Eating Disorders: Signs And Symptoms

Jai, a 15 years old boy studying in grade 10, in one of the high profile schools , from an affluent and educated family presented self in the Child and Adolescent clinic with the main concerns of high level of anxiety. When asked to have food containing sugar or carbohydrates, fear of gaining weight, excessive physical work out in the gym with a personal trainer for couple of hours 4-5 times a week along with running, jogging. Jai has lost 30 kgs in last 8-10 months., he reports fatigue, excessive mood swings and irritability. His medical reports clearly indicate he is low on haemoglobin and has a low level of  testosterone.

Here we have a profile of a young teenager who is literally starving himself by being on a imbalanced diet for a prolonged period with excessive physical activity , which is leading to serious medical problems now.

He has extreme fear of gaining weight, so much so even force feeding him is tough for the mother resulting in a lot of strains in the relationship. All this is to enhance your self body image… he started with good intentions but now it has become obsessive and he finds difficult to stop. He surely cant afford to loose more weight.

Jai and many more teenagers like him are showing symptoms of eating disorder, but its not being recognized in time ….

 Teen’s and Issues:

In today’s time when we are so media driven, you want an ideal body , and it looks like the change is very easy….but the parameters of health are over looked significantly.

Teens and young adults are at a higher risk, in terms of excessive working out, synthetic supplements as substitute for health food and whopped eating patterns.

The slope from dieting to disordered eating can be particularly slippery especially among people who were overweight or obese, because their weight loss is often cheered.

Many of the patients post bariatric surgery for weight loss suggest that the dieting process can start unhealthy obsession with food and control over food who otherwise had little or no eating disorder pathology.

Eating disorders threat not only your health but also your life.

Anorexia nervosa: Individuals believe they are fat even when they are dangerously thin and restrict  their eating to the point of starvation.

Bulimia nervosa:Individuals eat excessive food and then purge by inducing vomiting or by using laxatives.

Binging:Out of control eating patterns.

Please go through this quick screening and decide if you need help????

1. Do you make yourself sick because you feel uncomfortably full???
2. Do you worry you have lost control over how much you eat???
3. Have you recently lost more than 7.7 kg in 3 months
4. Do you believe your self to be fat when others say you are too thin???
5. Would you say food dominates your life???

 Scoring:

1 point for every “yes”

Score ≥2  indicates likely case of Anorexia or Bulimia