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Anorexia. Causes, diagnosis and effective treatment of the disease

Anorexia is a serious pathological deviation, which is manifested not only by excessive thinness, but also by a mental disorder. Therefore, it is very important to choose the right treatment method.

Attention! Treatment of anorexia at home is quite possible, but only if a person has great willpower and a great desire to get rid of the pathology. However the best option There will be constant medical supervision.

Anorexia is a food craving disorder.. It is characterized by a lack of hunger and a loss of interest in food in general.

For this reason, a person is rapidly losing weight, which leads to significant weight loss and exhaustion. In turn, this entails the development of more serious pathologies.

In a word, the disease slowly but surely takes a person's life.

Why and how does anorexia develop? What to do to prevent global weight loss? How to get rid of this condition? All these questions concern many people and especially women.

Because the reason most often lies in the desire to lose weight and have a beautiful slim figure. Men rarely pay attention to their own weight, but women think about it all the time.

So, anorexia is most characteristic of the beautiful half of humanity.. In an effort to throw off a few extra pounds, people are addicted to various diets, and sometimes even go to starvation.

As a result, the body does not receive the required amount of proteins, fats, carbohydrates and other substances useful for normal functioning.

Oddly enough, but after losing weight, a woman can no longer stop, because it seems to her that she is not slim enough. Such a deviation refers already to a psychological disorder.

Some people in this state, on the contrary, begin to actively eat, which is why bulimia develops (an indefatigable feeling of hunger and an artificial disposal of food eaten).

It happens that a woman, trying to lose weight, does not refuse her usual food, eats right, follows all the rules of the diet, but at the same time she has symptoms of the disease.

You ask how anorexia begins with this lifestyle. In fact, the secret lies in the use of drugs and means for weight loss. And today there are a huge number of them.

As a rule, such medications are prescribed for significant obesity, but many girls who do not have such a diagnosis try to use them in the hope of losing weight as soon as possible.

The worst thing is that many of these drugs are available without a prescription, that is, they are available to everyone.

But you can’t self-medicate (obesity is a disease), because there are certain indications and contraindications. What can we say about psychostimulants and antidepressants, which the doctor prescribes in such cases!

"Sibutramine" belongs to the anorexigenic group with a powerful effect.
It is prescribed only in the last stages of obesity. It has a harmful effect on the body.
"Fluoxetine" is an antidepressant. Which dulls the feeling of hunger. It has a huge number of contraindications and adverse reactions.
"Ephedrine". This remedy, like both previous ones, is available by prescription, but the active ingredients are contained in cough syrups.
Therefore, women acquire syrup and prepare a highly concentrated cocktail from it, which has contraindications. There were also cases of death.

Consequences of anorexia

Forced weight loss leads to the following consequences:

Amenorrhea (infertility).
Bad breath that cannot be removed.
Thinning and hair loss, baldness.
Fainting, great weakness.
Constant dizziness and loss of strength.
Diseases of the heart and vascular system: arrhythmia, stroke, cardiac arrest.
Gastrointestinal organs: bloating, pain syndrome.
Swelling of the joints, the development of osteoporosis.
atrophy internal organs, full stop functionality.
Painful death.

Anorexia occurs in adolescents, children and adults. Statistics say that the first symptoms most often appear at the age of 14. It's easy to define them.

So, the first signs of anorexia in girls and boys:

If you find any of these symptoms in your child, contact a specialist immediately.. The longer you delay the time, the worse the patient's condition will worsen.

Treatment of anorexia

Treatment of anorexia should be comprehensive. It takes part whole line specialists.

This is a psychotherapist, psychologist, psychiatrist, cardiologist, nutritionist. Also endocrinologist, rheumatologist and gastroenterologist.

You can determine from what weight the disease begins, according to the table:

Height	Condition before anorexia (kg)	Anorexia (kg)
155 cm	35-40	30 or less
160 cm	40-45	35 or less
165 cm	45-50	40 or less
170 cm	50-53	45 or less
175 cm	53-55	50 or less

How to treat anorexia correctly? Any doctor can answer this question. But you must adhere to certain requirements:

Features of mental anorexia

There is such a thing as anorexia nervosa. It develops against the background of psychological disorders in nervous system. Accompanied by fear of getting better.

Most often, such patients cannot withstand the diet, as a result of which they break down and eat plentifully. But immediately after eating, try to induce vomiting to get rid of the calories. And these are signs of bulimia.

The psychogenic form of the disease is dangerous for its manifestations, since the patient has a frequent change of mood - from despondency to aggression.

Childhood anorexia is much more difficult than adult. This is due to the fact that pathology is detected already in the later stages.

Therefore, parents need to especially closely monitor the weight and behavior of their own child.

Remember that weight loss in anorexia is accompanied by a lack of appetite and refusal to eat.. These are the most obvious signs in childhood and adolescence.

Pay attention to the frequency of stools, as constipation always accompanies illness. Treatment is complex and individual.

Principles of getting rid of anorexia

If you are wondering if the disease is treated exclusively at home, then no. Of course, you can stay at home, but you must cooperate with the doctors at all times.

The fact is that it is almost impossible to get rid of the pathology on your own, since the reason lies in the human psyche.

