ANOREXIA

ANOREXIA - lack of appetite in the presence of a physiological need for nutrition. The causes of anorexia are excessive emotional arousal, mental illnesses, endocrine disorders, acute and chronic infections, intoxications, metabolic disorders, diseases of the digestive system (acute gastritis, exacerbation of chronic gastritis, stomach cancer , etc.), irregular monotonous nutrition, and bad taste Quality food, an unfavorable environment for eating. Anorexia can lead to the use of medications of unpleasant taste, suppressing the secretory function of the gastrointestinal tract or acting on the central nervous system. With prolonged anorexia, the body's resistance decreases and its susceptibility to various diseases increases.

Anorexia in children is caused by the same reasons as in adults, but it has its own peculiarities. More often it develops in young children due to the increased excitability of the central nervous system and weak adaptability of the gastrointestinal tract. Anorexia can occur when you change the usual conditions of feeding, care, treatment. Violation of the basic rules for the introduction of complementary foods can cause a child's so-called protective anorexia, the development of which is also promoted by forcible feeding. In older children, extinction of the alimentary center in most cases is due to a violation of diet, as well as the use of monotonous tasteless food.

Treatment is aimed at the underlying disease. It is also necessary to organize a diet, the introduction of a variety of dishes in the diet. Assign appetite supplements. In severe anorexia with malnutrition, multivitamins, anabolic hormones are shown. With neurotic form, the main importance is psychotherapy, the appointment of psychopharmacological agents. In exceptional cases, there is a need for artificial feeding and parenteral administration of saline solutions.

Neuropsychiatric anorexia occupies a special place and is a pathological condition manifested in the conscious restriction of food in order to lose weight. Occurs at the age of 15 - 25 years, more often in women. There is an obsession about overweight and the need to lose weight. The patient starts to limit himself in food, resort to other ways to lose weight, for example, intensely engaged in sports, physical labor, causes vomiting after eating, takes laxatives. Appetite is not disturbed in the beginning, a person can even feel hungry, and in this connection there is an overeating at times. Fast weight loss. There are mood swings from high to low, increased motor activity, the desire to view your body in the mirror.

If a patient has the symptoms described, the paramedic should refer him to a psychiatrist.