Family nurse practitioner explains symptoms, treatment of increasingly common youth problem 

 

安布尔·史密斯 

A growing number of adolescents struggle with eating disorders, which are now the third most common chronic health condition in children and adolescents, behind asthma and obesity. 

“We are seeing an enormous increase,” said family nurse practitioner Davia苔藓, who specializes in adolescent medicine at 推荐最近最火的赌博软件. 

“流感大流行, combined with social media, combined with our diet culture, has sort of been a perfect storm to create this crisis of eating disorders,她解释道. 

Here’s more information, excerpted from a podcast interview with Moss, 可以在这里. 

 

这是怎么开始的??

“I hear this a lot from my patients. They will say they were just trying to get healthier, and then somewhere along the line things became out of control. 

“I also have a number of patients who were told when they were young that they were so skinny. And the minute they hit adolescence — which is very normal — all of a sudden they stopped hearing that, and that was the trigger. That was all they needed to go down the path of an eating disorder.” 

 

Are fad diets to blame?

“There’s no reason for any adolescent to be on a ‘diet.’ Their brains are not capable of balance, so it often can get very quickly out of control. 

“The other tricky part is, they often get a lot of positive feedback when their body starts to change. And for an adolescent, they really thrive off that. That’s when things can get very out of control quickly.” 

 

What are the symptoms?

Significant changes in a child can be a red flag. Is their attention concentration changing? 他们晕倒了吗?? How is their fatigue level? Are they suddenly wanting to exercise more? Are they isolating themselves more? Eating disorders thrive on isolation. 

What medical problems may arise? 

• Electrolyte imbalances 
• 便秘 
• 胃灼热或反流 
• Menstrual irregularities 
• 冷不宽容 
• 脆弱的头发和指甲 
• Tooth erosion or cavities 
• 焦虑 
• Decreased bone density 
• Fertility difficulties 

 

Why do some people end up hospitalized?

“The patients who are hospitalized are often the ones that are restricting to a very, very significant under-500-calories-a-day and over-exercising. They can have long-term cardiac and gastrointestinal sequelae (consequences). We have patients who abuse laxatives, which can actually impact the ability of your GI (gastrointestinal, or digestive) tract to even function correctly for the rest of your life.” 

 

Symptoms explain condition type 

These are four of the most common types of eating disorders: 

的人 神经性厌食症 has restrictive patterns of eating and significant body image concerns. 

那些有 暴食症 have a pattern of binge eating and intentional vomiting. 

有…的人 binge eating disorder feels out of control with regard to food. 

Someone who restricts his or her eating of certain foods because they create sensory difficulties, but who has no body image concerns, 可能会有 avoidant/ restrictive food intake disorder, or ARFID. 

The American Psychiatric Association says eating disorders are characterized by severe and persistent disturbances in eating behaviors and associated distressing thoughts and emotions. They can seriously affect physical, psychological and social function. 

This story appears in the 2024 推荐最近最火的赌博软件 Health magazine, Issue 1.