Psychotherapy is required. It can be individual or group. It is also important to use drug therapy. Treatment must be comprehensive.

If the patient has a completely neglected form, then medicine uses tube feeding for anorexia. It involves the introduction of food, vitamins, minerals and other things through a probe. This is in cases where the body does not accept regular food.

Definitely need a correction with the help of a psychologist. After all, such an excessive desire to lose weight is associated with a sense of inferiority and inadequate self-esteem.

Before you get rid of anorexia, get ready for the fact that you will have to take medication.

The doctor will definitely prescribe means that normalize metabolic processes: water, salt, protein, carbohydrate, electrolyte and fat. The most famous drugs: "Berpamin" and "Polyamine".

To stabilize the mood, you need to take antidepressants: "Cipralex", "Zoloft", "Eglonil", "Fevarin", "Coaxin" and others.

To normalize the work of the gastrointestinal tract you can drink Frenolon. And definitely a vitamin premix.

Psychiatric and psychotherapeutic treatment

This stage of therapy is considered the most difficult, since it is quite difficult to change the psyche. First of all, you need to eliminate psychological trauma by determining the exact cause of the development of pathology.

The patient must be made aware of the problem and cause a desire to be treated. During the time of refusal of food, the patient develops a habit resistant to this. Therefore, behavioral modification is needed.

The doctor must also work with the relatives of the patient. Family therapy is very important here..

It turns out that in the presence of concomitant diseases such as prolonged depression, schizophrenia, severe stress due to physical and moral violence, death of relatives, therapy does not always give a positive result.

What to do and how to deal with the disease in such cases? It's simple: the patient is trained in autogenic training, hypnosis sessions are conducted.

The diet is aimed at saturating the body with the necessary substances and increasing weight, building muscle mass. Nutrition rules for anorexia:

The menu is compiled exclusively by a nutritionist, based on the individual characteristics of the body and the course of the disease. The menu shown is for general information only.

Breakfast may include the following items:

green tea, flax and oatmeal jelly, natural compotes;
cottage cheese casserole, dried fruits, nuts;
milk porridge from rice and buckwheat, omelettes;
oatmeal cookies, boiled eggs, salads;
hot sandwiches with cheese, butter, sausage.

Dinner and lunch:

vegetable and meat soups with olive oil;
various cereals;
pork steaks, baked poultry;
vegetable puree, chicken broths;
cutlets from meat, fish;
vegetable stew;
bread, butter, cheese.

Snacks:

vegetable and fruit juices, but always diluted;
dried fruits, nuts, seeds;
cottage cheese and milkshakes;
fresh fruits and vegetables;
cookies, cupcakes, pastries;
fatty dairy products;
decoctions of herbs - mint, dandelion, lemon balm, nettle, motherwort;
ready-made infant formula

Preventive measures

Prevention is used to prevent the development of anorexia. It includes visiting doctors and examination by a gastroenterologist, neurologist, endocrinologist and other specialists.

Nutrition should always be balanced and rich in fresh fruits and vegetables.

If you pay attention to the developing symptoms of anorexia in a timely manner and seek help from specialists, you can avoid unpleasant consequences and complications that can lead to death.

Anorexia is a disease manifested by a persistent desire to lose weight, regardless of the initial weight to the minimum figures, to the detriment of one's own health and often ends in death.

Most often, girls and adolescent girls suffer from anorexia, starting from 8-9 years old, with a peak at 14-18 years old. Among young men, patients with anorexia also occur, but much less often: for one anorexic boy, there are, on average, 75 pathologically losing weight girls.

A study on the causes and consequences of anorexia was carried out at the Department of Psychiatry of the Peoples' Friendship University of Russia (Moscow).

How Anorexia Occurs

Anorexia is closely related to dysmorphomania. In adolescence, sometimes a little earlier or later, girls (girls) become dissatisfied with their appearance - they are usually upset by the excessive roundness of the emerging body and seeming overweight. According to these girls, it is easy to correct the situation by simply limiting food intake. It becomes an obsessive or overvalued idea, sometimes even delusional. However, at the initial stage, even relatives do not see anything alarming in this, because the standards of beauty recognized today do not allow overweight. Yes, and doctors always associate excess weight with the development of various diseases, including cardiovascular diseases. And the fact that a girl strives to be beautiful and healthy is normal. And everything would be fine if a fine line was observed and the facts were not distorted.

Where is this edge?

Become slim and healthy - good idea. But this can be achieved in several ways:

1. limiting the use of any food;

2. eating rationally;

It's great if points 2 and 3 are observed at the same time. This will really help to bring the weight back to normal and lay the foundations for health and longevity. Why do some girls choose the first item? The point that is the most destructive for a young, just emerging organism?

When is it time to sound the alarm?

As statistics show, such patients get to a psychiatrist only 3-4 years after the start of a strict diet, or rather, fasting. And it's already too late. By this time, the girls are in the stage of severe cachexia with pronounced somatic disorders:

they do not have periods (even if they used to have them);
the digestive tract is not able to digest ordinary food;
in the blood - severe anemia, accompanied by tissue respiratory failure;
the bone marrow reduces the production of all blood cells in proportion to the weight lost, which is expressed
ancytopenia, which is almost impossible to treat at present;
heart rhythm is disturbed - the heart beats less than 60 beats per minute;
the level of estrogens and calcium decreases, which is expressed by osteoporosis and a tendency to fractures;
nerve cells atrophy - convulsions, neuropathies, and sensitivity disorders appear.

