Anorexia Women: Health Risks Of Anorexia And Intervention

Anorexia, also known as Anorexia Nervosa, is an emotional eating disorder that mainly strikes young girls and women, but has been known to affect boys and young men too. The condition is brought on from an emotional imbalance, low self-worth and feelings of self-loathing.

Sufferers may think themselves to be too fat when in all actuality they are too skinny. They are always concerned about weight gain, which results in getting thinner and thinner. It is a vicious cycle until they get help. This can go on for quite a while if unchecked. They may not know they even need help. Usually someone has to step in and get involved with the person suffering from this disorder in order for things to change.

Anorexic Physical Symptoms

Long-term this condition affects the heart muscle and its ability to pump blood into the system properly. This will result in hypertension, high or low blood pressure, heart palpitations and skipped heartbeats. End result will eventually lead to cardiac arrest if the individual doesn’t start eating.

Anorexic Emotional Symptoms

All of these emotional symptoms are because of the lack of important minerals needed for proper brain function.

The anorexic may show to others that they are eating at meal times. They may take a few bites here and there, but the small amount of food they are actually ingesting is inadequate to sustain the body.

Eventually the body will begin to degenerate and finally shut down. The anorexic literally starves themselves to death.

They may have many tricks up their sleeves such as hiding food in their napkins, feeding it to the family dog that is under the table, to spitting the food out once they leave the dinner table.

This health affliction is different than bulimia. In bulimia the individual will eat like a horse only to vomit it up later.

Getting Help

The anorexic, just like an addict has some very deep-rooted emotions that need to come out and get resolved before they can get the healing they need.

Anorexia Nervosa is considered an “eating disorder” but it is a lot more than that, and seriously more complicated. Trying to push food on someone afflicted with this condition is like trying to throw out the alcoholics booze. It doesn’t work! This will hinder the healing process.

What will help the process into emotional healing is for the sufferer to get to the root of their problems with the help of a guiding mentor. They must learn to love the person they are.

This happens with the encouragement and support of friends and family and a good counselor who has already gone through the emotional trauma of this condition.