anorexy

The term anorexy has its origin in the Greek language and is made up of two words: to/an (a denial) Y orego ("crave"). It is a frequent symptom in different diseases and physiological states consisting of reduced appetite, which can lead to the person start eating less.

The most common cause of anorexia is the natural satiety that is experienced after eating a certain amount of food. This is a characteristic of physiology known as postprandial anorexia.

However, anorexia can appear when the subject suffers from an inflammation of the mucosa of his intestines, an infection or a neoplastic process. Also when the person uses drugs or develops certain psychological imbalances, such as depression or anorexia nervosa. In this case, the true cause that causes it is not entirely clear but, according to the studies that have been carried out, it is intuited that the main factor that collaborates with its development is culture, social stereotype of beauty. However, it is considered that some people are born with a genetic predisposition to suffer from this disorder, regardless of the pressure they receive.

The latter disease, anorexia nervosa, is one of the most common eating disorders. The sick person seeks to lose weight and voluntarily submits to the starvation. This disorder is detected by a doctor after analyzing the relationship established between the individual's behavior with respect to food and their own weight. When anorexia nervosa causes a very pronounced weight loss, the patient experiences all kinds of health problems and may even die.

Although we said that anorexia refers to the loss of appetite, in reality this etymological meaning is not exact in the case of anorexia nervosa. Patients may feel hungry and want to eat frequently, although they suppress this intention and refuse to eat because they do not want to gain weight. On the other hand, those affected always think that they are fat, even when the reality is very different.

The anorexia nervosa It mainly affects middle and upper class women and can be mild (it is transitory) or severe (it is long-lasting). It usually starts at 12 years old (early adolescence) and is most common in gymnasts, dancers, and models. There are two subtypes of anorexia:
Restrictive: in which weight is reduced through diets and exercise extreme physique.
Compulsive or bulimic: in which the individual compulsively swallows amounts of food and resorts to purging to eliminate it from your body motivated by guilt.

Some of the symptoms that patients with anorexia present are lost abrupt weight, a fear of gaining weight (caused by a distorted perception of one's own body, which makes him look overweight and which leads him to kill himself with fasting and eat less and less), absence of three consecutive menstrual cycles, in the case of women, and constipation, abdominal pain and vomiting, in patients of both sexes.
They also show excessive concern about the food composition, in terms of calories and a image obsession, weight, sports and studies, they create a hyperactive routine and avoid everything they can talk about food. It should also be added that these people have a change in behavior, become extremely irritable and in some cases also suffer from cognitive disorders related to diet and fitness.

The organic symptoms that allow specialists to diagnose this disease are: reduction in heart rate, arrhythmias, decreased blood pressure, amenorrhea, decreased bone mass, anemia, dehydration and appearance of fine and long hair (woolly) on the forearms, thighs, back, cheeks and neck, among others. To perform the diagnosis it also requires the presence of a therapist who can determine that the person really has an eating disorder.

People with anorexia or bulimia present immature behavior, are highly dependent on the family environment (in some cases they do not assume it) and are very afraid of sexual maturation and assuming responsibilities. However, it is necessary to take into account that both diseases differ from each other.

Disease development and treatment

The process that people with anorexia go through is usually: first abandoning carbohydrates in the diet, later fats and proteins, until reaching fluids (there have been cases of extreme dehydration); These measures are usually added to ingesting diuretics, laxatives and medications that help purge the body, excessive physical exercise and provoked vomiting. In the most severe cases of anorexia, weight loss can reach the 50% of body mass. It is a disease with a psychological origin and that can be detected in a sudden change in behavior, stigmatization of the body and complexes that are reflected in emotional behavior.

With respect to the studies that reveal that in some patients there is a physical cause, we can briefly explain that it is due to a genetic predisposition. In most cases of people who suffer from anorexia nervosa, one or more members of the family suffer from some type of obsessive disorder (anxiety, phobias, alcoholism, etc). This is because they present an imbalance of the histamine, an organic chemical compound in the body, which also functions as a neurotransmitter for nerve impulses between the brain and the nervous system and which is located in the hippocampus. It is essential for the normal operation of the memory and the integrity of emotions and thoughts; the lack or excess of it can significantly affect the physical stability and mental health of the individual.

People who overproduce histamine have characteristics such as little hair, are naturally thin, long fingers and toes, large ears, and large central incisors. They also produce a lot of saliva and are physically attractive, they tend to suffer from muscle cramps and allergies, among other problems; They are shy, sensitive and tend to show a tendency to depression, abnormal fears, to act compulsively and to suicidal thoughts.

The treatment to end anorexia is focused on correcting the malnutrition and the psychic conflicts that led the patient to develop this disease. The fundamental thing is to get the patient to regain his normal weight, but once this is achieved it does not mean that the disease has been defeated, it is necessary that the patient receive psychiatric treatment to understand and definitively overcome anorexia.

In cases where the patient presents a severe malnutrition, it is necessary that he be admitted for a better control of his real recovery; the same is recommended if relations with the family they are not conducive to recovery and when mental disorders are accentuated.

Once the patient has been able to regain the recommended weight, psychological treatment begins, through which it is sought that the patient restructure your ideas and get a realistic perception on your body, improve your self-esteem and efficiently develop social and communication skills with your environment.

Family members and people close to the patient should also participate in the treatment, because they are essential for the recovery of patient. It should be noted that in many cases it is the family that triggers it. It is important that the patient learn to manage your anxiety and that the family tries to prevent food from becoming a topic of discussion (the worst thing for an anorexic is that they are forced to eat), they must resort to professional help and above all, be very patient.

Between the therapies used to treat anorexia are: cognitive behavioral therapy, family therapy, group therapy, exclusive support groups for anorexics and drug treatments (antidepressants, antipsychotics and mood stabilizers).