Anorexia Nervosa is a serious condition that affects quite a number of people and if it is not discovered and treated in time its consequences may be fatal to those suffering from it. It is important to understand that this so-called disease is not a normal physical disease, that can be diagnosed by a doctor, it is a mental condition of the person suffering from it, so detecting and treating it may not be that easy, mostly due to the fact that the person involved will not cooperate with you, because it is a known fact that those suffering from anorexia nervosa do not admit that they have a problem.



The causes of anorexia nervosa are psychological, it may be caused by something that happened in the patient's childhood or by some of the modern lifestyle problems like stress and pressure. It usually occurs at people who feel that they have lost control over their own lives and want to prove that they are still in control over their bodies. People who suffer from anorexia are feeling lonely and they separate themselves from society in a certain manner.

So, the symptoms of anorexia nervosa are not too easy to detect, and if you suspect a loved one or one of your friends to be suffering from this condition you should know a few things about its signs so that you can detect it and do all that you can for that person because anorexia eventually leads to death through starvation. And remember that whomever you suspect to be suffering from anorexia will not admit it if you ask them, and will lie and won't cooperate with you, which makes things a little harder.

Anorexic people may me divided into two categories, those who carefully control each one of their meals and manage to stop themselves from eating with the help of a strong will, and those whose will is not that strong and can't control their eating habits and sometimes eat too much and then willingly throw up in order to lose the calories and remain thin.

The first warning sign is that a person with Anorexia Nervosa is getting thinner and thinner day by day. Furthermore, despite the fact that they are getting thinner they do not realize this and they still sustain that they are feeling fat and refuse to eat every time, coming up with excuses, saying that they are not hungry or they are on a diet. So if you see that one of your friends or family members keeps loosing weight but still refuses to eat or to admit that he/she is thin, start suspecting and watch out for other typical signs of anorexia.

Because individuals suffering from anorexia are obsessed with their weight and feel that they have lost control over it they will still do everything they can to reduce it even when they are too thin, so besides not eating they will also do a lot of physical exercises to further lose weight. They may be thin, but they do not realize it and they still see themselves as fat persons.

Besides the facts mentioned above doctors also discovered a few more signs of anorexia:

-people suffering from anorexia sometimes feel cold when the temperature in the room is normal.

-hair loss sometimes comes with sudden thinning too.

-anorexics are obsessed with weight so they talk about it and about diets all the time. They deny that they are thin and they always say they're not hungry

-they are also depressed most of the time and do not socialize with other people.

-due to the lack of nutritional substances they may faint or feel dizzy sometimes

-women who suffer from anorexia are having menstrual problems (Mostly women are ill of this disease, but a few men have been diagnose with anorexia too)

Once you suspect someone of being anorexic pay attention to the signs and if everything fits you must try to do something about it as fast as possible before serious problems occur. Curing someone of anorexia is not easy and first they must be convinced to admit that they have a condition, through psychiatric therapy. But since people who are suffering from anorexia don't admit it, it depends on the ones around them to discover the signs and take action.