ANOREXIA NERVOSA - Symptoms & Causes

Anorexia Nervosa is a condition where one is obsessed with their weight, shape and a control over food to the point of becoming too thin and unhealthy and yet deny anything is wrong.

Losing weight is the never-ending goal via refusing to eat, exercise, diuretics, laxatives and vomiting. This behavior can lead to severe health problems and death.



Physical Symptoms:

• weight loss of 15% below average or more
• too thin, bony appearance
• abnormal blood counts
• fatigue, dizziness, fainting
• brittle nails, osteoporosis
• hair thins, breaks easily or falls out
• body becomes covered with a soft "peach fuzz"
• in females, menstruation stops or skips often
• constipation
• dry skin
• very sensitive to cold
• irregular heart beat, low blood pressure
• dehydration
• erosion of tooth enamel from vomiting

Emotional & Behavioral Symptoms:

• refusal to eat or eats very little
• denial of being hungry when one should be
• excessive exercise
• lack of emotions
• difficulty concentrating
• preoccupied with food
• constantly makes excuses for not eating
• has an unusual list of "safe" or "unsafe" foods
• develops unusual eating rituals
• weighs food
• counts calories of everything eaten
• vomits after eating
• weighs self often
• checks body image in mirror often
• wears big or bulky clothes to hide "fat" body
• often complains about being fat

The cause of Anorexia Nervosa is unknown. It is suspected that a combination of factors cause it including biology, psychology and culture. Scientists are trying to isolate a responsible gene and are studying the hypothalamus and neurotransmitters (brain chemicals) to find contributory causes.

Biological Suspects:

• Genetics- women with sisters or mothers with Anorexia are more likely to develop it themselves. Studies of twins suggest a genetic link as well
• 95% of anorexia sufferers are female
• Anorexia Nervosa is most common in Caucasians
• Serotonin is suspected of playing a role

Psychological Suspects:

• Low self esteem
• Poor body image
• Obsessive Compulsive traits
• Drive for perfectionism in endeavors- school, sports, body
• Fear of growing up/maturing into an adult and thus becoming independent/leave family behind

Cultural Suspects:

• Dancers, ballerinas and models are pressured to be thin
• Athletes such as runners, wrestlers, figure skaters and gymnasts are pressured to keep their weight down
• Role models in the media (television, magazines, films) are thin

Science suggests that certain people are susceptible or vulnerable to becoming anorexic and that some life event triggers it:

• Compliments on weight loss during a diet cause the person to become obsessed with losing more without having a healthy goal or target weight
• Ridicule or teasing about gained weight or about current weight
• Coach or parent suggest weight should be lost to excel at sports, dance or other endeavor
• Puberty causes some people to become negatively sensitive about their changing weight and shape. Anorexia is most like to start during teenage years but can start at any age.
• Transitions such as a new home, school, job, breaking up of a relationship, or death/illness of a family member or loved one causes a strong need to regain control over own life

Today, many schools and doctors are monitoring Body Mass Index (BMI) and letting the parents know when their child's too-high or too -low weight endangers their health. Some countries fashion houses are implementing rules for their models regarding minimum age and BMI.

Here is a link for you to calculate your BMI:
http://www.nhlbisupport.com/bmi/bmicalc.htm

For a listing and some pictures of famous people who have or have died from anorexia/bulimia click on http://brainsyoursmineours.blogspot.com/2009/01/famous-people-with-eating-disorders.html#links

Click on this link to read about the treatment of anorexia and bulimia http://brainsyoursmineours.blogspot.com/2009/01/anorexia-bulimia-treatment.html#links

Be aware.

Intervene.

Save a friend.

AUTISM - The Basic Facts

Autism is a very complicated subject. There are heated debates and fears over the causes. There are arguments over treatments and cures. It's a messy subject with a whole lot of information and misinformation to sort through.

Let's start from the beginning to try and understand autism...

First, there is "Austism Spectrum Disorders." It's an all-encompassing phrase for a group of different developmental problems. Some of these "problems" within the realm of ASD include Autism, Asperger's, Childhood Disintegrative Disorder, Rett's Disorder and Pervasive Developmental Disorder.

Now let's talk about one of these - autism. It is defined as a serious ASD that shows up in a child by the age of three. There are several kinds of autism, all of which affect the child's ability to communicate and interact with other people. About 4 or 5 out of every 1000 children in the USA have been diagnosed with some type of autism.

At this time there is no "cure" for autism but early intervention and continual treatment can help lessen it's impact on the child's life. Be wary of anyone claiming to cure autism - they might offer ways to help the child handle life better, but they do not have a cure. They are hoping you are desparate and are out for your money!

The symptoms of autism affect the ability to interact with others, language skills, and behavior. Autism varies in severity and each person's symptoms are different from the next. People with severe autism do not interact or communicate with others at all.

The social skills of someone with autism might include failure to respond when their name is called, poor or no eye contact, doesn't react to hearing sounds or words, resists physical contact such as touching, holding, hugging or cuddling and prefers to be alone during play. They don't point to pictures during the reading of a story book. This lack of interaction affects their future language skills.

