Anorexia

Andrea is now twenty three years old and weighs one hundred and twenty four pounds. Since her brother has been in and out of rehab, he could no longer pick on her or tease her anymore. Her parents started coming around more often and got Andrea all the help she could get. It was a long and hard process as Andrea went through rehab but the love and support from her family and friends helped her pull through it. No one should sit back and let anorexia affect someone they love. If no one would have noticed what Andrea was going through, she wouldn't be alive to this day. Anorexia can be a scary thing but it is even scarier to sit back and watch someone you care about rot away. Someone who you love that is dying to be thin.

Anorexia is known as an eating disorder where people starve themselves. Anorexia can also be known as a misperception of body weight and shape to the extent that the person feels fat even when underweight. This disease is most common among people made up of the upper class such as professional dancers and actors/actresses.

"There's pressure to stay thin for every actress and unfortunately every American woman," says actress Debra Messing. "I'd be lying if I said I wasn't curious to see how thin I could get."

Many people who suffer from anorexia try to hide their condition to prevent others from noticing their disorder. Some symptoms a person suffering from anorexia may have consists of dramatic weight-loss, skipping meals, always looking in the mirror to see their flaws, wearing baggy clothing and always complaining about being overweight. An anorexic female will miss three consecutive menstrual periods while anorexic males have decreased sexual desires.

"Healthy weight is not a number," as Dr. Doug Bunnell of the Renfrew Center's eating disorder clinic in Wilton, Connecticut states. "The clear marker of unhealthy weight loss is if a woman loses her period."

Some common techniques used towards anorexia are excessive exercising, calorie intake and the use of laxatives. A continuous use of laxatives is harmful to the body. Laxatives wear out the bowel muscle and cause it to decrease in function. This is one of the many medical risks associated with anorexia. Some other medical risks may include shrunken bones, mineral loss, low body temperature, irregular heart beat and permanent failure of normal growth. The development of osteoporosis and bulimia nervosa may start to occur after a period of time also.

Along with medical risks, there are many physical effects involved with anorexia. Anorexia affects your whole body. Anorexia affects your hair, making it thin and brittle, and affects your kidneys which could lead to kidney stones or even kidney failure. Anorexia can also lead to anemia, low blood pressure, weak muscles, swollen joints and dry skin which makes it easy to bruise.

"My joints were always aching and I didn't have any energy," says model Portia de Rossi. "I wasn't happy."

Portia de Rossi was affected both physically and emotionally due to a severe care of anorexia. In addition to depression, bad memory and irritability, many other emotional/behavioral effects of anorexia may occur. Most people who suffer from anorexia have difficulty in concentrating on anything else besides their weight and their flaws. They tend to isolate themselves from their family and friends and always have feelings of guilt. Along with the feelings of guilt, they will use alcohol and drugs to handle there negative outlook on life.

There are two types of anorexia. One of