Adolescent Anorexia Nervosa

Adolescent Anorexia Nervosa

In the medical world, anorexia nervosa is known as a conscious rejection of food in order to lose weight. Many people with anorexia, marked appetite disorders and "problems with food" since early childhood. In adolescence, the issue looks to become extremely relevant. Increased attention to their appearance, peer ridicule, reckless remarks authoritative for those girls, especially, father or brother, not the correct expression of envious friends can play a fatal role in the development of the nervous anareksiya. This happens usually in socially very successful families belonging to the middle or upper class. To 'at risk' are families where there is a "cult food" or the opposite approach to nutrition. When a lot of talk about the need to limit yourself to food "in order not to gain weight," the fullness associated with "rude", "unsightly." Mothers themselves suffer from their own "imperfections" and often resort to various fashionable diets, and worshiped all the subtlety.

Anorexia begins gradually. The increased interest and dissatisfaction with the figure gradually develops into a deep conviction of being too full. Adolescents need to have thoughts of physical correction "lack" that lead to the restriction of food intake, although the appetite is not yet lost. Starting with the selectivity of food, avoid high-calorie foods, fans of harmony gradually reduce the amount eaten, then tighten the diet, eat mostly dairy-vegetarian food. At this stage, the body weight is reduced by 10-12%, abstaining from food occasionally replaced by drinking large amounts of food ( bulimia ).

At first, when losing weight to expectations, improved mood, reaching the level of euphoria. Girls feel toned declare the unusual lightness in the body. They are animated, sociable, do not feel tired. However, starving as if not to notice the negative aspects of the condition: abnormal paleness, peeling of the skin, thinning and brittle nails, quickly developing caries.

The second stage is characterized by active and persistent food restrictions, lasting sometimes until the refusal of food. External impetus for this are ridiculed or careless comments of others related to the figure, tips to lose weight. At this stage, patients are actively practicing physical exercise: shaping, aerobics, swimming, tend to spend all the time on their feet. Try to reduce sleep, tightening the waist belt, to the food slowly absorbed. Sometimes the cause are vomiting or use laxatives. The desire to suppress hunger at forcing teenagers to resort to the methods of various kinds (zakarmlivaniyu younger brothers and sisters, parents, increased interest in the preparation of various dishes). Permanent weight loss leads to disorders of organ systems (gastrointestinal tract, cardiovascular system), interferes with the metabolism.

The next stage will be after 1-1.5 years after the start of the active limit food intake. Patients look drastically depleted, with haggard face sallow, completely disappeared subcutaneous fat layer, pigmented, scaly skin. There are ulcers, pressure ulcers, drop in body temperature. Sometimes patients do not want to see themselves in the mirror, as if ashamed of their thinness. Attempts to feed the patient cause violent reactions of protest. Possible death within 2-40%.

Since most hide their hunger, the parents are at a loss why a child so desperately thin. They have examined adolescents endocrinologists, internists, pediatricians, and because they do develop the disease of internal organs and endocrine pathology, they had unsuccessfully treated with general practice physicians. Therefore, parents need to be aware of this violation, and, if there is a loss of mass of body weight, teen advice from a psychiatrist