Language is also affected by autism. Symptoms include delayed speech (first words or short phrases come late), verbal skills regress after previously acquiring them, doesn't look at person they are talking to, unusual speech tone or rhythm, can't maintain a conversation, repeats words or phrases but doesn't understand what's being said, and asks questions or make statements repetitively.

The behavior that is seen in people with autism includes repetitive movements, routine or ritual movements that must be done, is very bothered by small changes in routine, constantly moves, might become overly fascinated with an object and they might become overly sensitive to lights, sounds or touch and yet, undersensitive to pain.

The development of an autistic child can be a roller coaster. Typically, as the child matures, he or she does develop in a positive direction, it's just much slower than the average child's pace. They will learn new things, develop skills and interact a little bit with others. But then the adolescent years might bring regression of behavior issues.

Children will autism have low, average, and high intelligence just like the rest of us. Some are slow learners and some are fast learners. It's the autism that gets in the way, affecting one's language and social skills as well as ability to apply the knowledge that's in their head. Some children with autism are "gifted" with a certain skill such as incredible knowledge on a single subject, trivia collection, or their abilities in music, art or math.

The causes of autism are a heated subject these days. It's a very complex disease and scientists suspect there are many different causes. Right now everything is a theory, nothing is fact. Currently, the suspected causes are genetic errors (brain cells multiplied/reproduced with a defect), the environment (pollution, viruses, toxins), and the age of the father (babies born to fathers over the age of 40 have a six times higher incidence of autism as compared to babies of fathers under 30), and gender (boys are over 3 times more likely than girls to have autism).

There is current research into problems during labor and delivery, the immune system, and a part of the brain called the amygdala to see if there is any connection with autism.

There has been a recent unfounded hysteria about immunizations causing autism. Some parents believe these rumors to be true and are refusing to get their children measles-mumps-rubella MMR shots. This puts the child at risk for these other diseases and some preschools, school districts and towns are now experiencing epidemics of measles, mumps and rubella. These other diseases can cause brain damage, blindness and death.

Let's set the record straight. There has been no scientific study to find a link between getting a shot and autism. Some people point their fingers at a medication preservative called Thimerosal the use of which was discontinued back in 2001. If Thimerosal was the cause, then we should have seen a sudden drop after 2002 in the numbers of children diagnosed with autism. This hasn't happened.

Now let's talk about treatments and medication. Behavior therapies teach new skills, reduce problem behaviors, and foster proper interaction in a social setting, Educational therapies set up highly structured programs to help with learning and socialization. Medication can help reduce symptoms such as anxiety, obsessive compulsive disorders and severe behavior problems.

There are also "alternative therapies" to help (not cure) such as the use of art, music or sensory activities to help reduce a child's oversensitivity to physical stimuli; special diets that prescribe extra vitamins and minerals and avoidance of food allergans; and there is "chelation" therapy - a way to remove mercury from the body.

Whatever you chose to do for your child, you will need a team of doctors, therapists and teachers to help your child attain their potential. Do your research on therapies and don't throw your money at anyone trying to sell you a miracle cure.

Source - Mayo Clinic

FINDING A DOCTOR ON THE INTERNET

Years ago when someone needed a specialist, their GP recommended someone or they had to pull out the phone book and started making calls. Sometimes quite a few phone calls had to be made to find the right doctor, especially if the problem was uncommon- do they treat your sitution? do they take your insurance? what ages do they accept? Are they a tolerable driving distance? It was a lot of work.

Word of mouth or "buzz" is another way to find a doctor but people tend to keep their psychiatric, addiction and relationship problems private. The plastic surgeons and Botox doctors tend to benefit best by "buzz."

So here we are in the 21st century and we're still needing help finding the right doctor. Luckily we have the internet which allows the matching of doctors to patients to be a two-way process, instead of one-way, that is much faster and easier.

From the patient's point-of-view, he or she can check out the yellowpages.com, get onto the insurance company's website, or do an internet search using the name of the malady to find specialists, partnerships and groups that treat the problem.

From the doctor's side, he or she can set up a website listing what kinds of situations they specialize in as well as their location and what insurance they accept. They can also do some blog marketing and use blog advertising.

The way psychiatrists and psychologists do this is by placing ads that will pop up on blogs with content similar to their field of practice. Chances are the person reading the blog might also be looking for a doctor for a similar problem. That's one way they can find their target audience.

Manufacturers of medicine do the same thing. For example, you might see ads pop up on my blog for anti-depressants, practices that specialize in OCD, or someone selling the latest book on anxiety and phobias.

Sometimes a new practice, medicine or proceedure needs to be introduced to the world. One thing these companies can do is contact Snapbomb who then asks its members to read and learn about the subject and then write up an article to be published on the internet. These people get paid to write the articles and post them on their blogs. The pay is determined by (1) what the customer wants to pay for their blog advertising and (2) the quality of the blog site (traffic volume, quality of past articles).

I was told by my creative writing teacher in college that writing can be good for the mind, rather therapeutic, and she was right. I enjoy writing in my blogs and for Snapbomb. I'm just a newbie right now so I'm not getting rich (yet) but it's something for my wallet. If you'd like to be paid for writing click on http://www.snapbomb.com/bloggers.html?acp=7551. Just type in your contact and blog information and get started. It's therpeutic and, who knows, you just might write about something that helps you out!

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