Girls die from multiple organ failure, sudden ventricular fibrillation, respiratory failure. This death is not easy.

Why is anorexia dangerous?

If the patient's weight has decreased by more than a third of the age norm, then the return point has been passed. No efforts of doctors will help to return women's health and beauty. The disease will gradually progress. It flows in waves, aggravating in spring and autumn, and death occurs in one of the exacerbations - 5% of patients with anorexia die per year.

If the weight has not reached a critical level, then the life and health of the girl must be fought for. Every third patient can be saved. They will be able to return to a normal life by organizing a balanced diet and starting to lead a healthy lifestyle.

30% of patients with anorexia will not be able to return to a normal life, even if they manage to return to their normal weight. Multiple organ failure and endocrine disorders will result in amenorrhea and complete infertility. And another third of patients will suffer several relapses of anorexia, which, most likely, will end in complete disability or death.

How to get rid of anorexia?

Unfortunately, a person suffering from anorexia does not consider himself ill. On the contrary, he thinks that he has superpowers and does what few people succeed in - controls his appetite. Therefore, he himself will never ask for help. Only close people can save him.

If you notice such a girl next to you - torturing herself with hunger in order to improve her figure, then pay attention to her relatives. The only thing that can quickly save a person is a consultation with a good psychoneurologist or, alternatively, a complete change of activity with a person placed in extreme conditions (a long hike, participation in an experiment, sport competitions). With an anorexic, there must be people nearby who you can rely on and who are not indifferent not only to life, but also to the fate of a person. The way out of anorexia is difficult and lengthy, but it is possible, and the sooner the operation to save a person is started, the better.

To date, more people die from anorexia than from any other mental illness. And this is a disaster.

Anorexia nervosa is a severe mental and physical illness hallmark which is a significant reduction in body weight (up to 30%). Adolescent girls are most commonly affected by anorexia nervosa, although boys and men can be affected.

Anorexia nervosa and bulimia are closely related. The same people in different periods of their lives suffer from different eating disorders. Anorexia nervosa is associated with a fear of gaining excess weight and with a sense of low self-esteem. Girls, in pursuit of a model figure, become very picky about food, carefully select products for their diet.

At first they avoid carbohydrates and fats, and then they completely refuse food. For girls, anorexia is considered a unique and fast-acting weight loss tool that does not require huge expenses. All you need to do is just stop eating. The final stage of anorexia is severe physical exhaustion, up to death.

Against the background of anorexia, hormonal, metabolic and functional disorders often occur. Most people with anorexia do not realize that they are underweight. Even at 40 kg they feel "too fat". This perception of one's body is due to the complete exhaustion of the body and insufficient nutrition of the brain, so it is almost impossible to convince a person of the opposite.

And this makes it difficult to provide timely medical care to patients with anorexia. People with anorexia have a deep fear of food, which does not disappear even if the weight is reduced. The more people lose weight, the more distorted their perception of their body becomes. Personal self-esteem is also distorted - weight loss is regarded as success and the ability to control oneself, and weight gain is perceived as failure and loss of self-control. Anorexia nervosa is based on social, individual and family factors.

The exhaustion of the body and a decrease in immunity that occur with anorexia nervosa contribute to the development of infectious diseases (pneumonia, tuberculosis). Only proper nutrition for anorexia and timely medical care will help get rid of this.

Patients with anorexia are characterized by excessive physical activity, the use of emetics, diuretics and laxatives. Patients hide from others the motives for refusing to eat, tend to eat separately, using various tricks - they sprinkle food on pets, shift food to someone else's plate.

Against the background of starvation, the desire to overfeed other family members increases, they prefer difficult ways cooking and food rituals. Very often, anorexia turns into bulimia. People who suffer from anorexia certainly think about food. And now, unable to withstand the pangs of hunger, they begin to eat - they eat a lot and cannot stop even when the stomach is full - this is malnutrition with anorexia.

Both of these diseases are associated with serious disorders in the human psyche, so the treatment is carried out by psychotherapists and nutritionists. In severe cases, patients with anorexia are treated with antidepressants, tranquilizers and strong psychotropic drugs. The diet for anorexia should be balanced, high-calorie with the gradual introduction of more "complex" foods. For the success of therapy, it is very important to work with relatives, who must create the right regimen for patients with anorexia and monitor treatment.

The claim that diet alone is the cause of anorexia is false. Most people who follow a diet do not suffer from anorexia. However, adolescent girls who severely restrict their diet are 18 times more likely to develop such a disorder during a year of strict dieting.

It is very difficult in our time to meet the new standards and parameters of beauty. Sometimes all the efforts made to lose weight lead to serious health problems. The most common mistakes that people make in their desire to lose weight are the wrong motivation (I want to lose weight to please my husband, I want to look good on the beach, I want my figure to be like that of a famous actress); fasting (the fewer calories eaten, the faster the weight will decrease); express diets that cause irreparable harm to the body - the human body does not receive vital substances, as a result of which hair begins to fall out, nails, bones break, teeth fall out.

