Atypical Anorexia Nervosa, a deadly disease
A common mental illness, Atypical Anorexia, is the main subject of this story. A brave survivor of this disease will give her testimony.
We’ve all heard of Anorexia. The term immediately conjures images of a young, frail, and extremely underweight girl who refuses to eat. In recent years, we’ve learned a lot about this mental illness and how it affects people. We know it doesn’t only happen to young girls. It can happen to anyone. It has become clear that a person with a normal weight or even people who are overweight can have Anorexia Nervosa. In those cases, it’s called Atypical Anorexia Nervosa.
What is it?
But what exactly is this disease? Atypical Anorexia Nervosa, or AAN is the same as the traditional Anorexia Nervosa, or AN, except for one thing; the weight. People with AAN are shown to have the exact same symptoms as people with AN, but they are just not underweight. That doesn’t mean that there isn’t a problem, however. Studies have shown that mental distress in people with AAN is usually more severe than in people with AN.
This is due to the fact that people with Atypical Anorexia. Unfortunately, at this point, it’s not yet clear why. Furthermore, the other effects that Anorexia of any form has are so severe they can cause death, even when the person impacted by this is not underweight.
Symptoms and effects
Besides severe psychological effects, like depression and lack of concentration, there are also extremely severe physical effects. Early signs are symptoms such as dizziness, muscle weakness and in women a disrupted menstrual cycle. Over time, however, these symptoms can create severe, and lasting effects. These effects include neurological problems and Anaemia. But the most severe effects of all are on the heart. Anorexia has the highest mortality rate of all forms of mental illness. These rates are between 10 and 15 per cent. This isn’t because the patients starve to death, it’s due to heart failure because of long-term and severe repercussions of Anorexia.
Because AAN doesn’t have the most noticeable symptom of Anorexia, it often goes unnoticed. Not just by people in the vicinity of the person with Atypical Anorexia, but also by the person itself and even health professionals.
Living through it
One person who had AAN and luckily survived the illness despite a lack of understanding and help is a 28-year-old from Montana, USA. She prefers to stay anonymous, but in this article, she will be referred to as Lucy.
Lucy has struggled with her mental health for most of her life, but her struggle with AAN started when she was 12 or 13 years old; “I was almost fully developed by that time, and I was considered overweight by children’s standards. I started dieting because people called me fat.” During her health class, Lucy had to keep a food diary and she was completely honest, but the teacher failed her. She recalls, “When I turned in my honest food diary, my teacher failed me because ‘I was clearly lying’. Because how could I eat so little and still be so big?” That was really where AAN started with Lucy. She went to a therapist to get help with her distorted eating pattern, but the therapist just redirected the subject. “Thoughts about my body and food consumed me all the time,” Lucy continues. “A year later I started to lose weight drastically because I exercised multiple hours a day and ate almost no calories.”
“We had to keep a food diary and the teacher failed me because it was impossible that I ate so little while also being really big”
Lucy’s mental health problems and AAN continued over time, with her lowest BMI being 19.4 when she was at University. Her now husband was actually the first person to notice and speak up that something was seriously wrong with her eating pattern. “I had anxiety and panic attacks when we would go to a restaurant and the menu didn’t show the calories.” Lucy realised she had to do something because she couldn’t function normally. Once acknowledged she started to get better little by little over time.
Lucy is now fully recovered, and she finally got her diagnosis of Atypical Anorexia Nervosa 2 years ago, post-recovery. Unfortunately for many, AAN goes unnoticed for way too long. Knowing the symptoms and looking out for them is really important.
If you want to know more about Atypical Anorexia Nervosa and its symptoms, please visit https://www.nhs.uk/mental-health/feelings-symptoms-behaviours/behaviours/eating-disorders/overview/
Do you have a question or want to chat about this article? I will be available to answer any questions on Saturday 3 December at 3 pm on my Instagram @hilde_mertens1998