To be as thin as a stick, to eat nothing,Fit into a size zero – this is what many representatives of the fair sex strive for. The only thing they need to be happy is a guidebook on “How to Bring Yourself to Anorexia in Twenty Days”. True, some weight loss guides resemble such literature. Do you think all this is funny and stupid? In fact, this trend is depressing. Unfortunately, anorexia is gaining more and more popularity every day among both young nymphets and women of respectable age. Modern girls believe that protruding ribs and a pulled-in belly are fashionable. Every second woman exhausts herself with various diets and physical exercises, which brings the body to complete exhaustion. Someone wants to change their appearance to become like their favorite model, while others decide on such a desperate step because of their complexes. But, striving for perfection, you should not forget about your own body and its needs. Those who regularly go on diets sometimes cannot stop to return to their usual lifestyle and diet. In such a short time, the body loses not only extra pounds, but also nutrients. Therefore, it is very important to know what anorexia is and why it is dangerous.
Types of anorexia and its manifestations
Anorexia is a syndrome thatcharacterized by a lack of appetite or a conscious refusal to eat. At the same time, if you continue to lose weight, the stomach will simply not be able to digest food. Even a spoonful of soup will not be absorbed by the body. So, there are several types of anorexia:
- Primary Anorexia
This disease begins with the fact thatthe girl simply stops feeling hungry. The reasons for this condition may lie in hormonal imbalances, neurological pathologies or malignant tumors. Therefore, if you have no appetite for a long time, you should urgently undergo a medical examination.
- Mental anorexia
In this case, there is a complete loss of feeling.hunger or intentional refusal to eat. This happens due to a sharp suppression of appetite due to mental illness: depressive, catatonic states, etc. Unfortunately, this is rarely noticed in time. A woman is simply unable to understand that she does not want to eat.
- Anorexia nervosa
Stress, problems at work and in the family, strongpsycho-emotional stress – all of the above can lead to the development of anorexia. This requires the intervention of a qualified psychologist who will help to understand the current situation.
- Medicinal anorexia
In some cases, this condition may occurbring various anorexigenic substances that suppress hunger. Often, girls who abuse antidepressants lose their appetite. This type of anorexia is considered the most common and can lead to serious consequences.
Symptoms of anorexia: diagnosis of the disease
The most obvious symptom of anorexia issevere weight loss, which becomes noticeable when the patient's body is very close to exhaustion. It is possible to detect this pathology in the early stages, but unfortunately, this is not always possible. You should be wary if a person often refuses to eat, citing the fact that he recently ate or has a stomach ache. At the same time, he can talk a lot about various diets, the calorie content of foods. Often, women deliberately induce vomiting after a heavy dinner, do enemas to cleanse their bodies. As the disease progresses, a person suffering from anorexia constantly feels unwell, gets tired quickly, and sometimes even loses consciousness. Dull, brittle hair, a bluish tint to the skin on the arms and legs, sunken eyes - all these are also signs of the disease. The patient is constantly cold, since the body does not have enough energy to warm up. The arms, back, stomach are covered with a layer of thin hair, with the help of which the body tries to retain heat. In addition, osteoporosis often develops, the digestion process is disrupted, and there may be disruptions in the central nervous system. As a rule, patients with anorexia constantly experience a feeling of fear associated with weight gain. At the same time, it completely covers all feelings and emotions, and does not let go of a person even when he is one step away from death due to exhaustion. The main causes of anorexia are low self-esteem, which also acts as one of the main symptoms of this serious disease. The victim of anorexia believes that her body weight and figure parameters are closely related to self-perception and personal status. Patients very often deny the danger of their own condition and cannot realistically assess their weight.
Treatment of anorexia: Is it possible to cope with this alone?
Treatment of advanced forms of anorexia is sometimestakes more than one year. On average, the recovery period takes 5 years. In this case, the patient must want and strive to get rid of this disease. Otherwise, after leaving the hospital, the girl will start starving again. About 60% of the total number of patients who begin a course of therapy for anorexia return to their previous full life. More than 20% recover almost completely. However, in order to avoid possible complications, they need to undergo regular examination and additional treatment. The first stage of therapy is to restore the patient's physical health. In some cases, patients are hospitalized in a particularly serious condition. And they need not only parenteral nutrition, which involves the installation of a system (IV drip), but also treatment for the consequences of anorexia, which are often very dangerous. After the patient's condition is stabilized, he is helped to return to normal weight, gradually accustoming him to food. Then psychotherapeutic treatment begins, during which the patient and an experienced specialist look for the causes of the disease and ways to solve it. Cognitive behavioral psychotherapy is used to rid the patient of a distorted idea of \u200b\u200bhis body. For example, in one clinic, girls were forced to constantly look in the mirror so that they could get used to their figure. At the same time, all fashion magazines were banned in this institution. Sometimes antidepressants can be prescribed, which help to overcome fear and some other problems. However, their long-term use is undesirable. This is done in extreme cases, when a woman flatly refuses to admit that she has problems.
Effects of anorexia: what is fraught with starvation
Today, anorexia has become something of an epidemic.Usually young girls aged 14 to 18 suffer from this. They deliberately resort to such torture in order to look like their idols. And many representatives of the fair sex do not consider anorexia a disease. For them, giving up food is one of the ways to lose weight. But not everything is as simple as it seems at first glance. What is the danger of prolonged fasting? With anorexia, a person experiences a decrease in blood pressure and a slow pulse. In addition, there is a weakening of the myocardium - the heart muscle, which leads to the development of cardiovascular insufficiency. Very often, the disease is accompanied by a decrease in the level of potassium, magnesium and sodium - minerals that are necessary for the normal functioning of our body. Over time, persistent and severe dehydration occurs, and anemia develops. Women experience a disorder of the menstrual cycle and a decrease in the level of hormones in the blood. If this anomaly is not detected in time and appropriate treatment is not carried out, then a person suffering from anorexia can reach the extreme degree of exhaustion - cachexia, which very often leads to death. How to understand if you have problems with your body weight? You can find out your ideal weight using a simple formula. Your normal weight = Your height - 100 cm. Your ideal weight = Your normal weight - 10%. For example, your height is 175 cm. Your normal weight = 175 cm - 100 cm = 75 kg. Your ideal weight = 75 kg - 10% = 67.5 kg.
