Anorexia Nervosa

Find anorexia nervosa help by calling our nationally recognized toll-free eating disorder helpline at 1-800-941-5313. Get the help you need to recover your health and reclaim your life. Caring professionals are standing by 24/7 to assist you and all calls are confidential.

Anorexia nervosa is a serious eating disorder that involves self-starvation (food restriction). Anorexia nervosa treatment is available. If you or someone you know suffers from anorexia nervosa, treatment should be sought immediately.

The person suffering with anorexia nervosa refuses to maintain a healthy body weight in their desperate attempt to be "thin." Individuals with anorexia nervosa are at least 15% below the most minimal "ideal" weight for their age, height and body frame.

For people with anorexia nervosa, their self-esteem is tied to their weight and body. They have a distorted body image. Even when they are emaciated, a person with anorexia nervosa will still see themselves as "fat." Weight loss is seen as an achievement. To gain weight would mean failure and complete lack of self-control.

Anorexia Nervosa Health Complications

As you can imagine, anorexia nervosa has dire health complications. These include:

• Heart failure
• Osteoporosis
• Severe dehydration
• Kidney failure
• Muscle loss
• Lanugos (downy layer of hair all of the body)
• Death (affecting as many as 15% of sufferers)

Anorexia Nervosa - Who's at Risk?

While anorexia nervosa can affect men and women of all ages, it is most prominent in adolescent girls. In fact, research has shown that as many as 1% of teenage girls develop anorexia. Unfortunately, teenage boys are also developing anorexia in greater and greater numbers.

Although anorexia nervosa can affect individuals of all ages, certain similarities are often found. These include:

• Individuals who come from health and weight-conscious families
• Are Caucasian (although increasing cases of anorexia are being seen in minorities)
• Have an upper or middle economic background
• Have a goal-oriented family or personality type

Anorexia Nervosa in Girls

Adolescent girls can be particularly sensitive to media images that portray women as extremely, often dangerously, thin. Thin celebrities and models are often depicted as beautiful and successful; the type of women that young girls want to emulate.

During puberty, girls' bodies change dramatically. Their percentage of body fat increases almost 100% during this time, normally depositing on the stomach, hips and legs. Girls may view this type of healthy, normal body development as being "overweight," causing them to use dieting to control their weight. Unfortunately some girls become obsessed with losing weight and mastering control of their bodies. Eventually their "diet" turns into an anorexia nervosa eating disorder.

Anorexia Nervosa in Boys

While boys are less likely than girls to consider themselves overweight, they may also want to control their weight. Males with anorexia nervosa often start to diet as a means to an end - to avoid being teased or to improve athletic performance. As with girls, the dieting develops into a dangerous eating disorder.

Of all the people who develop anorexia nervosa, up to 15% die from complications. Don't wait until it is too late to find the help you or a loved one needs.

To start your path towards anorexia nervosa recovery, call our nationally recognized toll-free eating disorder helpline at 1-800-941-5313. Professionals are standing by 24/7 to assist you and all calls are confidential.

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