In order to overcome anorexia, first of all, the anorexic's diet is changed, adding high-calorie foods containing the necessary trace elements and vitamins to the daily diet. The most useful in the diet for anorexia are: pollock, bream, chicken, turkey, buckwheat, rice, bananas, apples, pears, physalis. In the daily diet for anorexia, oatmeal, buckwheat, rice porridge are welcome; bread, dry pastries; vegetable soups, vegetable puree; fruit purees; low-fat cheese, melted butter; boiled meat of turkey, chicken; boiled fish; low-fat kefir; all kinds of nuts. Artificial and canned products are prohibited: margarines, spreads, lemonades, products with preservatives - sausages, canned fish and meat, cakes, especially long-term storage. Pasta, beef, lean pork, artificial sweets (cakes, fatty cookies) are allowed after 6 to 2 months. from the start of treatment with its successful course and the absence of complications.

In case of stubborn refusal to eat, as a last resort - feeding through a tube, the volume of the nutrient mixture is 0.2 - 0.3 liters, in the later stages - up to 0.5 liters. To prevent vomiting in 30 minutes. before artificial feeding, 0.5 - 0.5 ml of a 0.1% solution of atropine is injected subcutaneously, and substances with a central antiemetic effect are added to the nutrient mixture - teralen (5 drops of a 4% solution), haloperidol (5 drops of a 0.2% syrup ). In the middle and late stages of treatment, insulin is also prescribed intramuscularly at 4 units, adding 4 units daily; after 30 - 60 min. after the injection, the appetite increases, and the patient can be given food.

Treatment of anorexia nervosa is possible and gaining weight, in principle, is possible, but the health disturbed by this disease cannot be returned. We need to be more attentive to the behavior of our loved ones, and then we can protect them from this terrible disease of our civilization. And girls who are trying to live up to the ideals of beauty imposed by the media can only say one thing: no man needs a "soup set" of bones, men love "forms", they are the ones who tell them on a subconscious level that a woman is healthy and can give birth to children . Everything is very simple.

The syndrome, which implies a complete lack of appetite in a person, despite the fact that his body needs food, is called anorexia. This condition may be accompanied by disorders of the digestive system, metabolic processes, the nervous system and other organs.

According to statistics, about 20% of patients with anorexia die. Death in anorexia occurs due to changes in the internal organs of a person with severe exhaustion. But more than half of the patients take their own lives. Basically, these are young girls working in the fashion industry.

The disease can be recognized by the following signs:

The weight of a person is less than his norm.
Fear of gaining weight, which sometimes causes a person to behave absurdly during meals. So, patients can even count the number of grains of rice on their plate.
Frequent weighing throughout the day.
Calorie counting and other rituals associated with weight loss take up all your free time. A person constantly restricts himself in food.
Dissatisfaction with their weight with pronounced thinness.
Use of emetics or laxatives.
Frequent training despite weakness.
Refusal of meat and fatty foods, a gradual transition to fruits and vegetables.

In addition to the main symptoms of the disease, a person suffers from such disorders:

sleep disorder;
general weakness;
muscle spasms;
the muscles of the patient become flabby and atrophy;
age spots on the skin;
sunken eyes;
sunken belly;
tooth loss;
dry hair;
pallor;
Bad mood;
low pressure;
violation of the menstrual cycle in women;
fainting and dizziness;
vomiting, nausea and stomach pain.

The disease develops gradually. First, a person, dissatisfied with his reflection in the mirror, is convinced that he is overweight. Then he tries to lose weight by any means, even refusing to eat.

When the first results in weight loss are achieved, a person feels lightness and high spirits, from which the negative consequences of violations, such as brittle nails, dull skin and dry hair, become invisible.

In addition to the fact that the patient restricts food intake, he begins to actively engage in physical activity. From this, the body is quickly exhausted. If the process lasts about a year, then the person already looks haggard. The patient needs urgent medical attention.

Causes of anorexia

The causes of anorexia can be both psychological disorders and the effects of medications.

As for psychological disorders, the following factors can provoke the development of the disease:

One of the main causes of anorexia nervosa is a lack of acceptance of one's body. Girls are more and more inclined towards this in adolescence. The second reason is a conflict with parents, strained relationships in the family, resentment and careless statements about the appearance of the child. All this pushes the teenager to drastic measures.

Anorexia can be triggered by taking medications. Such a pathology implies the loss of hunger, and this can happen both intentionally and as a result of the treatment of some disease.

If we are talking about intentionally muffling the feeling of hunger, then this is achieved by taking certain drugs. Anorexia can be triggered by taking antidepressants or other stimulants.

Consequences of the disease

The consequences of this disease can be severe. Up to 20% of people with anorexia eventually die, so among mental illnesses this disease is most often fatal.

First of all, human bones suffer from exhaustion. The fact is that the syndrome often develops in adolescence, when the bones have not yet fully formed. They may not be able to bear the weight of the body in the future if the person gets better.

The most dangerous consequence of the disease is a violation of the heart.

Due to starvation, the muscles atrophy, and the heart suffers from this. The blood pressure drops and the pulse slows down. These changes can lead to cardiac arrest.

