What exactly is anorexia?!

Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder characterized by restrictive eating habits, and intense fear of weight gain, and disortion in the way a person sees his/her body. It affects both men and women, but is more common is women, and generally, but not always, starts during adolesence or young adulthood.

Here are the formal criteria for a diagnosis of anorexia nervosa, based on the DSM-IV:

A. Refusal to maintain body weight at or above a minimally normal weight for age and height (e.g., weight loss leading to maintenance of body weight less than 85% of that expected; or failure to make expected weight gain during period of growth, leading to body weight less than 85% of that expected).


B. Intense fear of gaining weight or becoming fat, even though underweight.


C. Disturbance in the way in which one's body weight or shape is experienced, undue influence of body shape on self-evaluation, or denial of the seriousness of the current low body weight.

D. In postmenarcheal females, amenorrhea, i.e., the absence of at least three consecutive menstrual cycles

To answer some of your questions, anorexics do get hungry, and they will eat. However, anorexics usually have certain "safe" foods, which are usually things that are low in calories and fat (fruit, vegetables, fat free yogurt/cottage cheese, etc). There is no certain number of calories that they eat, but they do restrict their calorie intakes way below what is considered a healthy amount, even for weight loss. Personally, at my lowest point, I was eating about 1000 calories per day, which isn't terribly low, but is still not enough for a growing teen. Some anorexics, however, will barely eat at all.

One of the side effects of the restriction is headaches. Irritability, dry skin, brittle nails, hair loss, dizziness, fatigue, low blood pressure, constipation, and sensitivity to cold also result from the starvation. Over time, an anorexic will become extremely thin, but will be in denial about the seriousness of his/her low body weight. They always want to lose more.

Eating disorders aren't all about weight, food, and calories however. In fact, it's not really about that at all. People with eating disorders usually have low self esteem, and a poor self-image. They may start dieting as a way to gain control over their lives when everything else seems out of their control, but the eating disorder soon takes over. Eating disorders are terrible and serious diseases, and they do take lives.

Here are a couple good websites you can get info from. Also, please feel free to email me at macypup44@yahoo.com if you have any other questions. I would be happy to help!

http://www.nami.org/Template.cfm?Section…

http://www.umm.edu/altmed/articles/anore…

http://www.something-fishy.org/whatareth…

Recovering anorexic

Anorexia is a disorder where an individual is afraid to become fat. They look in the mirror and all they see is a fat unattractive person, and so they starve themselves. They do get hungry but they won't admit it and they will not eat. They go without eating because they are so afraid of that "fat" image. There are many things that influence this king of behavior. The best place to get some basic information would probably be web md (it would be most accurate) BUT if you really want to go in depth i would visit NEDA's website. (National Eating Disorder Association)

http://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/

If you or a friend has an eating disorder it is very important to get help. There are support groups, psychologists, and hospitals specifically for these individuals. All of these forms of treatment can be searched through NEDA.

I have a relative with an eating disorder.

It's where you don't eat for long periods of time, and yes, that can give you headaches, and you can faint or get dizzy.

my teachers