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Anorexia

Causes and symptoms of anorexia


What is anorexia nervosa?

Anorexia is the lack of appetite, full or partial refusal of food, leading to weight loss and cause many related diseases (somatic, endocrine, oncological, neurological and psychiatric).

Patients are rapidly losing weight, there is nausea, vomiting after small amounts of food feel like after eating too much.

This term also refers to diseases of the nervous system – anorexia nervosa. This disease occurs when the patient alone triggers the reducing weight, refusing food. Thus, despite attrition, people won't complain about dangerous symptoms, as convinced of their own fullness. Most often the disease affects young girls and women, trying to lose weight. While they do not lose appetite, but refuse to eat properly due to fear of the "extra" pounds.

Also anorexia can be symptoms of diseases of the lungs, gastrointestinal tract, endocrine and nervous system, gynecological disorders and mental disorders.


The causes of anorexia

The range of diseases that can cause anorexia, a very broad. Among them are diabetes, hyperthyroidism, drug abuse, alcoholism, anemia, various infections, intoxication, depression, anxiety, phobias, hormonal and immunological disorders and so on.

Recently, the spread of acquired anorexia nervosa. Most often, patients with this form of anorexia suffer from anxiety disorders of the psyche. When anorexia becomes clinical, body weight rapidly decreases, the menstrual cycle and food absorption are violated, develop gastritis and enterocolitis. In anorexia nervosa patients (mostly girls and young women) think that they are prone to obesity, manifested dissatisfaction, his physical form. Thus, patients perish with hunger, hard dieting and excessive exercise, and body weight is rapidly declining.

In anorexia nervosa it is important to eliminate anxiety phobic disorder with psychotherapy and receive necessary medicines. After that, can improve appetite, body weight will gradually recover. In addition to primary treatment, patients should take vitamins (b, E, A, C) and to eat high-calorie digestible food.

Lack of appetite and weight loss may be symptoms of depression: thisthere are also other symptoms (depression, bad mood, passivity, insomnia, pessimism, etc.)

Symptoms of anorexia nervosa

The main symptoms of anorexia are reduced appetite and significant weight loss (more than 15% from the norm). The disease is also expressed in the menstrual cycle (in women), amenorrhea, weakness, sleep disorders, and potency (in men), arrhythmia, muscle spasms. Patients with anorexia nervosa always think that they are too full of; yourself much too low and depends on the weight.

If you do not deal with the treatment of anorexia, the patient can reach kahectina stage (degeneration of the internal organs), which leads to death.

A very important and dangerous factor is that patients often hide the symptoms and the methods of losing weight from family and physicians. But you should know that the first step in the development of anorexia nervosa are complexes about excess weight and the adoption of active measures for its reduction.

When anorexia develops cardiac arrhythmia, which, in turn, due to the lack of potassium, magnesium and other important minerals may cause fainting, dizziness and even sudden cardiac arrest.

The condition of the skin of the patient is also markedly worse: it becomes dry, pale, hair fall out, affects the structure of nails. Also suffer digestive and endocrine systems: there are severe pain in the stomach, constipation, disorders of metabolism, hormonal disruption, amenorrhea. Anorexia has, among other things, and serious consequences: depression can lead the patient to suicide.


Treatment of anorexia

Treatment of anorexia (especially nerve) needs to be comprehensive.

The first step is to improve physical condition, to conduct behavioral and cognitive psychotherapy. Should be taken serious measures to restore body mass.

Therapy needed the patient that he was able to leave the negative thoughts, learn to perceive the own body, to change the behavior. Sometimes for the treatment of anorexia using antidepressants.

The sick person need to provide emotional care, support, and encourage a return to normal body weight.

Power recovery with anorexia should take place gradually: from relatively low-calorie food to more nutritious.

With the defeat of the endocrine system hormone therapy can be prescribed only afterrecovery of body weight.