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.

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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