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Anorexia nervosa is basically an eating disorder in which the victim totally starves herself and loses her appetite due to nervous causes. Generally young girls and even some young men in their adolescence and sometimes into their 20s get affected by this condition.

The patient could have been so over weight as to be a target of fun and ridicule among peers and the anorexia could be a reaction to this. In most cases the patient becomes highly secretive about her actions, might resort to over exercising without proper food intake, try to induce vomiting after a normal meal taken for appearances sake, and may even take laxatives indiscriminately to eject the food which she feels guilty about having consumed. The immediate fallout of all this is a sudden, dramatic weight loss, irregular periods, becoming hyperactive, suffering from low blood pressure, and a slow pulse and avoiding food. In most cases the patient suffers from a delusion of being fat when she is really quite normal. Anorexics often suffer from manic depression and may even starve themselves to a painful death.

How to deal with an anorexic

What has taken a thorough beating is the self esteem of the victim and this has to be dealt with in order to heal the patient. In treating this condition family and friends have to pitch in along with doctors to help in the healing process. The patient might even have to be hospitalized and given a drip to reverse the condition. A few may recover after about 4 or 5 years and some may just die from the condition, being beyond medical help. Yet others may simply commit suicide. An anorexic patient is a pathetic sight. Due to all the starvation, she suffers from heart problems and her teeth become so weak they may just fall out giving a hideous look of a skeleton to someone who might have been a healthy young girl once upon a time. Special, healthy and nutritious meals have to be prepared for the patient and she should be fed in small quantities at a time as the stomach tissues and digestive organs would have become severely affected.

The rehab program might take quite some time and needs the full support and understanding of the family. Finally it is the love and care lavished by the family and the support of friends that will go a long way in rebuilding a wasted life.