Anorexia is the girl you see walking down the street—the one whose legs look too frail to carry her anywhere. Anorexia is the boy with a stomach so sunken in that you wonder how it could possibly fit all of his organs. Anorexia is the large woman weighing every gram of food on her plate, adding up calories on her shaky fingers. Anorexia is the teenage girl who is afraid to take showers because she fears that the water will absorb into her skin and make her weigh more. Anorexia is not the joke you make when your friend looks like she should “eat a burger… or four.” Anorexia is not the lanky boy who weighs less than his girlfriend. Anorexia is cloudy eyes, sunken in features, brittle hair, dry lips, and weak nails. Anorexia Nervosa is a mental illness in which the affected person is at a constant battle with his or her body image and acts upon this self-hatred by depriving his or her body of food.
About ninety percent of people with Anorexia are female. Therefore, for the purpose of this article, the remainder of the text will be composed using female pronouns only. Understand that although the majority of those diagnosed with Anorexia are female, the mental illness exists in both genders, and it is equally traumatic for males.
An eating disorder can best be described as it was by The Eating Disorder Foundation: a “serious and complex emotional and physical addiction.” Anorexia most often branches from underlying emotional causes. When someone has Anorexia Nervosa, she unceasingly denies her hunger with the purpose of losing weight. Although Anorexia characterized by extreme thinness, a woman can be diagnosed with this disorder no matter what her size is. The National Institute of Mental (NIMH) health informs us that many girls with this disorder tend to perceive themselves as extremely overweight while, in reality, they are severely underweight. Their entire existence begins to surround their obsession with food and weight loss. Most girls lose their menstrual cycle, weigh themselves frequently, and cut their miniscule amount of food into tiny pieces before eating it.
Anorexia is extremely destructive to the body. It not only damages one’s physical appearance, but it also takes a toll on the organs and bones of the ill person. Symptoms provided by the NIMH include thinning of the bones (osteopenia or osteoporosis), brittle hair and nails, dry and yellowish skin, growth of fine hair all over the body (lanugo), mild anemia and muscle wasting and weakness, severe constipation, low blood pressure, slowed breathing and pulse, damage to the structure and function of the heart, brain damage, multi organ failure, drop in internal body temperature (causing a person to feel cold all the time), lethargy, sluggishness, feeling tired all the time, and infertility.
Quite often, people who restrict their diets as severely as Anorexics do eventually develop an eating disorder called Bulimia Nervosa. According to Helpguide’s article on Bulimia, this disorder is characterized by episodes of binge eating followed by purging. It can also be caused by bad body image, low self-esteem, history of trauma or abuse, major life changes, and appearance-oriented professions or activities. During an average binge, a person may consume from 3,000 to 5,000 calories within just an hour. Following a binge, the person will frantically “purge” the food from their body in order to attempt to overcome feelings of extreme guilt and shame. Purging can be executed by forcing oneself to throw up, taking laxatives, enemas, diuretics, fasting, exercising excessively, or even dieting until another binge occurs.
The results of Bulimia Nervosa are equally devastating to the body as those of Anorexia. These symptoms may vary depending on the form of purging the disordered person partakes in. The NIMH offers the following symptoms: chronically inflamed and sore throat, swollen salivary glands in the neck and jaw area, worn tooth enamel, increasingly sensitive and decaying teeth as a result of exposure to stomach acid, acid reflux disorder and other gastrointestinal problems, intestinal distress and irritation from laxative abuse, severe dehydration from purging of fluids, and electrolyte imbalance (too low or too high levels of sodium, calcium, potassium, and other minerals) which can lead to a heart attack.
Ironically, people with this disorder normally end up gaining weight as they continue to binge and purge all of the food that they consume. This is because, as explained by Helpguide, purging does not necessarily prevent weight gain. “Purging isn’t effective at getting rid of calories, which is why most people suffering with bulimia end up gaining weight over time. Vomiting immediately after eating will only eliminate 50% of the calories consumed at best—and usually much less. This is because calorie absorption begins the moment you put food in the mouth. Laxatives and diuretics are even less effective. Laxatives get rid of only 10% of the calories eaten, and diuretics do nothing at all. You may weigh less after taking them, but that lower number on the scale is due to water loss, not true weight loss.”
Recovery for Anorexia and/or Bulimia is usually an incredibly slow process. Therapy is a huge part of making sure that a person recovers and stays recovered from her eating disorder. When a disordered person fails to reach out for help, they will end up worsening their conditions more often than not. The NHS choices website has provided a story of a girl, Katie, who developed anorexia when she was just fourteen years old. Katie recalls that in high school she had a class with three other boys. She explains that she felt intense anxiety over being the only girl in the class, being that she had low self-confidence. She instantly targeted her body as an issue. Added onto this pressure was the tension from her family’s plans to move houses and the stress of knowing that her parents’ marriage was suffering.
The immediate solution that Katie saw to all of her problems was weight loss. As many young girls do, she thought that losing weight would turn her life around for the better. In her head, bad things didn’t happen to skinny people. Skinny people were happy. She decided to cut fats, most carbs, and dairy from her diet. She says that she solely consumed rice cakes, apples and lettuce.
Losing weight made Katie feel that she was finally accomplishing something. She became addicted to achieving what her demented mind perceived as perfection. She quickly went from about 119 pounds to 70 pounds. She said, “My hair fell out, my skin cracked and bled, my bones ached and my periods stopped.” Katie worked out vigorously, alternating between 8 miles and 15 miles a day. “But I still didn’t believe I was thin enough. When I looked in the mirror, a mound of blubber stared back.”
Katie eventually ended up in the hospital after she had experienced a minor heart attack while riding her bike. She was sent home after two days with nothing more than the simple instruction to eat. When Katie was finally admitted into a psychiatric ward, where she resided for nine months, she realized that she was dying. She said, “I was put on bed rest for five months. My treatment involved cognitive therapy sessions once a week, and I gradually started to eat small amounts of food again. My recovery was slow. What really helped to pull me through was writing and the consistent support from my family.” She began recording her experiences on paper and decided that she wanted to recover in order to help those also battling anorexia. She was released back home the day before her 16th birthday. Katie stresses how important it is for people with eating disorders to reach out for help and guidance in order to conquer their mental illnesses.
Anorexia Nervosa is an extremely threatening, if not perilous, disease of the mind. When an eating disorder is present in a person, his or her brain can act as a dangerous weapon against itself. Although the symptoms of Anorexia are not always visible immediately in the affected person, starving and depriving the body of nutrients is one of the most destructive things that can be done to it.
