Anorexia Nervosa (Is being thin really worth it?)

Going to school in convents for a large part of my life makes me well aware of eating disorders. For close to 10 years, I've been growing up in schools with only female students. And for most of us, the growing years, especially our teens proved rather mentally and physically challenging to us.

I had personally witnessed how a friend, who was originally a very pretty girl with fair skin and big, dark eyes, had slowly been consumed by her own desire to be stick thin.

This picture on the right is a still from a public service announcement regarding eating disorders. And truth be told this is a situation many people out there  find themselves in each time they look into the mirror. And this can be attributed to the condition called: Anorexia Nervosa.

What is Anorexia Nervosa?

Anorexia basically means to lose appetite but Anorexia Nervosa is an eating disorder. This disorder is basically an extreme or disproportionate fear of gaining weight or fat. Usually, sufferers of Anorexia Nervosa will perform activities that will cause them to experience rapid weight loss. 

Do you know of anyone who does the below:

• Excessive exercise
• Self starvation
• Consuming laxatives excessively
• Vomiting after meals
• Substituting food for supplements
• Continuously expressing despair at not being able to lose more weight

The list is not exhaustive. But basically it is the starving of the body in an attempt to lose weight.

Anorexia Nervosa sufferers live in constant mental and even physical turmoil. They suffer from a distorted self image which forces them to curb their instinctive hunger in the attempt to not take in food so as to lose weight. Sufferers are found to have high amounts of the hunger hormone, Gherlin, as their body tries to save itself by making them want to consume food. However, Anorexic individuals tend to ignore such hunger.

In the long run, starving the body of it's needed nutrients causes the body to shut down. 

When starvation occurs, the body actually eats itself in the attempt to survive. Catabolysis occurs where the body breaks down it's own fat, muscle and other tissue in an attempt to keep the vital parts of the body functioning like the Central Nervous System and the heart. 

This proves to be a large strain on the body as the supporting system of the body slowly fails. 

Putting the body under such self-inflicted conditions can cause many other health issues as well:

1. A large number of anorexic people suffer from osteoporosis, where bone density is reduced and this will cause higher risk of bone fracture and bent posture.
2. Women who are anorexic tend to have very irregular menstrual cycles as their body stops ovulating. In the long run, it will develop into permanent infertility.
3. Depression may set in as there is a lack of carbohydrates and other nutrients that tend to curb depression.
4. Abdominal distention may occur, which is the bloating or increase in volume in the abdominal area.
5. Heart problems may occur due to the stress of pumping as the heart muscles reduce in size and heart rhythm becomes slow.
6. Nerve damages may occur which will affect the brain, causing the sufferer to have seizures or trouble in coordinating thoughts.
7. Multiple organ failure may occur in the end where the vital organs can no longer perform it's bodily functions and the body shuts down slowly and painfully.

There are so many other things that could happen to the body should one give in to this monster which is called Anorexia Nervosa.

What causes Anorexia Nervosa?

People try to find out why such eating disorders occur.

1. Genetics. If one has an eating disorder, there is a high chance that eating disorder runs in the family.
2. Personality traits. Some people have low self-esteem and the inability to cope with stress or the need to feel perfect.
3. Social Pressures. It is not far-fetched to say that the media portrays being thin to be good. This could affect many people and this in turn may lead to obsession to bow to social pressures.
4. Stressful life events. Sometimes a trigger event may happen. It could be bullying or the passing of a family and anorexia is just a way for the person to cope with it.

What do I do if I have Anorexia Nervosa?

Many a time, curing Anorexia Nervosa proves to be a lifelong battle. Not many people have the strength to do this alone and so professional help is needed. 

Some sufferers are warded into facilities where they undergo counseling as well as to stop weight loss and promote weight gain in the individual slowly. The main goal would be to eradicate thoughts of and behaviors of such excessive weight loss as well as to help the body accept weight gain and to let the individual normalize a their diet.

There is no fast cure for this disease of the mind. An Anorexia Nervosa sufferer needs a lot of support and understanding from those around them.

Personally...

These people need help. And help is what they should get. So next time when you want to call someone "Fat", think twice because you may just be the trigger to send them down on that spiral that might eventually cause their deaths.

Love,

MM