Anorexia Nervosa Narrative Essay

It’s only human to wish you looked different or could fix something about yourself. But when a more serious notion with being thin takes over your eating habits, thoughts, and life, it’s a sign of an eating disorder. When you have anorexia, the desire to lose weight becomes more important than anything else. You may even lose the ability to see yourself as you truly are. Anorexia is a serious eating disorder that affects people of all ages. It can damage your health and threaten your life. But you are not alone. There’s help available when you’re ready to make a change. Everyone

The clinical presentation of Anorexia Nervosa are; patient have low body weight, amenorrhea, yellow skin, lanugo, cold extremities, peripheral edema, muscle weakening, constipation, abnormal laboratory values, abnormal computed tomographic scans, electroencephalographic changes, Cardiovascular changes and impaired renal

The disorder is similar to Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD), in that in involves faulty cognitions and perceived deficits in appearance, though is unique in its pattern of behaviors and severity. The DSM 5 criteria for anorexia are, “restriction of energy intake relative to requirements leading to a significantly low body weight in the context of age, sex, developmental trajectory, and physical health,” “intense fear of gaining weight or becoming fat, even though underweight,” and “disturbance in the way in which one's body weight or shape is experienced, undue influence of body weight or shape on self-evaluation, or denial of the seriousness of the current low body weight.” Binge eating and restriction are also facets of the disorder. Because of the vast number of physical symptoms accompanying the disorder (ranging everywhere from amenorrhea to abnormal heart rhythms), anorexia can often be diagnosed by a physician through the use of urine and blood

In the initial stages of anorexia, a youngster may notice that her clothes feel a little snug or her face looks a bit chubbier in the mirror. The scale in the bathroom may confirm her assumption that she has gained a little weight. The only solution to

People with anorexia usually always think they are overweight. They usually limit what they eat, will eat and then make themselves puke, exercise constantly, refuse to eat around other, take diet pills and many more behaviors one with anorexia will do. There are very many symptoms a person with anorexia may have but a few main ones are "blotchy or yellow skin, poor memory, depression, dry mouth, thinning of the bones wasting away muscle and loss of all body fat." If there is someone you know that constantly goes to the restroom after every meal that is one of the biggest signs of an eating disorder (Berger).

Anorexia has early signs and symptoms that become evident after the mental illness begins to take its toll. The beginning of anorexia nervosa is often recognised through warning signs which, if recognised early, can ultimately save an individual from developing deeply into this mental illness. Some danger signs that should be looked out for are rapid weight loss of greater than 10% of healthy weight, an increase in vomiting and exercise, dizziness, fainting, disorientation and also chest pain.(6) These early warning signs eventually worsen and that is when the symptoms of anorexia become even more evident. These symptoms can be broken down into physical, psychological and behavioural categories. A physical symptom impacts on the physiological, or normal functioning of an individual and these are mostly to do with malnutrition. Symptoms can include excessive weight loss without a logical reason, failure to begin a menstrual cycle and loss of libido, fatigue and in worse conditions heart problems and kidney failure.(7) The physical symptoms are often easily recognised and are important to look out for in an individual with suspected anorexia. The psychological effects that anorexia nervosa have on an individual are detrimental to their mental health and put their emotional state at risk.

?Anorexia nervosa, as we know, is a psychological disorder that is defined as the “loss of appetite”. Although the disease is rare and dramatic, in 2007 it was only “affecting about 1% of women and 0.3% of men”(Cacioppo and Freberg, 2013, p.302). Those percentages are low but can equate to a large number of Americans. The biological dangers of anorexia can be very large, including the possibility of death. The disorder carries many symptoms such as low body weight, dry and yellow skin, increased sensitivity to cold, a distorted image of oneself, cardiovascular and gastrointestinal problems.

The three warning signs of anorexia that I believe are the most serious are pretending to eat or lying about eating, dramatic weight loss, and excessively exercising. It is important to eat at least three meals a day so making excuses is a very noticeable and crucial sign. Just like eating too much is a problem, eating too little is the same. Also if you notice significant weight loss in a short amount of time, it is mostly because they are taking dramatic measures to lose weight. This is very unhealthy since everything we do should be moderate; not too fast or too slow. Finally, constantly exercising even through injuries and bad weather just to punish yourself for eating something with high calories is another very serious sign of anorexia.

