Anorexia nervosa is a disease that is basically defined as an eating disorder. As a personality, it is mostly seen in perfectionist, hardworking and ambitious people. It has very similar features with bulimia nervosa disease.
What is Anorexia Nervosa?
For detailed information about eating disorders, What is Eating Disorders? and detailed information about bulimia nervosa. What is Bulimia Nervosa?
Anorexia nervosa is a psychological disorder that affects both the body and the mind, especially in young women, who show signs of not eating, sleeping very little, but trying to live a very active life without gathering energy from food or sleep. It is known as the disease of our age and it is quite dangerous. According to the surveys, this disease is seen in 1% of young girls.
People with this disease have a fear of being overweight or think they are overweight. Therefore, they tend to eat little or no food. Accordingly, the disease has both physical and psychological characteristics.
Eating little or even not eating at all causes the person to be exaggeratedly thin. In fact, this disease causes changes in a person's hormone levels. This situation is very dangerous for the person because it can lead to unhealthy menstruation in women. Since people eat little or even not eat at all, they are indirectly without energy and powerless, and they also feel cold all the time.
Early diagnosis and treatment is necessary to stop the devastating effects of the disease on physical health. If patients are not treated, the disease may become chronic; there are even those who lost their lives among individuals with anorexia who were left without treatment for a long time. The cause of death is usually other diseases that developed in addition to the disease. Examples of these diseases are osteoporosis (bone loss), kidney damage and heart diseases.
In general, this disease starts with the thought of dieting and becomes uncontrollable over time. These people with obsessive thoughts think only about diet, food and weight in their life and manage their lives accordingly.
The disease is usually adolescent Although it starts in childhood, it can also start in adults, although it is rare. Therefore, adolescents should be observed especially in terms of their body perceptions. In other words; This disease is usually seen in young people between the ages of 15-25. However, this does not mean that it will never be seen in children younger than 10 years old or in the elderly.
What are the Symptoms of Anorexia Nervosa? How Can the Family Understand Anorexia Nervosa?
Attention should be paid to the common symptoms of anorexia nervosa, especially in adolescent girls.
- Severe weight loss as a result of not eating or eating very little,
- vomiting this food after eating much more than it should in a short time,
- Increased hair growth on the person's body,
- Being constantly depressed and anxious because it is a disease that affects psychology,
- Having trouble sleeping,
- Eating due to being obsessed with weight Besides not eating, doing very heavy exercises,
- Thinking that he is overweight even when he is weak and afraid of gaining weight,
- Constantly thinking about food, weight and diet,
- If the person is female, not having menstruation for 3 months,
- It causes gastrointestinal system disorders such as stomach pains, constipation and diarrhea,
- Seeing negative effects on skin and hair due to insufficient nutrition,
- Continuous vomiting after eating and damage to tooth enamel due to acid coming into the mouth from the stomach and tooth decay are the most common symptoms.
What Causes Anorexia?
The true cause of this disease is unknown. It is a disease that occurs in a person as a result of the combination of more than one factor. There are some social and physical factors that increase the risk of developing this disease. Examples of these factors are:
- Having an eating disorder such as anorexia nervosa or bulimia nervosa in the family or in the immediate environment,
- Dealing with work done using your body, (For example, dancing, ballet , modeling, or gymnastics.)
- Social pressure suggesting that you have to be too thin to be sexually attractive
- Stress,
- Divorce, moving, school Going through difficult experiences such as changing or losing a loved one
- Growing up sexually is the confusion that comes with adolescents.
How to Treat Anorexia Disease?
Anorexia nervosa disease is a severe disease in which up to 10% of patients are unfortunately lost due to various reasons. Since the onset of this disease is usually psychological, it is recommended that the person receive the support of a psychiatrist. After the psychological phase of the disease, medical support is absolutely necessary in order to treat the disorders in the body caused by eating disorders.
The family has a great role in the treatment and diagnosis of this disease, which is generally seen in adolescence. Families need to be aware of this. In addition, since it is a psychological disease, it is very important for the family to support the child during the treatment. Diagnosing and starting treatment before the disease progresses and causes major problems in the body greatly affects the rate of recovery from the disease.
The treatment of this disease is usually done by specialist physicians in the hospital and outpatient. The aim of the treatment is to return the person's eating habits to their old and healthy order and thus to eliminate the bodily problems caused by the disordered eating pattern in the body. In the psychological phase of this treatment, the main goals are to make the person reconcile with his own body, to correct the wrong judgments about his body and weight or about his eating pattern. In the psychological phase of the treatment, methods such as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) can be applied.
Due to various diseases caused by anorexia nervosa in the body, the person must use certain drugs recommended by his physician during the treatment. In addition, in some cases, the use of antidepressants is recommended.
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