Recently, a case study was done on a 28-year-old man in Colorado who was admitted into the hospital after a 3-year history of poor nutritional intake resulting in a 70 lb. weight loss. The patient, who was 6-ft 2-in tall, weighed only 96 lbs. He was recorded as being disorganized and tangential in his thought processes, and was suffering from severe malnutrition which resulted in many different deficiencies. At the time, he reported that he was consuming only pure amino acid powders, which he was preparing himself, in order to avoid any fillers found in the powders sold at stores. He was treated with both oral olanzapine and supportive therapy. At the time of his discharge from the hospital to another treatment facility, he had increased his body weight to 115 lbs. and his mindset about his nutrition had also improved.
This raises the question: should we begin to delineate specific criteria for diagnosing ON? Even though it is not recognized in the DSM-5, individuals are continuing to express the characteristics of ON. Therefore, many physicians believe it is crucial to further research on ON, increase awareness about it, and improve the treatments for this disorder.
Check out the full article at:
http://www.sciencedirect.com.dml.regis.edu/science/article/pii/S0033318214000504?np=y
Moroze, R. M., Dunn, T. M., Craig Holland, J., Yager, J., & Weintraub, P. (2015). Microthinking about micronutrients: A case of transition from obsessions about healthy eating to near-fatal 'orthorexia nervosa' and proposed diagnostic criteria. Psychosomatics: Journal Of Consultation And Liaison Psychiatry, 56(4), 397-403. doi:10.1016/j.psym.2014.03.003
Eating disorders, as horrible as they are, remain an intriguing area of medicine in my opinion. Living in my sorority house for 2 years, I witnessed numerous forms of eating disorders that are often undiagnosed, including Orthorexia nervosa. I also noticed girls who became addicted to excessive exercise and, most often, alcohol induced binge-eating leading to overwhelming guilt. As house manager, it was my responsibility to ensure that girls in the house were healthy, both physically and mentally. When I began working in the emergency room after graduating from college, I noticed similar eating habits among physicians, the least likely population I would expect to develop an eating disorder. However, according to an article published in Psychology Today, some physicians develop eating disorders due to genetics or childhood nurture while others develop these mental illnesses due to the medical profession itself. Common causes for developing an eating disorder are stress, self-treatment, and pressure to be a perfectionist in the one’s profession; additionally, physicians must face the stigma against eating disorders among their colleagues often leading to denial. As future physicians, we may believe we are unlikely to develop the eating disorders common to the general population because we understand the health issues associated with nutritional depletion, but in reality, we must remain especially wary of this menacing disease.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/real-healing/201304/when-the-healers-are-hurting-understanding-eating-disorders
What I found interesting about this article is when I first read this I thought it sounded like OCD and it turns out that some say that it is a fusion between an eating disorder and OCD. This is because both utilize obsessive and habitual behaviors so that they are able to reduce their angst and compulsive thoughts. People who suffer from Orthorexia Nervosa may also be related to people with OCD due to their distorted view on what “healthfulness” really is. So my question is have they conducted studies as to how many people who suffer from OCD suffer from Orthorexia Nervosa as well?
ReplyDeletehttp://ocdla.com/orthorexia-eating-disorders-ocd-1977
This is a very interesting article. This made me wonder about the neurology behind these types of people. Not only are they very similar to OCD patients, but they are also very similar to anorexia nervosa (AN) patients. Like OCD and AN, they focus all their attention on one thing (food for AN and ON people), so they have lack of executive function and have troubles with long term memory. I believe looking more into the neurological differences of these types of people may be a better way to treat these patients and help rid them of their symptoms. Currently, a large amount of treatment includes a broad range of psychological help, but if we could know each patient's brain functions, we could better cater to each patient to help rid them of their eating disorder or OCD disorder.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4340368/
http://file.scirp.org/Html/3-1420146_29643.htm
I wonder if eating disorders, including ON, are something that we could work on prevention for rather than solely treatment. Unfortunately, it seems that nutritional information is not something that our society excels at publishing. The citation following this comment is to a study that looked at the quality of websites publishing information on nutrition in relation to anorexia and bulimia. Upon cross-examining over 300 sites, they found huge amounts of conflicting information, inconsistencies, and incomplete information. Why is this something so prevalent in our society that we refuse to even publish accurate information on? I'm sure that part of the problem is the lack of review for anything on the internet, and maybe a similar study should (or has been?) done on physically published materials. What type of quality information is available to the general public interested in "healthy eating" that cuts off rather than fosters these sorts of eating disorders.
ReplyDeleteGuardiola-Wanden-Berghe, R., Gil-Pérez, J. D., Sanz-Valero, J., & Wanden-Berghe, C. (2011). Evaluating the quality of websites relating to diet and eating disorders. Health Information And Libraries Journal, 28(4), 294-301. doi:10.1111/j.1471-1842.2011.00961.x