Anorexia Nervousa
Anorexia Nervousa or Anorexia Nervosa is an eating disorder that can become very serious and even cause death if not attended to as soon as possible. There are over eight thousand people suffering from anorexia today and those numbers are much higher than in the past. One in six of these people are male. It may be surprising to some but males can suffer from anorexia and other eating disorders too. They have the same desire to be thin or have the pressure put on them to become thin. The problem of people feeling like they need to be thin is the fact that some do not have the ability to control themselves and they keep going until they have lost too much weight and are causing serious health problems for themselves. They feel the need to keep losing more because they still see themselves as fat. Being underweight can cause serious health issues and damage all organs of the body just as being overweight or obese can. There are scientific studies with charts to show what the healthy weight level is for everyone according to their height and bone structure. Sometimes an illness or accident will cause us to lose weight and we may go under the level for us but we usually gain the weight back if we do not try to keep the weight off. Being anorexic can cause severe brain, kidney, and heart damage that may not be reversed with treatment.
Signs and symptoms of anorexia are weight loss, abnormal blood count, fatigue, dizziness, fainting, refusal to eat or claiming not to be hungry, excessive exercise, dry skin, constipation, soft hair all over the body, brittle nails, menstruation stops (in females), osteoporosis, low blood pressure, irregular heart beats, lack of emotion, trouble concentrating, skip meals, spitting out food after chewing it, weighing often, looking in mirror often looking for flaws, wearing layered or baggy clothing to hide weight loss, and more. It is sometimes very hard to know a person is anorexic because they can sometimes hide it very well until there are health issues that they can not hide. By that time it will be very difficult for them because there may already be some serious damage done to the body.
Anorexia most often begins in adolescents from 10 to 20 years old. There are a few cases younger and some older. The average age is 17. There are several causes of eating disorders. There is peer pressure, society shows us we need to be thin by splattering the magazines and television with ‘skinny’ people, and the victims also have a low self esteem. They have the need to belong and they feel that losing weight is the way to get there. The problem is that when they lose weight, they do not stop. They keep going past the normal weight for their sex and height. They feel the need to keep going and in their mind they are still fat.
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