Anorexia may involve the use of laxatives, diet pills, or self-induced vomiting to lose or to keep weight off (Net Doctor, 2015). Victims may ignore their hunger, chew excessively and choose low calorie food (Eating Disorders, 2015). Anorexics do all these things to become thin, when reality, it makes their body better at storing fat rather than burning it. Anorexic’s starved bodies ache all the time, the skin bruises easily, muscles cramp and deteriorate, and the bowels stop working on their own. The mouth dries and the eyes fog and some actually go blind from food deprivation (Anorexia Nervosa, 2015). For women, menstruation stops, body hair starts to grow especially on the face and arms, and the hair on the head falls out. Dehydration, osteoporosis, kidney stones and kidney failure are common

The effects of Anorexia include; being underweight, fearing gaining weight, bad perception of own body, and depending on the age: absence of their period in women ("Treating Eating Disorders"). Other effects can be; "The physical manifestations of anorexia often include drastic weight loss, erosion of the stomach lining caused by self-induced vomiting, loss of menstruation, anemia and, in severe cases, heart failure. Other symptoms include obsessive exercising and strange eating habits. Anorexics will often play games when they eat, such as not allowing the cutlery to touch their lips; chewing a certain number of times per bite, or arranging the food in certain patterns on their plates" (Goldman). Even after being treated and being brought back to a good health, Anorexia patients can find it hard accepting that they are back to a weight that they used to find uncomfortable to be in (Goldman). Anorexia does not just affect the person whom has it, but the people who care for that person such as family and friends, who are the ones who help the person with it seek

People with anorexia may try to lose weight by starving themselves or by severely limiting the amount of food they eat. They may also exercise too much. Some people may engage in behaviors like, binging and purging. They may induce vomiting after eating or take laxatives. Diagnosis of anorexia has become more prevalent in the last 20 years. Anorexia is typically seen in teenage and young adult women .Women with anorexia have a distorted body image, believing they are fat when they are thin or normal weight. Also patients with anorexia may have a lot of other significant health problems due to the illness. Common illnesses include orthostatic hypotension, bradycardia, amenorrhea, alopecia, and hypothermia. Anorexia also has an effect on serum electrolyte levels and thyroid function, low calcium and potassium levels. Anorexic patients also have some medical problems, like bone density, osteopenia and osteoporosis early on in

“The anorexic person has an intense fear of gaining weight or becoming fat, even though she is obviously underweight” (Kirby 68). Typical characteristics of an anorexic are, “skipping meals, eating in ritualistic ways, grocery shopping or cooking for the entire household but will not eat, always making excuses not to eat, becoming argumentative with people who try to help, having trouble concentrating, denying anger and withdrawing into self and becoming socially isolated” (Kirby 69).

Some of the symptoms for anorexia and bulimia are not very noticeable. A signs of this behavioral is a person’s refusal to eat, or the person being very picky about what they eat. The

Individuals with the binge eating/purging subtype also restrict their food intake, but also regularly engage in binge eating and/or purging behaviors such as self induced vomiting or misuse of laxatives, diuretics, or enemas. Many people move back and forth between subtypes during the course of their illness. Starvation, weight loss, and related medical complications are quite serious and can result in death. People who have an ongoing preoccupation with food and weight even when they are thin would benefit from exploring their thoughts and relationships with a therapist. The term anorexia literally means loss of appetite, but this is a misnomer. In fact, people with anorexia nervosa often ignore hunger signals and thus control their desire to eat. Often they may cook for others and be preoccupied with food and recipes, yet they will not eat themselves. Obsessive exercise that may accompany the starving behavior can cause others to assume falsely that the person must be healthy. (“NAMI”, 2000)

Bulimia Nervosa is surprisingly more common than anorexia. This disorder involves binge eating and then immediate purging of the food by self-induced vomiting, diuretics, enemas, or other medications. It may also be followed by fasting or excessive exercise. These people usually weigh within the normal range for their age and height, but they fear gaining weight and feel intensely unhappy with their bodies. They will almost always hide the behavior due to shame and disgust of the binging, and will feel relieved once they purge.