Anorexia & Bulimia Nervosa
This is an eating disorder in which a person severely restricts food intake and weighs at least 15 per cent less than her ideal weight. It usually is considered a female disorder, but anorexia nervosa occurs in men and is increasing in young boys. A person with this disorder fears being fat, and may be convinced that she is overweight despite what the scale shows or what other people say. To achieve skinniness, in addition to food restriction, she may use laxatives and exercise excessively. An anorexia sufferer is often very controlling and obsessive in other areas of her life, too. The problem usually begins in adolescence. In advanced stages of the illness, the dieting is hard to reverse. At that point, hunger may disappear completely and the pursuit of thinness becomes a way of life. Starvation causes medical complications of its own, such as thyroid problems, anaemia and joint pains. Death can occur in the most severe cases. (more…)
