In severe cases, eating disorders can cause serious health consequences and may even result in death if not treated. There can be a variety of symptoms, although most include the severe restriction of food, food binges, or purging behaviors like vomiting or over-exercising. Any gender or age group can be affected, although it is most often reported in adolescents and young women.

 

Certain groups are especially at risk for eating disorders including dancers, long-distance runners, skaters, models, actors, wrestlers, gymnasts, flight attendants, college sorority member and others for whom thinness is emphasized. Treatment for eating disorders is imperative and getting to the root cause of the disorder can help guide successful road to recovery along with a proactive care team.

 

Signs and symptoms

 

There are a wide range of symptoms in patients with eating disorders and a wide spectrum of severity dependent upon the disease progression. There can be vital sign changes that include low blood pressure, low heart rate, and low temperature. Other changes include dry skin, loss of muscle mass, fine hair on the body, thinning hair, brittle nails, and constipation to name a few. Patients with purging behavior may have callouses to their dominant hand and dental enamel erosion. Malnutrition subsequent to self-starvation can lead to protein deficiency and disruption of multiple organ systems including the cardiovascular, renal, gastrointestinal, neurologic, endocrine, integumentary, hematologic and reproductive. Cardiac complications are the most common cause of death; the mortality rate is about 10% due to decreased heart mass with abnormal function, valve problems, or electrolyte changes increasing the risk of arrhythmias (irregular heart beat).

 

Treatment and Therapies

Eating disorders results from a complex interplay between biologic, psychological, and social factors. Onset before adulthood predicts a more favorable outcome. Psychiatric co morbidities including depression, anxiety, substance abuse and personality disorders can worsen the outcome of patients with eating disorders. A positive family involvement tends toward a more favorable outcome. Reestablishing normal eating patterns is crucial to restoring the patient’s health. Hospital admission may be indicated for patients who are extremely ill and most patients will be admitted to medical facilities for refeeding, along with multiple therapies. A trained nutritionist in eating disorders is imperative along with a counselor/therapist that utilizes cognitive behavioral therapy.

 

At Empowered Health, we incorporated precision medicine and root cause medicine to uncover problems that may be contributing to the eating disorder. Eating disorders present with a unique combination of factors that could be contributing and some of which include infections and inflammation and gut health. When the patient is stable, healing the gut is imperative while ensuring that an infection is not the source of contribution to disordered eating.

 

A whole-body team approach is ideal for treatment of eating disorders that includes healing trauma, societal expectations, body image, nutrition, dietary changes to support gut health. An emphasis on treatments that address relevant biological imbalances such as inflammation, blood sugar regulation, mineral deficiencies, stress management and ways to assist with depression or anxiety including yoga, meditation, biofeedback, or neurofeedback (retraining signals in the brain). At Empowered Health, our precision medicine model focuses on a treatment plan that is individualized to the patient while coordinating the care team. Establishing a healthy relationship with food is so important for long term maintenance. We also offer Intuitive Eating with health coaching to learn how to integrate your inner world and outer world, resulting in a healthy and embodied self-regulation.

 

Sources:

Anorexia Nervosa. Bernstein, B. 2020. Medscape.com

Eating Disorders. UpToDate.com. 2022

Eating Disorders. University of Arizona. 2022. Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine.