Anorexia: Being Thin at Any Cost

If you or your loved one is suffering from anorexia nervosa, you are not alone. Fairwinds eating disorders treatment facility provides highly effective anorexia treatment designed to heal the physical and emotional injuries of this dangerous, yet very treatable, eating disorder. Contact us today to begin building a lasting recovery.

What is Anorexia?

By definition, anorexia means “loss of appetite,” but this is a misnomer. In reality, individuals with anorexia nervosa control their desire to eat by ignoring the signs of hunger. A person diagnosed with anorexia nervosa suffers from:

• A substantial, self-induced starvation.
• A refusal to maintain his/her body weight at or above a minimally normal weight for age and height (weight loss leading to a body weight less than 85% of that expected, or failure to make expected weight gain during a period of growth, leading to body weight less than 85% of that expected).
• An intense fear of gaining weight or becoming fat that usually isn’t alleviated by weight loss.
• The relentless pursuit of becoming thin, even though he/she is underweight.
• A distorted perception of the shape and size of his/her body.
• Denial of the seriousness of his/her current low body weight.
• For females, an abnormality of reproductive hormone activity due to the weight lost, but also possibly as a result of independent hypothalamic abnormality. In postmenarcheal (onset of menstruation) females, this means amenorrhea (the absence of at least three consecutive menstrual cycles due to abnormally low levels of estrogen secretion).