Anorexia (or more correctly anorexia nervosa) is an eating disorder characterized by one’s refusal to mentain minimally normal body weight (in acordance with their age and height).

         The individuals affected by anorexia have a distorted vision of themselves. They have the misbelief that their body is fat and are in a constant fear that they might get obese therefore will do anything to get even thinner.

        The term anorexia (derived from the greek an meaning “privation” or “absence” and orexis meaning “appetite”) can be translated as privation of food or a lack of interest in eating. The individual will starve himself or herself from his own will, unhappy with his shape of body. He will often resort to vomiting, purging or taking diet pills, diuretic drugs and even laxatives.

        Anorexia nervosa affects mostly the women (aprox. 90%) while only 10% of the men suffer from this. While the seek for professional help should be the right thing to do, as left untreated the affection will lead to serious both physical problems (such as extreme weight loss, reduced metabolism, slow heart rate etc) and mental problems (such as having a bad memory), most people choose to hide their condition or even deny it.

If a person displays the following symptoms it is most likely a sign of anorexia:

  •  The most common is the refusal to mentain a body mass index (kg/m²) between 18.5 and 25 which is consider normal for adults;
  •  Fear of gaining weight and becoming obese;
  •  Feeling cold all the time;
  •  In women, the absence of three consecutive menstrual periods or more. This is due to the glandular system which is deeply affected by anorexia. This affects not only the fertility but especially the bone density that is very important for a healty body;
  •  In men the hormonal imbalances due to restrictive eating may cause thyroid to slow down in order to preserve calories.
  •  A specific physical look: thin dry hair, sunken eyes, brittle nails, pallid skin etc. The heart rate slows down, usually not life-threatening, or a disturbance appears in the heart rhythm. As a result the blood pressure is low. Also from anorexia appears a certain gastrointestinal complications such as constipation and abdominal pain. Because of the self induced starvation and the lowering of the metabolism the food is absorbed into the body ar a much slower rate than normal. The enzyme level in the liver could also be affected. A potassium deficiency is noticeable due to the dysfunction of the kidney and also an increase or decrease in urination.
  •  Not eating certain foods and reducing the quantity of the ones you eat or even lying and pretending to eat;
  •  Having a permanent obsession that you are fat when in fact you are not;
  •  Constantly checking up your appearance for body flaws;
  •  Exercising excessivly in an attempt to lose more body weight;
  •  Regular use of diet pills, diuretics, laxatives and other weight control pills, which are likely to cause an electrolyte imbalance with life-threatening consequences;
  •  Self-provoked vomiting that in time can erode dental enamel and cause tooth loss;
  •   Fine hair growing on the face, back, arms, and legs. Also it is not uncommon to have a loss of hair on the head;
  •  Wearing large clothes to hide your condition;
  •  Having a low mood, apathy and withdrawal from social life.