How can you tell if someone has anorexia ?
There are various ways in which
anorexia nervosa can be detected. The main point to remember is that people with anorexia are the masters of disguise. It must be appreciated that
anorexia is predominantly a mental illness. The visible side is purely an effect of the illness. Treat
anorexia as a separate person, a bit like Jeckal and Hyde. When in its most powerful state, anorexia can take over the mind of a sufferer. Only when the sufferer is ready to admit that they have a problem, can they start fighting it. It is at this point where the carer will have to be at their best, as the sufferer will be after all the support they can get. Many things will not be traceable by the naked eye and watchful onlooker, but the following things should always be kept in the back of your mind if you are concerned about someone.
Symptoms
- Dramatic weight loss: This is the main physical symptom from which an anorexic sufferer will be visible.
- Increased exercise: A means for anorexia to achieve its goal. Obsessive, compulsive exercise can bed itself in to the life of an anorexic sufferer.
- Mood changes: Due to lack of energy, tiredness.
- Regular trips to the bathroom after meals: The most common time to perform self induced vomiting to remove all food from the stomach, also a good time to take laxatives or dispose of food that they have hidden in clothes etc.
- Refusal to eat meals: “I'm not hungry”, “I have eaten”, “I don't like”, are all too common phrases to trick families and ensure minimum food intake.
- Wearing baggy clothes: To cover up read more
