Affects a person’s  relationships, emotional health, and physical health.

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Brain

-orbitofrontal cortex which contains the gyrus rectus (regulates how much we eat) is larger in people with anorexia nervosa or bulimia nervosa

-right insula is enlarged in people with anorexia and people that have recovered from the illness, while the left insula was larger in people with bulimia. The insula tell us what taste we just experienced (allows us to feel pleasure of dislike about taste). The insula also helps us determine how we feel about our body and our sensation of pain

https://www.sciencenewsforstudents.org/article/eating-disorders-brain%e2%80%99s-foul-trickery

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Family (facts vary per family)

-parents feel helpless

-parents feel as though their child is “possessed” as if they’re not their selves

-since eating disorder can go up and down in progress, parents are afraid to admit their child is healthy in the fear of their child becoming ill again

-feel as though the illness controls the family’s life (your life goes on hold, in the hospital a lot of the time, family breaks apart due to stress)

-parents feel as though it’s their fault

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Relationships

-Communication- try to avoid talking about the eating disorder which can complicate the couples’ ability to be open about individual or mutual struggles and disrupt feelings of “couple-hood”

-Sexual functioning- women with anorexia have experienced low sex drives and tend to avoid sexual encounters due to psycho-social factors (self-conscious, anxiety, body shame)

-Relational boundaries- partners seem to develop rules to negotiate their relationship

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Health (to list a few)

-malnutrition

-dehydration

-electrolyte imbalance

-refeeding syndrome (fatal shifts in fluids and electrolytes that may occur in patients receiving artificial refeeding)

-hyponatremia (a lack of sodium in the blood by excessive sweating which can be due to overuse of diuretic drugs)

-lanugo (soft hair on face, back, and arms)

-edema (result of excessive water accumulation)

-hypertension

-dental problems