Knowing Anorexia

KNOWING ANOREXIA

Eating disorders may be more prevalent than most parents think. Indeed with the onslaught of mass media images defining what’s hot and what’s not, what’s sexy and what’s gross, a lot of today’s kids are becoming more and more conscious of how they look. Unfortunately, if not carefully monitored and checked, this can lead to a variety of eating disorders even in young children and may have very damaging and fatal effects.

It is important for parents and guardians to be able to check whether or not their kids are displaying warning signs of a possible eating disorder. There are a variety of eating disorder symptoms that parents should watch out for in children suspected to suffer from one of the more common eating disorders– anorexia nervosa.

Those diagnosed with anorexia nervosa will tend to eat less if not none at all in order to make themselves look thinner. Most young individuals who have this eating disorder tend to constantly deny that they are already losing weight, thus convincing themselves to lose weight even more. Watch out for excessive falling hair. More hair is lost when the body loses much needed nutrition.

Anorexics also have the tendency to feel colder than most and will most likely wear several levels of clothing to hide their thinning bodies. It is also important to watch out for yellowish skin. This is indicative of a failed liver function resulting form a worsening case of anorexia nervosa. Make sure to immediately address these symptoms in your children. It is at this point when anorexia nervosa potentially becomes fatal.