Symptoms of Anorexia Nervosa

Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder which is mainly characterized by the severe fear of being overweight and bulky by taking balanced amount of food. But it is not the only symptom you can see in a person suffering from anorexia, there is long list of symptoms exhibited by the patient of this kind eating disorder. These symptoms are related to the patient’s overall activities, likes, dislikes, interests, hesitations, physiological condition and psychological state of mind. Here we have tried to discuss all these symptoms briefly. Let’s have a look over them:

First of all due to having extreme fear of gaining extra weight such patients limit their amount of food to the minimum extent and try to keep them busy in physical activities like games and exercise in order to lose more weight. They also prone to take laxatives and diuretics to deal with their food related problems.

Secondly due to such minimum intake of food and daily vomiting the enamel of their teeth starts to breakdown and their skin, nails, hair and eyes lose their natural shine and glow.

Thirdly along with apparent dull appearance the patient of anorexia nervosa also shows disturbed internal body systems including irregular heart beat, low blood pressure, osteoporosis, constipation, kidney problems and blood related diseases etc. All such weak body conditions lead towards losing more and more weight and they become extremely thin with lower body weight.

Fourthly this eating disorder disturbs their mental capability to such extent that they start experiencing the problem of distorted body image. It means that even being very thin and weak person whenever they look their image in a mirror they used to see a bulky person standing their before the mirror. Such distorted self image problem leads to exaggerate their tension and they become more prone to lose more weight and to take more exercise.       

Fifthly such patients also try to deceive others by taking interest in food items either through arranging them in a very organized way or preparing them with great interest but during all such activities they do not eat that food rather keep others busy in serving the food. In this way they hide their disturbed mental condition and inner fear about taking food and gaining extra body weight.              

So if you find that someone is showing these problems and abnormal behavior regarding food items and eating habits then he must be a sufferer of anorexia nervosa. In such case you should try to talk to him or his loved ones to diagnose and treat the disorder properly as soon as possible.