Signs of anorexia in women – how to accurately recognize the disease?

There are 2 main types of beauty. The first is sweet and gentle: plump, ruddy cheeks, pure white skin, large expressive eyes and rounded shapes. The second is elegant and sexy: exquisite sunken cheeks, distinctly beautiful cheekbones and a slender body … It is the last image that anorexia patients are guided by.

However, if professional make-up artists, stylists and photo correctors put their hand to the appearance of models, then girls who are deprived of this knowledge and experience become victims of their own trap.

Colady will talk about why women are often faced with such a dangerous disease as anorexia, and how to recognize it at an early stage.

See also: Modern treatment of anorexia.

The content of the article:

Types of anorexia in women

In case of anorexia, which can be caused by various factors, experts distinguish following forms:

• Mental anorexia occurs with mental disorders that are accompanied by a loss of hunger. For example, with schizophrenia, paranoia or advanced stages of depression. In addition, it can appear after the use of psychotropic substances, for example, prolonged use of alcohol.
• Symptomatic anorexia is only a symptom of a serious physical illness. For example, with diseases of the lungs, stomach and intestines, the hormonal system and gynecological disorders. So the refusal to eat with acute respiratory infections of moderate severity or alcohol intoxication occurs due to the special adaptive reactions of the body, which focuses on the treatment, and not on the digestion of food.
• Nervous (psychological) anorexia similar to psychic only in name. The first difference is that the patient deliberately restricts himself in food and is afraid to gain more than 15% in weight. The second difference is the impaired perception of one’s own body.
• Medicinal anorexia appears as a result of exceeding the dose of an antidepressant, anorexigenic substance or psychostimulants.

Causes of anorexia in women

Anorexia, like bulimia, is an eating disorder.

Psychologists say that it all starts with trying to lose weight. But having reached the correct weight, the girl does not stop the diet, continuing to starve and lose weight. In the process of losing weight, she can no longer adequately assess her figure. Even when those around them speak face to face about ugliness, they do not respond to the truth and continue to lose weight. This is how the addiction to the idea of ​​”losing weight” begins.

Undoubtedly, understanding and embodying your desires is a great happiness for a healthy person. However, addicts do not know how to correctly recognize and control their needs. And this applies not only to food – often they do not at all understand what they want from life: with whom and where to live and communicate, what to wear, etc. To put it simply, they don’t know how to want.

Followed people are at the mercy of other people’s attitudes. This position is formed in childhood: if the baby is constantly monitored and not allowed to show his “I”, first parents, then friends and school, then “recognized authorities” (the so-called idols).

Read also: Psychosomatics and Your Diseases.

Which women are prone to anorexia

Often, girls who have the following personality traits are faced with this disease:

• Dislike, which is based on low self-esteem. If children do not feel that they are loved, they begin to evaluate themselves inadequately. Therefore, it is very important to praise your children and build their self-esteem.
• Nervousness provokes refusal to eat. The more stress, the less the need for food. It happens that a person even forgets and loses the habit of eating.
• Loneliness exacerbates the problem, while hanging out with friends helps to be social and resilient to everyday stress.
• Striving to prove superiority may be caused by unhappy love or divorce. It usually follows a diet-hunger-disease pattern.
• Stereotypesbreaking children’s precarious notions of health and beauty.

The first signs of anorexia in women – when to sound the alarm?

• Restriction or refusal to eat;
• High physical activity along with minimal nutrition;
• Thin subcutaneous fat layer;
• Flabby or atrophied muscles;
• Flat stomach and sunken eyes;
• Brittle nails;
• Looseness or loss of teeth;
• Pigmented spots on the skin;
• Dryness and hair loss;
• Hemorrhages or boils;
• Low blood pressure and irregular pulse;
• Dehydration;
• Violation or cessation of menstruation;
• Decreased sex drive;
• Unstable mood;
• Depression;
• Pallor.

Anorexia disease damages all organs and tissues, because irreversible changes at the cellular level. The cell does not receive the building material (protein) and ceases to perform its functions, which leads to an incurable disease of organs and systems, up to and including disability. It is very important not to miss the onset of anorexia, because urgent measures will help avoid serious consequences…

When confirming the diagnosis of the initial stage of anorexia, it is necessary to observe balanced high-calorie dietby gradually introducing more complex foods into the diet.

How to recognize anorexia at an early stage – video

Psychosomatics of anorexia in women – commentary by a social psychologist

Colady warns: self-medication can harm your health! The diagnosis should be made only by a doctor after an examination. Therefore, if you find symptoms, be sure to contact a specialist!