What? A disorder related to eating?
Yes. The worst thing about this disorder is people don’t realize that they are living with an eating disorder. Nowadays, people are more concerned about their beauty rather than health. This attitude paves a pathway for their way to death without their knowledge.
An eating disorder is an unknown disorder in which the clinical presentation is mostly pointed towards eating habits. Like there are many varieties in foods, eating disorders have few varieties. They are:
Anorexia - this word is usually a misnomer here. As people don’t experience a lack of appetite. People will be restricting themselves from eating an adequate quantity of food, thinking they are obese. Ironic thing is that those people come under the underweight category.
There will be a constant fear of gaining weight. This fear does not decrease even if they are very thin.
People have distorted views of their body and weight.
Their weight will be <15% of the expected weight.
They will develop the habit of frequent weight checking.
The habit of cutting foods into small pieces or eating them in some specific order.
They refuse to eat food in front of people.
Compared to men, women are commonly affected during their teenage and early adulthood.
During this age, people are starting to be exposed to media where beauty seems to play a major role.
People who are living in an environment where thinness is valued are prone to develop this disorder. Models, athletes, dancers, and professionals that are focused on their body weight are mostly affected. All these stresses can make people develop low self-esteem, loneliness, etc.,
Pinpointing the cause of anorexia nervosa is tough. A complex interaction between genetics and the environment makes people vulnerable to this disorder.
Food is an essential thing for our bodies. If it is not taken in an adequate amount, the body starts to shut down.
Other conditions that cause loss of weight should be ruled out to come to the diagnosis. They are,
Here, people will consume large amounts of food mostly in secrecy. After consumption, they will be guilty and try compensatory measures such as the use of laxatives, self-induction of vomiting, etc. So, these patients have signs produced by the compensatory methods done. They are
These people are usually of normal weight or overweight. Mostly, anorexic people will turn to bulimic.
This disorder is similar to that of bulimia nervosa. Differentiating thing is that people won’t do any compensatory measures. The patient only feels guilty about eating more and gaining weight. This disorder is usually associated with depression and other psychological conditions.
Seeking a psychiatrist is a must. There are some specific measures for each disorder. They are
For anorexia nervosa, refeeding the patient is useful.
Warning: As these patients have low electrolyte levels, refeeding the patient can result in some complications. This can be explained as on feeding, insulin secretion occurs resulting in the consumption of low levels of electrolytes the patient had and thereby making them prone to cardiac death. So hospitalization and monitoring are necessary.
For bulimia nervosa and binge-eating disorder, antidepressants and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors are effective.
In common:
References
Treatment of the underlying cause is helpful in most cases of eating disorders.
Psychogenic vomiting, a clinical syndrome in which biopsychosocial factors produce symptoms in the patient. These patients are well managed with psychotherapy.
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