At the age of 19, I thought I was in the best shape of my life. I was a collegiate level athlete running 7 miles a day on the college Cross Country team. But, a week before finals I woke up in the ICU hooked up to an IV receiving potassium, after collapsing due to an irregular heartbeat. I explained to the doctors and my parents that I had no idea why this was happening. No explanation was needed though. We all knew what was going on. At what point does being body conscience cross the line into being a diagnosable eating disorder? Today I wish to inform you about the eating disorder Anorexia Nervosa, criteria used for diagnosis, understanding the symptoms, and some of the health consequences one may face while suffering from Anorexia Nervosa. First let us look at what anorexia is and the criteria used to make a diagnosis.

 Anorexia Nervosa is commonly referred to as Anorexia. This is the term that I will use here with you today.  According to Stedman?s Medical Dictionary for the Health Professions and Nursing, Anorexia, is ?a personality disorder manifested by extreme fear of becoming obese and an aversion to eating, usually occurring in young women and often resulting in life-threatening weight loss, accompanied by a disturbance in body image, hyperactivity, and the absence of menstrual cycle.? (Stedman, 2008) Sometimes it is not obvious to the average person whether someone is suffering from Anorexia. A skinny person is not always Anorexic. Anorexia is  involved when someone is restricting the amount of calories they are eating. In extreme cases the Anorexic is consuming a few hundred calories or less, daily.

The criteria for diagnosing Anorexia is explained in the Diagnostic and Statical Manual of Mental Disorders. This criteria is:

  1. the refusal to maintain body weight at or above a minimally nornal weight for age and height.
  2. Intense fear of gaining weight or becoming fat, even though underweight.
  3. Disturbance in the way in which one?s body weight or shape is experianced, undue influence of body shape on self-evaluation, or denial of the seriousness of the current low body weight.
  4. The absence of at least three consecutive menstral cycles.

    (DSM-IV. American Psychiatric Association. 1994
    )

Diagnosis is often made by a healthcare professional. One of the tools used in the diagnosis of Anorexia is the BMI or Body Mass Index. BMI is a calculation that looks at body weight in comparison to height. A healthy BMI is 19-24%, with anything below that being considered underweight. When I was 19, I was 5?8? tall and 103 pounds. This constitutes a BMI of 15.7%, which fits into the criteria for diagnosing Anorexia. An ideal body weight for a person of my height is 125-158lbs. The Department of Health and Human Services provides this chart on their website showing healthy body weights. The signs and symptoms of Anorexia are often observed by family and friends.

The Anorexic is often in denial that there is an issue with their eating and unwillingness to maintain a healthy body weight. For this reason, family and friends is most often the people to first point out the behavior of the Anorexic. I have been in recovery from Anorexia for several years now. However, I still have a few eating habits that are commonly seen in Anorexia. For instance, I still cut up my food into small pieces before eating it, which drives my husband crazy. According to the Massachusetts General Hospital, ?People dealing with anorexia tend to display a number of emotional and behavior patterns.? (Massachusetts General Hospital )  The eating habits of the Anorexic are the easiest symptoms for family and friends to notice. Some of these include, skipping meals, difficulty eating in social settings, eating only certain foods with limited variety, and cutting food into tiny pieces. Other signs that do not involve the aspect of eating include reluctance to be weighed or weighing oneself obsessively, excessive exercise, or wearing baggy clothing to hide their thinness.  It is also common for some one with Anorexia to also suffer from emotional issues such as depression, obsessive compulsive disorder, anger, or moodiness. To me the most disturbing aspect of Anorexia are the health consequences that many people suffering with Anorexia face.

The anorexic put themselves at risk for major health related concerns. The body requires food to provide it with the energy needed to survive. When the Anorexic deprives the body of this need there can be devastating health consequences. People dealing with Anorexia tend to experience numerous medical complications. The most severe complication is sudden death caused by an irregular heartbeat and/or electrolyte imbalances. The most common reason for an irregular heart beat in an Anorexic is due to low blood potassium which triggers the irregular heart rate.. Other health complication issues are osteoporosis which leads to significant bone loss, kidney problems, gastrointestinal problems, and lung problems. It is important for the anorexic and their family and friends to realize that there can be major health complications with this illness. It is common for a person to experience some form of health related complication during the course of their illness thus causing damage to their body and internal organs. If the anorexic is lucky enough to get help and treatment there is hope for recovery. But it doesn?t stop there. Some damage done to the body by starving it cannot be reversed even if the anorexic is recovered.

In conclusion, to review with you, Anorexia is a personality disorder in which there is an extreme fear of gaining weight. There are ways to determine a when a person?s body consciousness can be diagnosed as Anorexia. It is important to be aware of the signs and symptoms of anorexia and that there can be severe and lasting health consequences for someone suffering from Anorexia.

Works cited:

"Anorexa." Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders: DSM-IV. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association, 1994. Print.

"Anorexia Nervosa." Massachusetts General Hospital Home Page - Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA. Web. 16 Feb. 2011. <http://www.massgeneral.org/children/adolescenthealth/articles/aa_anorexia.aspx>.

"NHLBI, Obesity Guidelines - Evidence Tables." National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute. Web. 16 Feb. 2011. <http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/guidelines/obesity/bmi_tbl.htm>.

Stedman, Thomas Lathrop. "Anorexia." Stedman's Medical Dictionary for the Health Professions and Nursing. Philadelphia: Wolters Kluwer Health/Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2008. Print.