When there is not enough glucose in the body, energy reserves are depleted. Subsequently, the body has to look for other sources of energy. Inside a person, these are proteins and fats, which the body begins to feed on. This leads to the fact that a lot of ammonia and acetone are formed during the breakdown of protein and fat cells. They poison the human body.

In addition, as a result of fasting, cortisol, the stress hormone, is produced. On the verge of being not only the nervous system, but also the immune forces. The patient's body can no longer fight viruses or bacteria.

Treatment of anorexia

In order to cure anorexia, it is necessary to use complex therapy.

It includes:

taking medications;
nutrition correction;
psychotherapy.

IN this case pharmacology is an additional treatment for anorexia. Medicines are used to correct mental disorders, as well as to increase appetite. Some appointments involve the exclusion of recurrence of the disease.

The early stages of the disease are usually treated on an outpatient basis. As for the advanced stages, such a patient is hospitalized.

First of all, helping the patient is to restore his normal body weight and normalize metabolic processes.

In a hospital setting, patients must comply with the diet, for which they are encouraged to walk and meet with relatives. This technique is quite effective, but it may not lead to a positive result if the case is severe.

In the treatment of anorexia, the following drugs can be prescribed:

neuroleptics;
antidepressants;
drugs that improve appetite (Frenolone, Elenium);
soothing;
vitamin complexes, which include calcium, iron, vitamin B12 and vitamin C.

Normalization of weight requires a gradual increase in food intake. Especially for this, nutrition programs have been developed that allow you to cope with the problem without harming the digestive system.

In the early stages of the disease, patients are prescribed psychotherapy. Conversations with a psychologist allow a person to treat themselves as a person and not pay too much attention to their weight. There is a reassessment of life priorities and ideals.

Some patients require the help of a psychotherapist in order to improve relationships in the family. This is one of the types of therapy that allows you to cure anorexia completely in the early stages or speed up the healing process if the disease is running.

Treatment of the disease at home

Treatment of anorexia with folk methods involves the use of herbal decoctions. The main task is to stimulate the appetite and calm the patient's nervous system.

To do this, use the following tools:

nettle decoction;
dandelion roots;
tea with lemon balm or mint;
a decoction of rowan fruits.

At home, the treatment of anorexia involves not only diet food. In addition, the support of loved ones is important for the patient. It consists in daily communication with the patient, helping him to realize the problem and the need for recovery.

It is necessary not only to control the behavior of the patient, but also to find common activities that will help distract from negative thoughts. To recover completely, it is important to eat right for several months. Any fasting days for shape correction or refusal to eat can harm and even exacerbate the disease.

Recovery period

To restore the body after anorexia, bed rest should be observed. The body is greatly weakened by exhaustion, so it needs rest. The recovery period will last as long as the body has weakened, and temporary relief can be deceptive.

Nutrition should not be neglected during recovery. During this period, you need to eat more often, up to 6 times a day, and eat high-calorie foods. If you follow all the doctor's instructions, you can gain up to 3 kilograms within a month.

Many patients are assigned to groups that provide psychological assistance. Such support helps to cope not only with the consequences of the disease, but also with its causes, which is very important for preventing the recurrence of the disease.

During the recovery period, the main task is to learn how to properly relate to your body and nutrition. It is also important to learn to perceive your appearance.

In many ways, the results also depend on the behavior of relatives who surround the patient. Therefore, for a successful recovery, they should also receive a consultation with a psychologist in order to properly behave with the patient in the future.

The nuances of the treatment of anorexia in adolescents

In order to help the child cope with the problem, parents should adhere to the following recommendations:

be a role model for the child healthy lifestyle life;
maintain a figure with the help of sports;
do not criticize the appearance of the child and your own;
get advice from a psychologist;
do not intimidate the child and do not show anger towards him;
improve his self-esteem.

Noticing the first signs of anorexia in a child, parents should immediately seek medical help. Such manifestations as weight loss, as well as the refusal of the food that the child previously ate with pleasure, should alert. Adolescents may refuse to eat, justifying themselves with a lack of appetite or the fact that they have previously eaten a lot.

If a teenager is very preoccupied with diets and criticizes his body, then this should also alert parents. He may react sharply to statements about food or to criticism.

How to avoid a relapse

To avoid recurrence of the disease, the patient should adhere to the following rules:

take medications in accordance with the doctor's recommendations;
do not follow diets, but adhere to the principles of proper nutrition;
eat small portions, eating often;
do not watch fashion shows and do not compare yourself with models;
pamper yourself not with food, but with other pleasant things;
communicate with loved ones;
avoid stress;
do what you love.

Conclusion

Since doctors still cannot name the exact causes of anorexia, it is considered difficult problem. Declaring a hunger strike, a person does not even suspect what harm he causes to his body.

Depending on how long the fasting lasts, girls may have metabolic disorders, problems with the kidneys, skin, and liver. In the future, it becomes extremely difficult to restore the body.

We bring to your attention a video in which a case of cure for anorexia is analyzed using a specific example:

In contact with

This Greek word which means "lack of appetite". It is a disease a special form of a neuropsychiatric disorder, which is accompanied by a refusal to eat normally and an obsession with constantly losing weight. The disease, if left untreated, can lead to eating disorders. A person constantly pays increased attention to his weight, reacts sharply to its increase. To lose weight, people suffering from anorexia resort to diets, exhaust sports, put enemas, and wash the stomach after eating.

