The sufferer will also have a greatly distorted vision of there own body, they will always see themselves as being overweight even when they are no more than barely skin and bones.

Both types of anorexia may also include depression as a symptom and as a result of there denial of the problem it is often friends and relatives who are the first to notice and bring up the fact that they do indeed have an illness.

Anorexia is thought be a “women’s problem” but while it is true that it does affect more women than men; men do suffer from anorexia too. The disease most commonly occurs in young women between the age of 15 and 18 and often the onset usually occurs during adolescence, it can also occur in later life but this is rare.

Binge/purging Anorexia

The anorexic suffering from bingeing anorexia will have the tendency to induce vomiting once they have eaten. The sufferer will eat and once digested they will immediately be overcome with a sense of guilt for the actions and will force themselves to be sick to rid themselves of the food.

This can lead to serious problems with the digestive system and in particular the oesophagus which due to the acid could burst or rupture. Another form of purging is with the use of laxatives many anorexics think that the use of laxatives can actually help lose weight but they are wrong as laxatives only work at the lower end of the bowel.

Restrictive Anorexia

The second type of anorexia is called restrictive, as the name suggests the sufferer will restrict the amount of food taken into the body, with this type of anorexia the sufferer won’t eat binge on food and then vomit, they just don’t eat.

The will have the same overall thoughts and feelings about how there body looks and will have the same fear that they are overweight, the same sense of worthlessness and they can be affected greatly by depression which goes hand in hand with anorexia.

The sufferer may also exercise sometimes to the extreme in the attempt to rid them selves of the fat they see themselves as having.

Usually symptoms of depression show themselves together and if you have been ill for several weeks and have had symptoms of depression then it’s highly unlikely you will develop any more symptoms from the ones you now suffer.

The anorexic suffering from depression usually feels symptoms of worthlessness, hopelessness and self-hatred.

Depression and anorexia go together like black and white, it can be what triggered your eating disorder in the first place or you may have gone into depression as result of the effects anorexia has had on you.

What Does Depression Feel Like?

It is hard to explain what depression really feels like as the effect it can have on each person is so different, generally speaking though there is a sense of doom surrounding the depressed person. They feel anxious, frightened and wait for something to happen, they have no idea what that something might be, it’s just a feeling that something very bad will happen.

All sense of the person you used to be will disappear; you may withdraw into yourself completely much preferring to stay in the safe confines of your home or even your room.

Even then those “bad” feelings will linger, they may come and go but there never very far away. You may get palpitations, a quickening of the heartbeat, a fluttering of the heartbeat this can be a very frightening experience, a headache unlike any other could be one of the symptoms, the sufferer may feel as though there head is in a vice like grip.

A feeling of unreality may reside over you as though someone has thrown a thin veil over your head everything you see takes on a dull appearance, colours are subdued.

What Can Be Done To help?

It is important to remember that you are not alone in these feelings; you may feel as though you are and perhaps even think you are losing your mind. Remember roughly 15 million people in the United States alone suffer from depression and have some of the same feelings as you are getting.

The first major step and the hardest is the admission of your depression and eating disorder, your doctor can help you on the road to recovery and there are treatments available to help you with depression.

treatment

Treatment for depression is usually by anti-depressants; your doctor will evaluate your symptoms and prescribe the most suitable one for your needs. Most anti-depressants will usually take about a month to get into your system and start giving you the full benefit.

Several different types of therapy are also used in the treatment of depression and particularly where anorexia or a similar eating disorder is involved. Therapy such as Cognitive behavioural therapy and problem solving therapy are just two that are thought to have good results when treating anorexia and depression.