Anorexia stories 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, some cases of the disease are still fatal. Real stories of anorexia indicate that girls aged 16 to 24 years are more likely to get sick. However, comparatively rarer cases are 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 a complete exhaustion, in which there is a failure of internal organs and death. The article presents the history of anorexia, which demonstrate the possibility of victory over the disease.
Development reasons
Alas, still many people (especially the older ones) perceive anorexia as "stupidity", which must be "knocked out of the head" of the patient. This approach to the disease usually not only does not help, but also exacerbates the situation. If your relative is ill with anorexia, then in no case should you show aggression, mock it or try to force-feed. This can lead to the development of a disorder such as bulimia, that is, the girl will pretend that she is eating, and then lock herself in the bathroom and empty the stomach cavity with mechanical movements. Bulimia and anorexia (the stories the patients tell confirm this fact) almost always complement each other. This is recognized by doctors. The stories of anorexia patients terrify healthy people. It is really difficult to understand such patients, and helping them is even more difficult.
It is important to realize that anorexia is a serious illness that the psychiatrist should treat. If the patient reaches the state of cachexia, then doctors of a different specialization are already joining. Since almost all organs refuse depletion, consultations with a nephrologist, hepatologist, and gastroenterologist are required. Enteral nutrition may be required. The sooner you start treatment, the more likely it is that it will not come to cachexia, and the girl will be able to continue to lead a full life, leaving behind her eating disorder.
What is anorexia? One fine day, the patient decides not to eat. This can happen due to psychoemotional stress (anorexia nervosa, stories about which are quite common), or because of dissatisfaction with their appearance. It often happens that a girl is hinted at being overweight with a stupid joke, as a result of which she sits on a strict diet and brings herself to exhaustion. Whatever the reason, anorexia always leads to physical health 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 believed that the following conditions can become the trigger for the development of anorexia nervosa:
- insults, negative statements about the patient’s appearance from indifferent people;
- psychiatric disorders (depressive, anxiety disorders, hypochondria);
- endocrine diseases (for example, with hyperthyroidism, the metabolism is too fast, and the patient can lose weight even by eating enough high-calorie foods);
- genetic factor (the 1p34 gene can trigger anorexia, which is activated with severe stress and excessive nervous strain);
- personality factor - low self-esteem, insecurity in their own attractiveness;
- the social factor is the fashion for thinness, the desire to be "slimmer" friends, the desire to become a professional model.
Stages of the development of the disease
In psychiatry, there are three stages of the development of the disease:
- At the preanorexic stage, the patient has thoughts that her body is not attractive enough. The patient considers photos of models and decides to go on a strict diet, starts counting calories fanatically, weighs each serving of food, gets up on the scales every morning, acquires and starts taking medications to reduce appetite.
- Anorexia - the weight is rapidly falling, but it seems to the patient that the appearance is still not good enough. Calorie reduction reaches a 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 disturbed.
- Cachectal - almost complete absence of adipose tissue and depletion of all body resources. The patient suffers from depression, weakness, apathy. All social contacts are usually 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 began to dry out, chronic diseases develop, which will subsequently lead to death. One 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
It is believed that this is a disease of perfectionists. They want to bring their figure to an imaginary ideal at all costs. But what is the situation in reality?
Anorexia was first mentioned as a disease by one of the prominent doctors, Richard Morton, in the 17th century. He describes the condition of his patient, who, allegedly due to psychoemotional stress, lost her normal sleep, began to refuse food intake, as a result of which she lost much weight and worsened her general state of health. Anorexia was most common in the 80s of the last century. The fashion for thinness has forced hundreds of thousands of girls around the world to refuse good nutrition. Every year, new-fangled diets appeared that only a completely healthy person can afford without fear. The fashion for dangerous diets has been preserved to this day - protein nutrition (which is often the cause of kidney failure), a raw food diet, and various starvations.
The stories of girls with anorexia often begin the same way. Future patients find a seemingly safe nutrition system and begin to adhere to it fanatically. Weight is hidden before our eyes, however, 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 condition 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 the use of drugs, then a narcologist consultation may be required.
During therapy, the following drugs are used:
- Antipsychotic drugs (antipsychotics). They reduce the patient’s tension, 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 do harm.
- Antidepressants - Zoloft, Paroxetine. Only those drugs that do not have anorexigenic effects should be taken. So, Fluoxetine and Prozac should not be taken by anorexia patients.
- Preparations for the digestive tract, which help protect the mucosa, normalize the absorption of fats, restore the process of digestion and the production of bile. These are Ursosan, Omeprazole, Essentiale and others. The doctor should prescribe the drugs after the results of the examination of the internal organs become known.