Causes

Various factors can trigger the development of pathological weight loss. There are several types of pathology that occur under the influence of different conditions. There are the following types:

Psychic. Develops against the background of diseases psychological nature after taking psychotropic substances. Often this type is diagnosed in patients who suffer from mental illness, for example, delusions, depression, paranoia, in patients with schizophrenia.
Symptomatic. It becomes a consequence of somatic pathologies of the lungs, gastrointestinal tract, thyroid gland.
Medicinal. Loss of appetite develops if the dosage is violated when taking antidepressants, psychostimulants and tablets similar in action.
Psychological, nervous. It becomes a conscious restriction in food intake for one reason - the desire to lose weight, the correction of appearance to a state of physical exhaustion.

There are many reasons that can become a trigger for the development of pathology. There are the following main factors that become the reason for the development of the disorder:

Unfavorable family environment. Difficult relationships, increased irritability of family members leads to the fact that one of the people who suffers more than others from an unhealthy environment falls ill.
Negative attitude towards food. Often the negative emotions that are associated with eating begin to grow from childhood. Parents in every way try to force the child to eat, not taking into account his desires and preferences. This situation often leads to the development of a gag reflex, a negative and very persistent attitude towards food is formed. This causes the development of the disease at an early or older age.
Low self-esteem. A person is often dissatisfied with what he sees in the mirror, his social status, which affects his self-esteem. This condition exacerbates the persistent opinion of unattractiveness and worthlessness. Some people believe that things will change if they lose weight, mistakenly believing that a figure will help them succeed in life.
Obsession. Even the simplest diet can have serious consequences. If a person gets hung up on the desire to lose weight, he ceases to adequately perceive his figure and reality. The idea of losing weight becomes the main goal of life.
Problems in personal life. Often weight loss does not occur own will but to please other people. After feeling the first positive results, it is not always possible to stop there and the patient continues to use all possible methods to reduce body weight.

The cause of the development of the disease may be other concomitant factors, for example:

oncological pathologies;
diseases of the gastrointestinal tract: pancreatitis, peptic ulcer, gastritis, cirrhosis of the liver;
dysfunction of the thyroid gland;
chronic pain of a different nature;
dental diseases, diseases of the oral cavity.

stages

The disease does not develop immediately, there are several stages that a person goes through. Treatment is based on an understanding of these stages. The following stages are distinguished:

Dysmorphomaniac. This is the first stage of anorexia, which is characterized by the appearance of the first thoughts about one's own inferiority due to imaginary fullness. A person is trying to lose weight with diets and limiting the amount of food.
Anorexic. There is a 20-30% weight loss due to prolonged fasting. This period is accompanied by euphoria, the desire to lose weight even more. Symptoms of anorexia at this stage are manifested in the form of dry skin, alopecia, chilliness, adrenal dysfunction.
cachectic. After 2 years, dystrophy of internal organs is noted. Weight loss reaches 50%, often this stage has irreversible consequences that lead to death.

Consequences

Health complications in a person depend on the severity of the course of the disease, the duration of the hunger strike and the initial state of health. When girls refuse food, they will have an upset alimentary tract, metabolic disorders, problems with the skin, kidneys, liver, the condition of nails and hair will worsen. The whole body suffers from a lack of nutrients, vitamins and microelements, so many systems will be affected, it will be very difficult to restore them in the last stages.

Glucose is an important element for the functioning of the body, it provides the body with energy. When fasting, the amount of carbohydrates is not replenished, glucose comes to an end and the body looks for an alternative source. They become protein and fats, which, when decomposed, release acetone and ammonia. Both of these substances strongly poison the body, and the liver and kidneys cease to cope with their excretory functions.

Due to the restriction of food intake, the body begins to experience stress, releasing the hormone cortisol, the immune system is weakened, and the nervous system is on the verge of collapse. The body loses its ability to resist bacteria, viruses. The barrier function is reduced on the background of the disease. When the amount of food is limited, the liver begins to work in an enhanced mode, produces additional fat, which becomes a source of its own energy.

It accumulates, which leads to an increase in the size of the organ, which provokes fatty degeneration of the liver. Characteristic external signs of this phenomenon:

apathy;
dizziness;
nausea.

The brain reacts to the disease with frequent headaches that last for months or years. Due to fatty hepatosis, painful sensations appear in the right hypochondrium, memory weakens, concentration of attention decreases. Obvious and clear dark circles appear under the eyes, the skin becomes pale, the hair is dull and split ends as a result of a lack of vitamins.

When potassium drops to a critical level, cardiac arrhythmia begins, constipation, muscle damage, constant fatigue, and sometimes even paralysis appear. Lack of calcium provokes a decrease in bone mass. This is very dangerous for a young organism if it is not fully formed (adolescents). The process of puberty, growth is greatly slowed down. These processes are reversible if the treatment started in the early stages of the pathology. In the most severe cases, death can occur, this pathology has the highest mortality rate among mental illnesses.

Can anorexia be cured?

