Anorexia: What Are the Signs?

Most people who are addicted to drugs or alcohol become very good at hiding the severity of the problem from their family and friends.  Especially if the person is single, loved ones may not notice that anything is wrong until the addiction has started to cause major problems in the addict’s life: deteriorating physical health, job loss, or an arrest for a drug- or alcohol-related crime (Read Alcoholism from the Inside, When Drugs Lead to Other Problems, and Working Under the Influence: Substance Abuse in the Workplace).  The situation is often similar for eating disorders.  If you are worried that someone you know has developed anorexia, here are some signs to look for (Read Eating Disorders What You Should Know).

• The person’s sex: Although males can and certainly do develop anorexia (Read Eating Disorders: Not Just a Female Problem), the majority of individuals with anorexia are female.
• Age: Again, anorexia may be seen in any age group but is most common in adolescents and young women (Read Teen Addiction and Rehab and What You and Your Young Adult Need to Know about Campus Life).
• Drastic, rapid weight loss: Dropping multiple clothing sizes in a short period of time is one of the most obvious hallmarks of anorexia.  Prominence of bones (such as ribs) is not uncommon.
• Loss of menses: Although this may be too personal of a topic for a woman to mention to someone she isn’t close to, cessation of menstruation is one of the diagnostic criteria for anorexia in the DSM-IV (Read How Addictive Substances Affect Reproductive Health).  This occurs because the loss of fat triggers hormones that stop ovulation because the person’s body could not support a pregnancy.
• Poor body image: People with anorexia will often have a highly negative, skewed body image (Read 10 Ways to Improve Your Body Image). No matter how often they are complimented and no matter what the scale says, they will always perceive themselves as fat.
• Small, infrequent meals: Lunch may consist of 3 crackers or a quarter of an apple – and it may be the only time they eat that day.
• Lanugo:  Lanugo is light hair that may appear on the face or body.  Although it can also be the result of a hormonal imbalance, in the case of anorexia, lanugo is the body’s response to the depletion of fat stores that would normally regulate the person’s temperature.
• Physical signs of malnutrition and starvation: Sunken eyes, a poor complexion, hair loss, dental problems, and halitosis (bad breath) may all accompany anorexia.
• Food rituals: Does the person always have to chew a bite of food 37 times before swallowing? Do they always follow the same process for preparing it or have to eat the items in a certain order? Do they exhibit extreme anxiety when they cannot control these factors? Obsessive behaviors related to preparation and consumption of food may also be a sign.
• Excessive exercise: Spending hours at the gym each day or turning every activity (even picking up a newspaper) into a form of exercise is a red flag.
• Misuse of laxatives and diuretics: People with anorexia will often abuse diuretics and laxatives to lose any amount of weight by any means available.
• Using the scale frequently: Checking one’s weight multiple times a day could signal an eating disorder.