Manifestations of the disease
The first symptom of anorexia is a sharp weight loss, approximately 15-20% of body weight. In addition, girls (90% of the sick are girls) dramatically change their manner of dressing, begin to wear long, baggy things. In part, this is due to the desire to hide the changed figure, or with the deformed perception of his body, which seems incredibly fat to them.
Other symptoms of anorexia are excessive fixation of attention on diets, a hard calculation of calories, fanatical, in the fullest sense of the word, following all the smallest details of the next diet. Symptoms of chronic avitaminosis, constipation and similar disorders of the gastrointestinal tract, problems with the cardiovascular system (symptoms of arrhythmia), malfunctions of the menstrual cycle, up to complete disappearance, caries as a result of a lack of trace elements in the body, and also because patients Anorexia often causes vomiting after they are forced to eat. Gastric juice has an acidic reaction and flushes calcium from the tooth enamel.
Physical exhaustion becomes life-threatening, the balance of electrolytes is disturbed, hence the already mentioned arrhythmia, is capable of leading even to death in moments of stress or stress. In addition, patients are constantly cold - both natural thermoregulation and due to body weight deficiency are disrupted.
Bulimia, and how it differs from anorexia
It is close to anorexia and often bulimia flows into it. Patients with bulimia too excessively fixed at a possible excess weight, but at the same time they have attacks of poorly controlled appetite. However, devastating the refrigerator and burying stress, a bulimic girl immediately causes a vomiting. This leads to the defeat of the digestive tract, the destruction of teeth, ulceration of the esophagus and stomach.
The list of problems is far from complete, especially when you consider that anorexia has recently become much younger. Twelve-year-old girls begin to concentrate on diets. Meanwhile, fat tissue is as necessary to the body as bone or muscle. In addition, although the period of puberty is individual, but approximately until 18-19 years, the body actively produces growth hormone, and for the construction of organ systems need adequate nutrition.
According to the observations of psychiatrists, there are cases when girls at the age of 9 refused to eat.
Prevention of adolescent anorexia
Anorexia is treated difficultly and for a long time, but it can be prevented. First of all, explain to the child yourself, or with the help of specialists, that weight gain is an inevitable part of puberty, a natural process. It is very useful if the family is involved in sports and parents have accustomed the teenager to physical activity. Starting from childhood, discuss TV shows about diets, if the child looks at them, form a realistic view of the human body, rather than the distorted standards of the anime heroes or the photos of the photos. And, finally, the most important thing is to form a positive self-esteem in the child. Personality with a lifestyle "I'm good, although not without some shortcomings" has an order of magnitude less chance of getting anorexia.