The problem of the disease is that the patient is not always able to assess the degree of risk and the severity of the pathology. It is possible to get rid of anorexia, it is easier to do it on early stages, you can even do without outpatient treatment. It will not be possible to cure the disease on its own in the later stages, except in very rare cases when a person has strong willpower. For the treatment of the disease, the following methods are used:

strict adherence to all doctor's recommendations;
constant monitoring of the patient by a psychologist / psychotherapist, nutritionist and other specialists, if necessary;
the introduction of nutrients that are needed to restore the work of all systems and organs, intravenously;
in severe cases with psychological abnormalities, treatment in a psychiatric clinic is necessary (until a person begins to perceive his body adequately);
in the early stages, bed rest is mandatory, activity causes rapid exhaustion of strength;
after assessing the state of nutrition, the patient is prescribed a comprehensive somatic examination, consultations of specialists, ECG monitoring, if they have serious deviations;
there is a gradual increase in the amount of food according to indications;
the rate of increase on an outpatient basis is 0.5 kg, rehabilitation in a hospital - 0.5-1 kg every week;
maintenance of a special, high-calorie individual diet with fractional and frequent meals;
the patient must learn to relax, a technique is selected individually that helps him in this (meditation, yoga, etc.).

neurotic

Treatment of this type of disease begins with the identification of the cause, which served as the starting point for the development of the deviation. It is important to start a course of psychotherapy on time, which helps to identify and eliminate the factors that are the basis for anorexia. The form of treatment depends on the severity of the patient's condition. The main task of therapy is the gradual normalization of body weight, the restoration of the balance of electrolytes, fluids and the provision psychological help.

If the patient is in a severe mental, physical condition, then weight gain is carried out no more than 500 grams or 1 kg per week. To do this, select a special diet that contains all the nutrients the body needs. When preparing a diet, the doctor takes into account the degree of exhaustion, body mass index, and other symptoms of a lack of specific substances. For effective therapy it is better if the patient eats on his own, but if he refuses to eat, it will be delivered using a special tube that is inserted into the stomach through the nose.

For the treatment of anorexia nervosa, medications are used to help neutralize the effects of such detrimental starvation. Actively use antidepressants, which are indicated in the treatment of mental illness. Also used, for example, the following means:

If the menstrual cycle is disturbed, the patient must take hormonal drugs.
If there is a decrease in bone density, then you need to take vitamin D, calcium supplements.

Medicinal

When drawing up a complex therapy scheme, consultation with a gastroenterologist, oncologist, neurologist, psychologist and endocrinologist is necessary. A course of therapy is drawn up on the same principles of combating anorexia, taking into account the characteristics of the clinical picture. With this form of the disease, hospitalization, the abolition of all medications, and strict adherence to bed rest are required.

A non-irritating diet is compiled for the patient, the intake of the required amount of liquid is controlled. There is no definitive opinion on the causes of drug anorexia. But the main treatment method is psychotherapy. A patient with bulimia should be distracted from the thought of further blasphemy. Complete recovery is observed in half of the cases of treatment.

Children's

It develops, as a rule, in adolescence, when the child begins to be critical of his appearance. Therapy is to remove the patient from given state, you need to determine what caused the manic desire to lose weight. During treatment, the following actions are performed:

Normalization of nutrition, based on age, but the portion should be reduced by 3 times. It is necessary to introduce foods that stimulate appetite into the diet (allowed if the child is less than 1 year old): lightly salted vegetables, garlic. Exclude sweets, sweets and other products with a high content of fats, carbohydrates.
When the appetite improves, they begin to gradually increase the volume of the serving, leaving proteins normal, but 2 times less fat than the norm.
On last step nutrition is completely normalized, fats should be further limited.

How to define anorexia

The effectiveness of treatment is much higher if pathologies are noticed in the early stages. It is not always possible to distinguish ordinary thinness from signs of anorexia, so you should know how to identify this disease. You can spot problems by the following symptoms:

weight 15% (or more) below the required level;
conscious refusal to eat due to anxiety about overweight(without obvious signs of obesity);
there are attempts to “cleanse” the body of food by any available means (bulimia): taking laxatives, enema, inducing vomiting;
bringing yourself to exhaustion by physical exertion;
serious endocrine disorders develop;
in men, sexual desire decreases;
girls and women stop menstruating;
in children with anorexia, developmental delay is diagnosed.

To confirm the diagnosis when seeking medical help, the doctor prescribes the following tests and analyzes:

Laboratory research. Spend general analysis blood, glucose and thyroid hormone levels.
The patient is weighed, interviewed, body mass index is calculated.
Additional methods: gastroscopy, X-ray, electrocardiogram, head CT.
Expert advice. Doctors from different areas are able to identify abnormalities, as a rule, they visit a gynecologist (women), a cardiologist, an endocrinologist, a gastroenterologist.

How to treat anorexia

The main task in the treatment of the disease is to work with the patient's psychological problems and restore a normal diet, body weight. It is extremely rare to achieve a positive result at home, so outpatient treatment is not prescribed. The doctor treats anorexia, based on the cause, which was the reason for the development of pathology. It is recommended to perform therapy in stationary conditions psychiatric hospital(hard cases). For recovery, the following methods of treatment are used:

work with psychological problems;
restoration of appetite;
if there is a deviation in the work of the body systems, the doctor may prescribe drug therapy.