Patients need to work with psychotherapists. This measure is the main condition for a comfortable cure and prevention of relapse of the disease.
Myths and misconceptions about anorexia
The stories of girls with the disease leave a painful impression. These persons are unhappy in their own way. Experts say that only rebuilding one's worldview can help get out of the disease.
Stories about anorexia (photos of patients with an ailment 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:
- if you get busy, find a job - and the problem goes away;
- a sick girl just needs to find love, and she will become happy, an eating disorder will pass;
- you need to talk about the consequences of anorexia, and the patient will begin to eat normally;
- a change of residence and environment will help get 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 anorexia girl Tatiana
As a rule, patients prefer to keep their real names a secret, because they are afraid of the condemnation of strangers. Tatyana (name changed for anonymity) shared her story about anorexia in one of the online forums.
The girl fell in love 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 to attract his attention at all costs. To achieve her goal, she enrolled in the gym, began to engage under the guidance of a coach. 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 barbell. Since the girl did not eat up, she simply did not have the strength to increase working weights.
After the coach’s remark that she was eating poorly, she refused his services. Tatyana switched to a more strict diet. Her belly had long been flat, but she wanted to lose a couple more pounds. About the guy for whom she decided to lose weight, the girl no longer remembered. Every morning, only opening her eyes, she raced to the scales. Each dropped 200 grams of weight caused a storm of joy in her.
A few months later, parents began to worry. The appearance of Tatiana left much to be desired: cheekbones erupted, the skin became pale, hair began to fall out severely. The girl increasingly remained at home in order to be alone. Tatyana admits that a psychotherapist helped her to 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 unhealthy was happening to her.
A history of recovery from anorexia. The story of the young lady from the modeling business
The stories of girls with anorexia are often one way or another connected 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 the condition: to lose weight up to 55 kg with a height of 180 cm. The girl dreamed of a career, therefore, without hesitation, agreed to the conditions set.
Natalia was able to reduce her weight to the cherished mark. However, there was little joy in this regard: health problems began. Natalia had to establish nutrition, after which digestion returned to normal. But the weight, respectively, increased. Natalia is a rare example of the fact that an adequate attitude to one’s own health and timely therapeutic measures can relieve serious problems of anorexia. The medical history may not mention that the patient has a psychiatric diagnosis. This will help the girl avoid some problems in life.
History of recovery from anorexia nervosa
Anorexia nervosa usually requires psychotropic medication. Because it arises as a secondary disease in various kinds of mental disorders. The following 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 sharply lost weight. Concerned parents brought her to the reception. The girl recently entered the university at the technical faculty. She studied well, but was rapidly losing weight (the mark had already reached 42 kg), she became pale and distracted. Anorexia was diagnosed.
The story ended well: the psychotherapist had only six sessions to ease the tension provoked by the girl studying 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. Against the background of treatment, the weight returned to normal.
Drankorexia Recovery History
Drankorexia is a special type of disease in which the patient refuses food in favor of drinking alcoholic beverages. Moreover, the patient has a fear of gaining excess weight. Drankorexia is much more difficult to treat than conventional 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. Girls shared newfangled diets and boasted of results. A separate topic was devoted to the wine diet. It was necessary to use a bottle of dry wine throughout the day (it has the lowest calorie content), while there is nothing to eat. Of liquids - only wine and pure water. It was necessary to repeat such a day two to three times a week.
The sad story is that our heroine "hooked" on wine. She quickly lost weight to a mark of 38 kilograms. Since the girl lived alone, no one was worried about her well-being. Gradually, the dose 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 an insane state, very thin and weak. The girl was put for treatment in a rehabilitation center. Working with professional psychologists and a psychotherapist, as well as a special restorative diet, helped our heroine return to society. True, now she is forced to attend group therapy meetings on an ongoing basis to avoid relapse.
The history of treatment and the fight against anorexia from Irina
Irina (the name is fictitious) shared at one of the psychological forums her story of combating an eating disorder. Irina's anorexia cycles were replaced by periods of bulimia. This phenomenon is quite common. Irina was starving for weeks, weight dropped to critical levels. However, then instincts took their toll and Irina “broke” - she began to eat everything in a row. She describes how she could shove herself in her mouth in ten minutes and swallow about a kilogram of boiled rice porridge. 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 now be healthy.
Irina continued to lose weight. Hair began to fall out, the skin turned gray, the teeth began to stagger, the gums were bleeding. 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 her connections, her parents achieved forced hospitalization in a special clinic specializing in eating disorders. Irina tried to starve there, secretly spit out pills and refused to eat. Today, she is grateful to her parents for understanding the complexity of her condition and forcibly placed in a clinic. The treatment took a total of six months. Today, Irina visits a psychotherapist once a month to avoid a relapse of the disease.