Anorexia nervosa is primarily a psychiatric disease, but which has negative effects on the body and can lead to serious problems, even death through starvation in extreme cases when it is not treated. It is a modern-day disease caused by society in general and the fact that nowadays slim is considered beautiful, so, many women, especially the young ones (and sometimes men) refuse to eat and start having eating disorders and lose serious weight. Stress and pressure contribute to the disease's development.
People suffering from anorexia become thinner each day but to them it's never enough so they try to get even more thinner which leads to serious physiological problems. They tend to stay away from socialization, because they feel that they are not thin enough and therefore rejected by society and they deny the fact that they are suffering from anything.
Treatment of anorexia nervosa can only be done with the help of family and friends, and it is hard to do because the ill person does not admit that he/she suffers from anything. But, before the treatment the disease must be discovered, and because anorexic people aren't aware of their condition a diagnose can only be put by someone else who realizes that someone close to him is anorexic. Remember that an anorexic will never come to a doctor alone so it's up to you to help. Therefore, you should know what are the symptoms of anorexia so that you can detect it and help whomever you discover to be suffering from it.
The first thing that should draw your attention and make you suspicious is that anorexic people suddenly start to loose a lot of weight and they become too thin. If you see that one of your friends has gotten too thin but still tries to lose more weight than that person may have anorexia. This is the basic symptom, that gives the first alarm signal. Afterwards, try to see if that person does a lot of physical exercises. Anorexics keep doing physical exercises to lose weight although they have lost too much already. And they are also obsessed with losing more weight so this is the main thing that they are talking about, diets and weight-losing.
You may also check for other physical symptoms of the illness. For example, women who are suffering from anorexia don't have a period anymore, which has severe consequences over their body. This may be harder to detect in some cases. The sensitivity to lower temperatures decreases at anorexic people so they may feel cold when the room is cool. Insomnia, mood swings, dry skin, hair problems (either loss of hair, either an increase in body hair may occur, depending on the patient) and finally constipation are characteristic to someone suffering from anorexia. Anorexia also has less visible symptoms like osteoporosis and low blood pressure.
So if you discover that one of the people you know are suffering from this illness seek advice from a doctor as soon as you can until things get worse. Treatment is difficult and long, so the illness must be discovered as soon as possible.
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