Anorexia is one of the most common eating disorders, and people who have it have an intense fear of gaining weight. They severely limit the amount of food they eat and can become dangerously thin. This eating disorder affects both the mind and body. An anorexic person views themselves as overweight, while everyone else views them as extremely thin. If anorexia is not treated early, it can become a lifelong problem. It can lead to osteoporosis, kidney damage, and heart problems which ultimately lead to early death.
Anorexia most likely develops if other people in the family are obese, have an eating disorder, or have a mood disorder such as depression or anxiety. It is also common if the person does a sport that stresses body size such as ballet, gymnastics, running or wrestling. It’s common in people that try to be perfect all of the time and are dealing with stressful life events. Anorexia affects less than 1 percent of the population and is most common in teens and women.
People who suffer from anorexia strongly deny that they have a problem or honestly believe that they do not have a problem. It is usually up to their loved ones to get them help. An anorexic’s life becomes focused on losing weight, and they may obsess about food, weight, and dieting. They also may exercise a lot even when they are sick, or vomit, use laxative, and water pills to avoid gaining weight. They may develop odd habits about food, or become secretive to avoid eating around others. When starvation mode sets they start to develop signs of serious problems throughout the body such as feeling weak, having thinning hair, dry skin, or brittle nails, stop having menstrual periods, feeling cold all the time, having low blood pressure and a sow heartbeat, having purplish skin color their arms and legs, having swollen feet and hands, and growing a layer of baby-fine hair all over the body. I found this article from the New York Times on a track and field high school athlete that describes going through the anorexia and then recovering from it. Check it out: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A05EEDD1339F936A35757C0A960958260
Reference: http://www.webmd.com/mental-health/anorexia-nervosa/anorexia-nervosa-topic-overview
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