Eating Disorders: Signs, Types and Diagnosis

An eating disorder is a serious and potentially life-threatening mental illness that causes a person to have an abnormal relationship with food as well as an obsession with their body weight or shape. It is not considered to be a life choice nor a cry for attention. Eating disorders can occur in both men and woman, young and old, rich and poor, and from all cultural backgrounds. This can affect a person’s day to day life activities (Eating Disorders Victoria, 2016). Hundreds of years ago it was common for woman to practice self-starvation as a religious practice. These women would starve themselves for weeks or eat very little for months at a time. It was believed that by doing so they would show their devotion and dedication to God. These women were believed to be witches and were burned at the stake. In 1689 English physician Richard Morton described the first symptoms of an eating disorder in which he termed “wasting disease”. It wasn’t until 1873 that the term anorexia came to be established by Sir William Gull. It has been said that there was a need for spiritual perfection as well as bodily perfection, which occurred in both males and females (Eating Recovery Center, 2018).

Signs and symptoms

One who suffers from an eating disorder may be due to their Neurons. Neurons send signals to each other using chemicals called neurotransmitters. For eating disorders there are two primary neurotransmitters called serotonin and dopamine. These two primary neurotransmitters play a huge role in how people think and behave as well as their personalities (Ulifeline, 2019). It is more common for woman to suffer from an eating disorder, affecting an estimated 20 million woman and ten million men in the United States today, in which 90 percent of these woman are between the ages of 12 and 25 (National Institute of Mental Health, 2010). Some people struggle with one type of eating disorder while others bounce between one type, to another. Regardless of which type a person is struggling with they are all extremely severe and most times a person can sustain permanent damage. Genetics also plays a large part in eating disorders. After many years of research from medical experts they have found that eating disorders tend to run in families. This is more common in identical twins, even more so than fraternal twins or any other siblings. Research has shown that if one twin suffers from an eating disorder it’s a 50 percent chance the other twin will suffer from one, too. As common as eating disorders are today, it is still generally hard to detect or diagnose because of the fact that most people who suffer from an eating disorder tends to be secretive about it, or may not even realize what they are doing is considered an eating disorder, and because of this, many times it will go undetected for a long period of time, causing severe damage to person. Some of the signs to look out for are emotional changes, when someone typically starts to isolate themselves or avoids meals. A change in behavior, and most noticeably physical changes. A person will typically be a chronic dieter despite being extremely underweight and may also suffer from depression (Mercy Multiplied, 2018-2019).

Types of eating disorders

There are four common types of eating disorders that medical experts recognize. The most common type being anorexia, anorexia is generally developed during adolescence or young adulthood and tends to affect more woman than men (Mercy Multiplied, 2018-2019). They tend to constantly monitor their weight and avoid eating certain types of food, restrict their calories or even just not eat at all. Patients with anorexia tend to weigh at least 15 percent less than the normal healthy weight for their height. Patients with anorexia view themselves as overweight, even if they are dangerously underweight (Mercy Multiplied, 2018-2019). When patients who suffer from anorexia look in the mirror they see a distorted body image that is not there they are the only ones who see this image. They are generally very secretive about their eating disorder because they do not want anyone to get in the way of what they are doing; they tend to wear baggy clothes to cover up the fact that they are severely underweight. These patients have a constant fear of being overweight and will do extensive exercise to be sure to avoid that (Health line, 2005-2019.

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The second most common is bulimia nervosa; this is a very serious and life threating eating disorder. Patients with bulimia usually are a normal weight or even overweight. The process of bulimia is usually someone with low self-esteem, who makes unrealistic goals for themselves and when they don’t accomplish what they were out to accomplish they will binge eat, once they are finished eating they will feel extremely disgusted with themselves causing them to force vomit, take laxatives or diuretics. To fit the diagnosis these cycles of binging and purging must be done consistently at least once a week for a period of three months, but can be done as often as multiple times a day (Health line, 2005-2019).

Binge eating is also considered to be an eating disorder, this is when a person consumes an abnormal amount of food in short amount of time while not feeling full, and feels like they have a lack of control over the amount they are consuming. This is usually done for comfort or they are trying to fill a void in their life (Mayo Clinic, 1998-2019). A patient who suffers from binge eating will usually do this in secret due to the embarrassment and feeling ashamed of one’s self. In order for this to be diagnosed they must have recurred episodes of binge eating over a period of at least three months. Lastly, we have pica, pica is an eating disorder where people crave non-food items such as, clay, chalk, dirt, rocks and hair (Health line 2005-2019). The actual reason is unknown however, medical experts have found that it is more common in people who lack certain nutrition and minerals such as iron or zinc, even though the non-food items being consumed do not supply these minerals lacking. This is also most common in patients with autism. Pica can be very dangerous, even, causing poisoning and may result in surgery due to blockage (Health line 2005-2019).

Diagnosis

If a doctor suspected a person has an eating disorder they will typically do several tests and exams to help pinpoint a diagnosis and check to make sure no serious damage has been done to a person’s body. This can take several months or even several years to conclude. It help if parents or loved ones pay attention to the behaviors of their children or loved ones because there will always be signs. It is extremely important to seek help for loved one as soon as possible to avoid any permanent damage or even death (Mayo Clinic, 1998-2019).

Treatment is generally challenging because when a person is suffering from an eating disorder they are usually in denial and do not feel they are doing anything wrong to themselves. The main treatment is done by psychotherapy; this is done by establishing healthy eating patterns. If it’s for anorexia they will normally require them to eat with supervision and if they are unwilling then they will have a feeding tube placed. Often times other physicians and therapist are involved because there can be complications during the course of treatment that require monitoring. There are a number of settings where eating disorders can be treated, such as residential programs where patients stay for several weeks or even months and offer 24 hour supervision and monitoring. Regular office visits which are typically done weekly depending on the severity of the eating disorder (Mayo Clinic, 1998-2019).

References

1. Eating Disorders Victoria (2016). Eating Disorders. Retrieved April 01, 2019, from https://www.eatingdisorders.org.au/eating-disorders/what-is-an-eating-disorder
2. Eating Recovery Center (2018). Eating Disorders. Retrieved April 01, 2019, from https://www.eatingrecoverycenter.com/blog/february-2018/let%E2%80%99s-get-real
3. Health Line (2005-20190). Eating Disorders. Retrieved April 01, 2019, from https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/common-eating-disorders
4. Mayo Clinic (1998-2019). Eating Disorders. Retrieved April 01, 2019, from https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/eating-disorders/in-depth/eating-disorder-treatment/art-20046234
5. Mercy Multiplied (2019). Eating Disorders. Retrieved April 01, 2019, from https://mercymultiplied.com/eating-
6. ULifeline (2019). Eating Disorders. Retrieved April 01, 2019, from http://www.ulifeline.org/articles/400-eating-disorders-why-do-they-happen