Symptoms of anorexia include:
- Anxiety, depression, perfectionism, or being highly self-critical
- Dieting even when one is thin or emaciated
- Excessive or compulsive exercising
- Intense fear of becoming fat, even though one is underweight
- Menstruation that becomes infrequent or stops
- Rapid or extreme weight loss, which the person may try to hide by wearing clothes that are loose fitting
- Strange eating habits, such as avoiding meals or monitoring every fork or spoonful of food that they eat
- Eating only very small amounts
- Unusual interest in food
Anorexia can cause serious and in somce cases life threatening illnesses inlcuding:
- Damage to major organs, especially the brain, heart and kidneys
- Irregular heartbeat
- Low blood pressure, pulse, body temperature, and breathing rates
- Sensitivity to cold
- Thinning of bones
In about one out of every ten cases, anorexia is fatal. The most common causes of death include cardiac arrest, electrolyte imbalance and suicide.