Preparations

The main reason for the development of anorexia lies in the nervous system. Drug treatment is more often aimed at reducing the desire to lose weight, restoring damaged organs and systems due to prolonged fasting, suppressing depression and sedating the patient. Drugs are prescribed exclusively by a doctor with an individual preparation of a treatment regimen. Almost all medications are prescribed by a neurologist or psychiatrist. As a rule, they prescribe drugs from the group of psychotropics, drugs to improve digestion. The following drug options are used:

Alprazolam. Anxiolytic, which relieves tension, anxiety of the patient. It facilitates the perception of the world, helps to take a break from thoughts about diet, relaxes muscles, stabilizes the work of the hypothalamus.
Amitriptyline. An anti-derpessant that improves mood, increases the desire to eat. It has a good soothing effect and low cost.
Grandaxin. Moderate tranquilizer, helps to fight the manifestations of anorexia, acts gently, stimulates thought processes and does not cause drowsiness.
Mexiprim. Antioxidant, stimulates the metabolic processes of the brain. Helps the patient to realize his condition, so anorexia itself affects indirectly.
Medicinal herbs. Their action is aimed at increasing appetite, helping a person to start eating fully.
diazepam. A very powerful tranquilizer that reduces the will to resist, causes severe sedation. Necessary for severe resistance to doctors from the patient. It is used only under strict supervision of specialists in stationary conditions.

Diet

Nutrition is compiled in such a way as to most effectively restore the chemical composition of body tissues and their functioning. The secondary task is the normalization of the work of the digestive organs and weight gain. The diet is selected individually, adhere to the following principles:

The intake of calories at the initial stage should be at a low level. There is no urgent need for good nutrition, because the energy costs of anorexics are usually small. On the psychological side, it is easier for patients to accept low-calorie meals, because they do not spoil the figure. This figure is gradually increasing.
Portions should be small, they should increase over time.
You can start with a vegetarian diet, which contains 1400 kcal, provides a weight gain of 0.3 kilograms per week. Maintain such a diet for 7-10 days, then increase the calorie content.
Start with liquid food, diluted juices, then add mushy food to avoid unpleasant sensations in the mouth.
Food intake should be at least 50-100 g, meals per day - 5-6.
Use food supplements that contain trace elements, organic compounds: magnesium, potassium, zinc, sodium, calcium, vitamin D, glycine, B12.
If the patient refuses to eat, then forced tube feeding is prescribed when food enters the stomach through a tube directly into the stomach.

Psychotherapeutic treatment

According to this technique, one of the sparing options for treating the disease is used - the principle of reward. It consists in the fact that an agreement is concluded between the doctor and the patient, in which the remuneration is stipulated if the person has an increase in weight. For example, the treatment of anorexia nervosa is carried out in a hospital, for gaining 200 g of weight, the patient is allowed to leave the ward, then the department. If the patient does not increase the mass, then the conditions change to more attractive ones for him.

It is important that the reward choice remains attractive to the patient. This technique helps, but is not the main one; a patient with anorexia will need the help of a psychoanalyst or psychotherapist. For successful therapy, the method of psychoanalysis is often used, it is carried out in order to strengthen the disturbed self-perception of a person. This is a long part of the treatment, success depends on that. how close the relationship can be established between the doctor and the patient.

Psychiatric treatment

This is a tougher version of therapy, in which a person is isolated from relatives and the environment, hospitalized in a psychiatric hospital. The therapy is carried out in several stages:

Elimination of acute deficiency of body weight. The duration of this stage is 2-4 weeks.
Treatment stage. directed to the treatment of the disease. Psychiatrists often practice large doses of antipsychotics paired with insulin.

There is also non-drug treatment, which includes force-feeding, a strict regimen, the patient is mainly in bed. In severe pathology, a number of psychiatrists recommend the use of insulin-coma therapy, ECT or leucotomy, and feeding through a tube. Some doctors recommend a strict regimen and hospitalization only for severe cases of anorexia. It is recommended to conduct relaxation for the patient right before eating.

Folk remedies

Severe anorexia can be defeated only with inpatient treatment. Folk remedies can become part of complex therapy to improve appetite. They are not an independent method of therapy and are used only to obtain an additional effect. At home, only the first, simple stage of the pathology can be treated, if there are no strong changes in body weight, the functioning of organs and body systems. The following traditional medicine recipes are suitable:

Mixed decoction. It is necessary to take the bitter herb of wormwood, the rhizome of calamus, the leaves of the three-leaf watch, the fruit of caraway seeds in the amount of 25 grams. Mix this collection and take a tablespoon of the product for 250 ml of boiling water. Brew the medicine for 20 minutes, then filter and drink 20 minutes before meals 1 tbsp. l.
Infusion of watch and wormwood. Mix 50 g of these plants, then dip one tablespoon of the collection in 250 ml of water for 20 minutes. Then pass the infusion through gauze and take 1 tbsp. l. before meals 20 minutes
Wormwood and yarrow. Take 25 g of common yarrow and 75 g of bitter wormwood. Mix thoroughly collection and type 1 tbsp. l. Brew this mixture in 250 ml of boiling water for 30 minutes. Strain the finished funds and 1 tbsp. l. drink before meals for 20 minutes.