Anorexia is not a disease of vanity and anorexia symptoms cannot be shamed away. When your loved one, usually between 13 and 24, decides to diet you tend to be supportive. Many of us have pounds to lose for better health. Somewhere along the line though, something happens, and the person you love and wanted to support in their efforts to improve their lives becomes a walking skeleton obsessed with food they won't or can't eat.
The first thing most people notice is the protrusion of bones, usually the shoulder bones across the chest. You make jokes about the dieter being skin and bones but don't really think anything is wrong. You might start nagging them to eat more or ask them what they had to eat that day, but you believe it'll be ok. Soon, though, you notice that their hair is thinning and they are easily confused. They develop strange rituals at the dinner table like needing the food cut into a specific number of pieces or it has to be positioned on the plate just so. Maybe, they will only eat off a certain plate or with a certain fork. Many of these are symptoms of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, but they are also Anorexia symptoms.
It isn't just that the dieter loves dieting, either. They literally cannot quit dieting and exercising. Many anorexics will exercise themselves into exhaustion several times a day. It's important to understand, this person who is trying their damnedest to starve themselves to death is no longer in control of their own mind, though, they believe they are exerting tremendous control.
If you trust nothing else you hear about Anorexia, trust this; what you see when you look at your dieter is not what they see in the mirror. They see a person they can't stand to look at when they look in the mirror. That in itself is an anorexia symptom and one that is easy to pin down. If you suspect someone of suffering this disorder confront them on what they see in the mirror. If all they see is something ugly, you need to get them help. This is not addiction. Don't treat it like one.
The most commonly asked question about anorexia is, "how can anyone starve themselves that way and not know it is bad?" The answer to that has troubled physicians and psychologists for more than forty years. There are common anorexia symptoms. If your dieter is exhibiting two or more of them, seek help right away.
o Diminished cognitive functions will occur rapidly from excess dieting and exercise.
o An obsession with nutritional information about foods you can't get them to eat.
o Exercising beyond benefit to the dieter.
o Refusing to eat with others or excusing themselves from the table quickly after eating.
o Growth of fine body hair to help keep the dieter warm.
o Hair loss from lack of nutrition
o Drinking excessive amounts of water or using diet aids excessively.
o An obsession with nutritional information about foods you can't get them to eat.
o Exercising beyond benefit to the dieter.
o Refusing to eat with others or excusing themselves from the table quickly after eating.
o Growth of fine body hair to help keep the dieter warm.
o Hair loss from lack of nutrition
o Drinking excessive amounts of water or using diet aids excessively.
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