The stories of anorexia are both shocking and sad. For the sake of a ghostly goal, girls torture themselves with the strictest diets, bring their own body and nervous system to exhaustion. Anorexia is recognized as a psychiatric illness. Alas, until now, some cases of the disease lead to death. Real stories of anorexia indicate that girls aged 16 to 24 are more likely to get sick. However, relatively rarer cases are also known when guys brought their bodies to exhaustion, guided by the desire to "be slim".
The sooner you start therapy, the more likely it is that you will be able to avoid the cachectic stage. This is complete exhaustion, in which there is a failure of internal organs and death. The article presents stories of anorexia that demonstrate the possibility of defeating the disease.
Reason for development
Unfortunately, many people (especially older people) still perceive anorexia as "stupidity" that needs to be "knocked out ofhead" of the patient. This approach to the disease usually not only does not help, but also aggravates the situation. If your relative is ill with anorexia, then in no case should you show aggression, mock her or try to force-feed her. This can lead to the development of such a disorder, like bulimia, that is, the girl will pretend to eat, and then lock herself in the bathroom and empty the stomach cavity with mechanical movements. Bulimia and anorexia (the stories that patients tell confirm this fact) almost always complement each other. This is recognized by doctors. The stories of anorexics are terrifying for he althy people, it is really difficult to understand such patients, and even more difficult to help them.
It is important to realize that anorexia is a serious disease that should be treated by a psychiatrist. If the patient reaches the state of cachexia, then doctors of a different specialization are already involved. Since almost all organs refuse exhaustion, consultations of a nephrologist, hepatologist, and gastroenterologist are required. Enteral nutrition may be required. The sooner treatment is started, the greater the chance that the case will not come to cachexia, and the girl will be able to continue to lead a full life, leaving her eating disorder behind.
What is anorexia? One day the patient decides not to eat. This can happen due to psycho-emotional stress (anorexia nervosa, stories about which are quite common), or because of dissatisfaction with one's appearance. It often happens that a girl is hinted at being overweight with a stupid joke, as a result of whichshe goes on a strict diet and exhausts herself. Whatever the cause, anorexia always leads to physical he alth problems. According to the international classification of diseases of the tenth revision (ICD-10), this disease is assigned the code F 50.0. E
It is generally accepted that the following conditions can become a trigger for the development of anorexia nervosa:
- insults, negative statements about the patient's appearance by caring people;
- psychiatric disorders (depressive, anxiety disorders, hypochondria);
- endocrine diseases (for example, in hyperthyroidism, the metabolism is too fast, and the patient can lose weight even eating enough high-calorie foods);
- genetic factor (the 1p34 gene, which is activated during severe stress and excessive nervous strain, can provoke the development of anorexia);
- personality factor - low self-esteem, lack of confidence in one's own attractiveness;
- social factor - fashion for thinness, the desire to be "slimmer" girlfriends, the desire to become a professional model.
Stages of disease progression
In psychiatry, there are three stages in the development of the disease:
- In the pre-orexic stage, the patient has thoughts that her body is not attractive enough. The patient looks at photos of models and decides to go on a strict diet, begins to fanatically count calories, weighs each serving of food, gets on the scale every morning,acquires and begins taking appetite suppressants.
- Anorexic - weight is rapidly falling, but the patient seems that the appearance is still not good enough. The calorie cut reaches its maximum. Meanwhile, in reality, the fat layer is already minimal, menstruation disappears (amenorrhea develops), the patient suffers from dizziness, loses consciousness, processes in the central nervous system are disrupted.
- Cachectic - almost complete absence of adipose tissue and depletion of all body resources. The patient suffers from depression, weakness, apathy. Any social contacts, as a rule, are interrupted. A person can go to work or study more - there is simply no strength. Even if the patient decides to start eating normally, it will not be so easy to do, as the internal organs begin to shrink, chronic diseases develop, which subsequently lead to death. You can't do without the help of doctors at this stage: almost no one can get out on their own.
The history of anorexia as a disease
There is an opinion that this is a disease of perfectionists. They want to bring their figure to an imaginary ideal at any cost. But what about the reality?
