Anorexia Nervosa, commonly known as anorexia, is an eating disorder associated with the falsified perception of weight highly prevalent in teenage girls. People affected by anorexia fear gaining weight, resolving to restricted food intake. Anorexia is not an eating complication related to food but rather a psychological problem where the victims associate slenderness with beauty and self-confidence. People with anorexia mostly avoid foods rich in calories. Teenagers affected by the condition take on behaviors such as averting to regular food intake, vomiting after intake, diuretics, and extreme exercising. Anorexia Nervosa is a condition associated with limited food intake that causes physical and psychological problems that nurses can manage using total parenteral and enteral nutrition.
Nurses should expect physical and behavioral problems from Anorexia patients. The physical symptoms include excessive weight loss and thinness due to starvation. Low food intake often results in low blood counts characterized by pale eyes and bluish discoloration of the fingers. Girls may report an absence of menstruation and abdominal pain (Gibson et al., 2020). The patients are also affected by fainting and dizziness due to water, blood, and nutrient deficiency. Anorexia also causes poor immunity, fatigue, leg inflammation, and xeroderma. The psychological and behavioral symptoms include restricted eating by skipping meals, dissenting from hunger, and dishonesty in how much food is eaten. Anorexia patients also tend to check in the mirror to estimate their weight, social withdrawal, and lack of sleep. The panic of gaining weight is a psychological problem that influences physical symptoms.
Total Parenteral Nutrition TPN and Enteral Nutrition EN are nutritional rehabilitation models that can be applied to manage anorexia. TPN is an intravenous method of food inoculation that helps manage anorexia by influencing nutrients and weight gain (Gibson et al., 2020). Nutrients, minerals, and electrolytes are fed to the body through tubes connected to the veins to prevent malnutrition and weight loss in TPN. EN administered in the gastrointestinal tract through tube connection to avoid malnutrition. EN and TPN, therefore, can be used in the care of Anorexia patients to address physical challenges such as weight loss, malnutrition, and low blood count.
References
Gibson, D., Watters, A., Cost, J., Mascolo, M., & Mehler, P. S. (2020). Extreme anorexia nervosa: medical findings, outcomes, and inferences from a retrospective cohort. Journal of eating disorders, 8(1), 1-10. Web.