People with anorexia nervosa significantly consume very little quantities of food or even leave it unfinished. They avoid food and severely restrict their food consumption and even practice exercise and binge purge (vomiting after eating). They fear gaining weight, and repeatedly weigh and mirror themselves. Some individuals also practice to vomit after consuming food, or use some laxatives, diuretics or other medical medicine to loosen their food. Even if they look underweight, they have a persistent feeling that they are gaining weight. Their selection of food portions are against the average calories required for their bodily development.
There are two subtypes of anorexia nervosa: a restrictive subtype (restriction on the amount of food and type of food) and binge-purge subtype (severe restriction on the amount of food and type of food and use of laxatives or vomiting).
Brittle hair and nails, dry and yellowish skin, low BP, brain damage, multiple organ failure are some of the symptoms of anorexia.
Diagnostic Criteria
- Restriction of energy inhale relative to requirements, leading to a significantly low body weight in the context of age, sex, developmental trajectory, and physical health. Significantly low weight is defined as a weight that is less than minimally normal or, for children and adolescents, less than that minimally expected.
- Intense fear of gaining weight or of becoming fat or persistent behavior that interferes with weight gain, even though at a significantly low weight.
- Disturbance in the way in which one’s body weight or shape is experienced, undue influence of body weight or shape on self-evaluation, or persistent lack of recognition of the seriousness of the current low body weight.