For the first time anorexia as a disease is mentioned by one of the prominent physicians Richard Morton in the 17th century. He describes the condition of his patient, who, allegedly due to psycho-emotional stress, lost normal sleep, began to refuse to eat, as a result of which she significantly lost weight and her general condition worsened.he alth. Anorexia was most widespread in the 80s of the last century. The fashion for thinness has forced hundreds of thousands of girls around the world to give up good nutrition. Every year, newfangled diets have appeared that only a completely he althy person can safely afford. The fashion for dangerous diets has been preserved to this day - protein nutrition (which is often the cause of kidney failures), a raw food diet, and various fasts.
The stories of anorexic girls often start the same way. Future patients find a seemingly safe food system and begin to fanatically adhere to it. The weight hides before our eyes, however, the girls can no longer force themselves to abandon the diet and eat as before. The disease progresses in almost everyone, and not every patient finds the strength to get out of this painful state without outside help.
Diagnosis and treatment of anorexia
Anorexia can be diagnosed by a psychiatrist or psychotherapist. If the course of the disease is complicated by taking drugs, then a consultation with a narcologist may be required.
The following drugs are used during therapy:
- Antipsychotic medicines (neuroleptics). They reduce the patient's stress, normalize sleep and restore appetite. It is advisable to use in the early stages of the disease. With cachexia, taking antipsychotics not only does not make sense. But theoretically it can cause harm.
- Antidepressants - Zoloft,"paroxetine". You should take only those drugs that do not have an anorexigenic effect. So Fluoxetine and Prozac should not be taken by anorexic patients.
- Preparations for the digestive tract, which help protect the mucosa, normalize the absorption of fats, restore the process of digestion of food and bile production. These are Ursosan, Omeprazole, Essentiale and others. The doctor should prescribe drugs after the results of the examination of internal organs become known.
Patients need to work with psychotherapists. This measure is the main condition for a comfortable cure and prevention of recurrence of the disease.
Myths and misconceptions about anorexia
The stories of girls with the disease leave a painful impression. These people are unhappy in their own way. Experts note that only restructuring your attitude can help you get out of the disease.
Stories about anorexia (photos of patients with the disease are presented in the article) contribute to the emergence of myths and speculation. Meanwhile, only a doctor competent in psychiatry can fully understand the nature and potential danger of this condition.
Common myths about anorexia:
- it's worth doing business, finding a job - and the problem will go away;
- sick girl just needs to find love, and she will be happy, eating disorder will pass;
- it is necessary to have a conversation about the consequences of anorexia, and the patient will begin to eat normally;
- change of residence and environment will helpget rid of an eating disorder;
- it is necessary to force a person to eat by force, in this case the weight will return to normal.
The real story of Tatiana's anorexia
As a rule, patients prefer to keep their real names a secret, as they are afraid of being judged by strangers. Tatyana (name changed for anonymity) shared her story about anorexia on an online forum.
A girl fell in love unrequitedly with a guy from a parallel course. He was fond of sports, boasted of his muscles and enjoyed success with the opposite sex. Tatyana decided by all means to attract his attention. To achieve her goal, she enrolled in a gym, began to work out under the guidance of a trainer. He focused the attention of his ward on the importance of proper nutrition, but she did not listen. By all means, she decided to become the owner of a flat stomach. At first, Tatyana refused dinner. In parallel with this, she exhausted herself with exercises with dumbbells and a bar from the bar. Since the girl did not eat enough, she simply did not have the strength to increase working weights.
After the trainer remarked that she was not eating right, she refused his services. Tatyana switched to a more strict diet. The stomach has long become flat, but she wanted to lose a couple more kilograms. About the guy for whom she decided to lose weight, the girl no longer remembered. Every morning, as soon as she opened her eyes, she rushed to the scales. Every 200 grams of weight shed caused her to be overjoyed.
After a few months, the parents began to worry. Tatyana's appearance left much to be desired: her cheekbones erupted, her skin became pale, her hair began to fall out badly. The girl increasingly stayed at home in order to be alone. Tatyana admits that a psychotherapist helped her get out of anorexia. I did not have to resort to pharmacological support: individual sessions helped. This story about anorexia ended happily. Tatyana herself wanted to be cured, she realized that something unhe althy was happening to her.
Anorexia recovery story. The story of a young lady from the modeling business
Stories of girls with anorexia are often connected in one way or another with the modeling business. Below is one of them.
