Boniform: Complications

Anorexia begins with a single episode of failure to eat and intense exercise. Sometimes only this single episode occurs; when the precipitating stressor resolves, the sufferer returns to normal eating behavior. In other patients, other episodes occur over the next few years, again in response to stress including child abuse and neglect. As the child reaches adulthood, the disease is so firmly entrenched that it is repetitive rather than episodic.

Primary sign :

· severe weight loss

· severely limiting how much food they eat

· exercise excessively

· may vomit after eating or take laxatives (taken to induce bowel movements or to loosen the stool)

Psychological and Behavioral Signs

Distorted perception of self (insisting they are overweight when they are thin)
Being preoccupied with food
Refusing to eat
Inability to remember things
Refusing to acknowledge the seriousness of the illness
Obsessive-compulsive behavior
Depression

Complications:

Death
Anemia
Heart problems, such as mitral valve prolapse, abnormal heart rhythms and heart failure
Osteoporosis (weakening of the bones)
Petechiae (bleeding) on the arms and legs
Lung problems resembling emphysema
In females, absence of a period
In males, decreased testosterone
Gastrointestinal problems, such as constipation, bloating or nausea
Electrolyte abnormalities, such as low blood potassium, sodium and chloride
Severe dehydration
Kidney problems
Cold intolerance
Brain aneurism
Development of lanugo(fine, downy body hair)
Pancreatitis
Jaundice (yellowing of the skin) due to liver failure (fatal)
Kidney failure (fatal)
Massive stroke (fatal)