pica and Anorexia-Nervosa

Eating disorders during pregnancy, once thought to be rare, occur in a significant number of women. The incidences of the major eating disorders-anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa-are increasing because of cultural pressures on the drive for thinness. Because the age range for these major eating disorders overlaps with the age range for reproductive function, it is not unusual for a clinician to encounter a pregnant patient with a major eating disorder. Eating disorders attributable to the pregnant state include pregnancy sickness, pica, and ptyalism. The diagnostic criteria, etiology, nutritional behavioral influences, evolutionary psychological considerations where elucidated, and treatment of these disorders will be presented.. Obstetricians and gynecologists, family physicians. After completing this CME activity, physicians should be better able to review how the major eating disorders impact pregnancy, to diagnose eating disorders during pregnancy using the diagnostic criteria, and to treat eating disorders during pregnancy.

Topics: Adolescent; Anorexia Nervosa; Bulimia Nervosa; Causality; Comorbidity; Depression, Postpartum; Feeding and Eating Disorders; Female; Humans; Incidence; Pica; Pregnancy; Pregnancy Complications; Prevalence; Young Adult

Eating disorders in early childhood increase the risk of anorexia or bulimia nervosa in adolescents. In the case of babies feeding disorders and pica are differentiated. Eating disorders in pre-school and primary school age are common. A main cause is neophobia, which can be treated by the observance of certain rules at meal-times (taken together with the family). Anorexia and bulimia affect mainly adolescents. Anorexia is associated with a number of mental and somatic comorbidities that need to be considered for the diagnosis and treatment.

Topics: Adolescent; Adult; Age Factors; Anorexia Nervosa; Body Mass Index; Bulimia; Child; Child, Preschool; Feeding and Eating Disorders; Feeding and Eating Disorders of Childhood; Female; Humans; Infant; Male; Parent-Child Relations; Pica; Sex Factors

Bulimarexia, an eating disorder that is characterized by binge eating followed by self-induced vomiting or abuse of cathartic or diuretic drugs, has been defined as both a sequela of anorexia nervosa and a distinct eating disorder. In this review the presentation, prevalence, and complications of the various eating disorders--anorexia nervosa, pica, rumination disorder of infancy, and bulimia/bulimarexia--are discussed. Detailed attention is given to the potential medical hazards of bulimarexia. These hazards may be categorized according to the organ system affected or the individual behavioral components of bulimarexia. Because bulimarexia is commonly practiced in secrecy, its presentation may be in the form of one of its medical complications. Therefore, physicians must know the behavioral components of bulimarexia and its potential medical hazards. Optimal care of these patients requires collaborative efforts from a physician and behavioral therapist.

Topics: Adolescent; Adult; Anorexia Nervosa; Cathartics; Diuretics; Feeding and Eating Disorders; Female; Gastroesophageal Reflux; Humans; Hyperphagia; Infant; Male; Nutrition Disorders; Pica; Substance-Related Disorders; Vomiting

Topics: Aggression; Animals; Animals, Zoo; Anorexia Nervosa; Anxiety; Behavior, Animal; Carnivora; Catatonia; Conditioning, Classical; Conflict, Psychological; Depression; Dogs; Encopresis; Enuresis; Frustration; Hominidae; Humans; Hyperesthesia; Hyperventilation; Hysteria; Mental Disorders; Motor Activity; Neurotic Disorders; Phobic Disorders; Pica; Psychopathology; Psychotic Disorders; Regression, Psychology; Schizophrenia; Sibling Relations

We report two cases of pathological ingestion of salt as a feature of anorexia nervosa, which we have previously termed "salinophagia." Both cases were young women with anorexia nervosa of the purging subtype and of sufficient severity to necessitate inpatient treatment. In both instances, excessive quantities of salt were ingested in the context of treatment programs requiring nutritional rehabilitation, and motivated by a wish to despoil the food and render it distasteful, to rob its ingestion of any hedonic qualities. In one instance, this behavior pattern was imitated by other patients on the unit. Having first briefly described salinophagia in 1999, the first author has received considerable correspondence from other specialists suggesting that this is not an isolated phenomenon. The issues of phenomenology and treatment are further discussed.

Topics: Anorexia Nervosa; Female; Humans; Inpatients; Pica; Sodium Chloride, Dietary; Young Adult

Topics: Adult; Anemia, Iron-Deficiency; Anorexia Nervosa; Depressive Disorder, Major; Female; Humans; Pica

Topics: Adult; Anorexia Nervosa; Female; Humans; Pica; Sodium Chloride, Dietary

Topics: Anorexia Nervosa; Behavior Therapy; Bulimia; Dentistry; Humans; Pica

A case of an unusual pica in a patient with anorexia nervosa is described. The patient was also found to have iron-deficiency anaemia. The relationship of mineral deficiency to pica and anorexia nervosa is discussed.

Topics: Anemia, Hypochromic; Anorexia Nervosa; Female; Humans; Middle Aged; Pica; Stomatitis

It is suggested that chlorosis, or the 'green-sickness', was not a single disease entity, but a name applied to at least two distinct conditions affecting young females in the past. The first ('chloro-anaemia') was a form of hypochromic anaemia possibly associated with gastric ulceration and poor diet. This form predominated in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The second ('chloro-anorexia') was a disorder of psychogenic origin resembling, but not identical to, anorexia nervosa. The latter form predominated in earlier periods but also occurred throughout the nineteenth century; it was also known as 'the virgin's disease' or 'febris amatoria'. The 'green' of 'green-sickness' may originally have indicated innocence rather than a green colour of the skin.

Topics: Adolescent; Adult; Age Factors; Anemia, Hypochromic; Anorexia Nervosa; England; Female; France; History, 17th Century; History, 19th Century; History, 20th Century; Humans; Hyperphagia; Pica; Social Class; Terminology as Topic