Natalia (name changed) dreamed of achieving success in the modeling business. However, when concluding a contract with a new modeling agency, she was given a condition: to lose weight up to 55 kg with a height of 180 cm. The girl dreamed of a career, so she agreed to the conditions without hesitation.
Natalia was able to reduce her weight to the coveted mark. However, there was little joy about this: he alth problems began. Natalia had to improve nutrition, after which digestion returned to normal. But the weight has increased accordingly. Natalya is a rare example of the fact that an adequate attitude towards one's own he alth and therapeutic measures taken in time can save one from serious problems from anorexia. At the same time, the medical history may not mention that the patient has a psychiatric history.diagnosis. This will help the girl avoid some problems in life.
Anorexia nervosa recovery story
Anorexia nervosa usually requires the use of psychotropic medications. Because it occurs as a secondary disease in various mental disorders. Below is a life story about anorexia (photos of the consequences of the disease can scare anyone), which developed as a result of high psycho-emotional stress.
One of the patients of a well-known psychotherapist lost a lot of weight. Concerned parents brought her to the reception. The girl not so long ago entered the university at the technical faculty. She studied well, but she was rapidly losing weight (the mark had already reached 42 kg), she became pale and absent-minded. Anorexia has been diagnosed.
The story of life ended well: the psychotherapist needed only six sessions to ease the stress provoked by the girl's studies at the faculty, where there are too many men. She was one child in the family, and the male team took it extremely hard. Meanwhile, no one offended her: fellow students treated her like a sister. In parallel with individual therapy sessions, the girl drank a course of nootropics and antidepressants. On the background of treatment, the weight returned to normal.
History of recovery from drankorexia
Drancorexia is a special type of disease in which the patient refuses to eat in favor of drinking alcoholic beverages. In this case, the patient is characterized by feargain excess weight. Drancorexia is much more difficult to treat than ordinary anorexia.
The life story of one of the patients of the rehabilitation center is very sad. The girl watched her weight, she liked to dress fashionably and admire her reflection in the mirror. Alas, once in one of the social networks a group about anorexia caught my eye. The girls shared newfangled diets and boasted of the results. A separate topic was devoted to the wine diet. It was necessary to consume a bottle of dry wine throughout the day (it has the lowest calorie content), while not eating anything. From liquids - only wine and pure water. I had to repeat this day two or three times a week.
The sad story is that our heroine got hooked on wine. She rapidly lost weight to the mark of 38 kilograms. Since the girl lived alone, no one was worried about her well-being. Gradually, the doses of wine consumed began to increase. The girl became very often drunk, while she did not eat anything. Once a mother came to visit and found her daughter in a deranged state, very emaciated and weakened. The girl was admitted to a rehabilitation center for treatment. Working with professional psychologists and a psychotherapist, as well as a special recovery diet, helped our heroine to return to society. However, now she is forced to attend group therapy meetings on a regular basis to avoid relapse.
History of treatment and fight against anorexia from Irina
Irina (not her real name) shared on one of the psychologicalforums with their history of dealing with an eating disorder. Irina's cycles of anorexia alternated with periods of bulimia. This phenomenon occurs quite often. Irina starved for weeks, the weight dropped to critical levels. However, then instincts took their toll and Irina "broke down" - she began to eat everything. She describes how she could stuff in her mouth and swallow about a kilogram of boiled rice porridge in ten minutes. The stomach could not cope with such volumes, vomiting began. Alas, Irina developed gastritis and erosion of the esophagus. The girl is still forced to live with these diseases, and she admits that if it were not for the desire to lose weight at all costs, her stomach would be he althy now.
Irina continued to lose weight. Hair began to fall out, the skin became gray, the teeth began to stagger, the gums bled. All these symptoms are characteristic of all patients with anorexia. At the same time, Irina herself did not realize the severity of her illness. Mom sounded the alarm. Irina refused to visit a doctor, and thanks to their connections, her parents achieved involuntary hospitalization in a special clinic specializing in eating disorders. Irina also tried to starve there, secretly spitting out pills and refusing to eat. Today she is grateful to her parents for understanding the complexity of her condition and forcibly placing her in a clinic. The treatment took a total of six months. Today, Irina visits a psychotherapist once a month to avoid a recurrence of the disease.
