.

The main signs of anorexia in a strong half of humanity:

• counting calories;
• passion for diets;
• constant weight control;
• passion for hard physical exercises;
• tendency to alcoholism;
• causeless aggressiveness;
• decreased potency and sexual desire.

The external signs of this disease in men include:

• excessive thinness of the whole body;
• dryness and pallor of the skin;
• hair loss;
• irritability and chronic fatigue;
• organic lesions of the brain.

Symptoms of anorexia in children and adolescents

Anorexia in children is also very common, especially among girls. However, the psyche of a child is not yet fully formed and is better influenced than the psyche of an adult. Therefore, by identifying the disease in the early stages, parents can help children get rid of it once and for all.

Signs indicating the presence of anorexia in children are:

• loss of appetite, refusal to eat, complete aversion to any kind of food;
• sunken eyes and bruises under them;
• significant weight loss, dry skin;
• increased irritability, insomnia;
• frequent tantrums;
• decline in performance.

In adolescents, this disease is characterized by an obsession with losing weight and dissatisfaction with their own figure.

Signs of anorexia in teenagers:

• sharp weight loss;
• adherence to strict diets;
• secrecy and depression;
• insomnia or drowsiness;
• excessive physical exertion;
• protruding collarbones and ribs;
• yellowish scaly skin;
• dull, brittle hair;
• swollen joints of the hands and feet;
• puffy face and sunken eyes.

Symptoms at different stages of anorexia

This disease has several stages of development, each of which is characterized by the presence of certain symptoms:

1. Dysmorphic stage. She is characterized by thoughts about her own ugliness and inferiority, disgust for her own body due to seeming fullness. At this stage, there is a feeling of depression and constant anxiety, there is a need for a long stay near the mirrors, the first attempts to refuse food and loss of appetite, the desire for an ideal figure with the help of various strict diets.
2. anorexic stage. Of the most characteristic symptoms at this stage, there are: significant weight loss, a state of euphoria, tightening of diets, and excessive physical activity. Hypotension and bradycardia, dry skin, constant chilliness appear. There is a decrease in sexual desire and potency, the cessation of the menstrual cycle in women and spermatogenesis in men. Often at this stage, the work of the adrenal glands is disrupted, and tolerance to the feeling of hunger also arises.
3. cachectic stage. The last stage of anorexia is characterized by the following signs: irreversible dystrophy of internal organs, weight loss up to 50% of the original, protein-free swelling, hypokalemia, metabolic disorders. At this stage, the disease is irreversible.

In conclusion

Anorexia is a severe mental disorder characterized by a complete or partial refusal to eat under the influence of various causes and factors.

It manifests itself to a greater extent in young girls and women, but the risk of developing anorexia in children, men and adolescents is not excluded.

Symptoms of the disease are similar to each other and increase as the disease progresses. At the last stage of anorexia, even with qualified medical care, the changes that occur in the body are irreversible and almost always lead to death.

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