Anorexia may be a disease, say scientists

[emad]

Anorexia may be a disease, say scientists
Jonathan Leake, Science Editor



THE eating disorders anorexia nervosa and bulimia, hitherto regarded as purely psychiatric illnesses, may instead have a physical cause, researchers have found.

They have linked the diseases to disruptions in the body’s immune system, which cause it to attack the chemical messengers that control appetite. The research could offer new ways of treating both conditions, which together are thought to affect about 1m people in Britain.

Those who have spoken out about the ravages of bulimia include the late Diana, Princess of Wales, who described how she would binge on food and then make herself sick before restarting the cycle. Geri Halliwell, the former Spice Girl, has also written of her battle with the condition and the lack of any proven therapy.

The new study was carried out at the Karolinska Institute, a respected Swedish research centre. Professor Tomas Hokfelt, one of the researchers, described how his team found that people with eating disorders had elevated levels of a particular group of antibodies.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,176-1796408,00.html

[benburch]

1. "Its all in your head"

Is what doctors say when they are too stupid to realize that they don't know what the physical cause of something is.

[DemBones DemBones]

17. Especially if the disease

affects more girls/women than boys/men. Sexist thinking is deeply ingrained in medical practice. Only recently have physicians realized heart disease in women is vastly different from heart disease in men.

[RC]

2. Now if only they would do study on rightwingstupidisn.

To find out the cause of that. Is it heredity or caused by something like causes Anorexia & bulimia?

[emad]

3. Recent study in UK found that hot climates have marked effect

on reducing anorexia among sufferers.

[Celebration]

8. a few use sauna treatments

It may have something to do with body temperature. There are some people who have low body temperatures (say, 97 or so). Although there isn't much research in this area, anecdotally there are MDs who feel that in some instances it may be worthwhile to raise the body temperature by prescribing thyroid medication. Their theory is that various enzymes in the body are temperature dependant.

Someone with anorexia is likely to have very low temperatures and low T3 levels (the active form of thyroid hormone). T4 to T3 conversion is very low because the body tries to conserve energy when it is in the starvation mode. Most MDs don't even test T3 levels and most do not give T3 medication. One way this can become self perpetuating is that once T3 levels drop low, the enzyme that converts T4 to T3 cannot function properly due to the low body temperature (or so the theory goes).

So, it seems to be a self perpetuating cycle. By using heat to raise the body temperature, it is possibly that this cycle is broken.

Low T3 levels or resistance to T3 thryoid hormone are ANY low thyroid condition can lead to a plethora of different symptoms--even psychiatric.

Very little attention is paid to all of this--most likely because thyroid hormone is not patentable and therefore there is no money for studies, drug pushers, oops, pharma reps, etc.

[Nikia]

14. When they say they test for thyroid is it T4 instead?

I was wondering about T3. One of the eating disorder sights said that many anorexics have low T3 and get associated symptoms like being cold and having dry hair and skin. When I had a physical with lots of blood tests, they said that my thyroid levels were normal. Do they test for T4 but not T3? I suppose that this is a question for my doctor.

[Celebration]

16. it depends but

Generally they run a TSH test (thyroid stimulating hormone) which isn't even made by the thyroid gland, but in healthy people responds to the thyroid hormones. So it is an indirect test. Then some doctors order T4 tests, and if they are really rigorous, a "free" T4 test (available for use). But T3 is the most active hormone and that test, though available, isn't usually done. T4 to T3 conversion problems is thought to be temporary, and in response to stress or illness (such as anorexia). But it is possible that low T3 levels are not just a result of anorexia, but also a cause. So you can see how this could be a vicious cycle. Very few doctors will actually prescribe anything other than T4 medication. There are some combination T4/T3 medications that are available and there is controversy among doctors as to whether these are necessary or helpful. There was a good newsgroup alt.support.thyroid (now Google groups). If ones feels like doing lots of searching on this, the about.com site is pretty thorough--

http://thyroid.about.com/

And searches for "alternative" views on thyroid issues could include "Broda Barnes" Decades ago many doctors gave thyroid hormone supplementation based on symptoms, such as low body temperature, rather than blood tests.

[benburch]

5. I know the treatment for that, though!

Rightwingstupidism can be treated by injection of copper-clad lead pellets from a high velocity emplacement tool.

[jus_the_facts]

4. as someones sig line says...Life is a sexually transmitted disease....

....and it's terminal...to paraphrase...anyway...it's amazing to me that the medical profession has decided to lable bad life choices that turn into addictive behaviors...a disease...so they can make huge profits with rehab centers to counter brainwash people into a whole other submissive addictive behavior. :eyes:

[TallahasseeGrannie]

6. I think addiction IS a disease.

and I don't think that not eating is just a bad choice like smoking. It kills young women.

If they find a biological component I will be thrilled. In 33 years of teaching I have lost three students to this disease.

Or were you being sarcastic and I didn't pick it up?

[jus_the_facts]

7. Not sarcasm in the slightest.....bad choices begets addiction....

....addiction can then cause physical disease...you don't choose to become afflicted with polio or cerebal palsy but you most definitely DO choose to become addicted to bad behaviors that lead to physical disease...there is a difference but the medical establishment would have you believe otherwise to further their agendas of getting the most people they can on their medications and expound their profit margins.

[TallahasseeGrannie]

10. Would you include

sexually transmitted diseases in the same category, then?

[DemBones DemBones]

18. So anorexics, bulimics, alcoholics and other drug abusers

should all just be allowed to die?

That's a very right-wing way of thinking, the pull-yourself-up-by-your-own-bootstraps school of "thought."

[Orrex]

11. That's from Neil Gaiman, BTB

I don't have his stuff in front of me, but it's either from Sandman or one of the Death miniseries.

Good quote in any case.

[Nikia]

15. Whether or not it is an addiction, it is hard to break

I am in an eating disoder support group. Some of the women have been addicted to alcohol or drugs in the past. They have said that compared to food behaviors that substance addiction is much easier to break. Even with substance abuse though, many people who want to get better still do need intense therapy.
Food is all around us. A person who is healthy and intuned with their body can eat properly without counting calories or consciously following a diet and maintain a healthy weight. For whatever reason though, many people in America have problems with this. The whole weight loss industry is built around this. We hear and see weight loss ads and articles everywhere. Even newspapers have articles that say things like "Americans eat too much fat." Popular culturual tells us that fat is anything other than at the borderline of underweight and normal weight.
Whether or not anorexia is caused by this at all or not, it perpetuates the disease and prevents people from even knowing that they have a problem. I have to eat lunch with overweight people who are on diets. It might be healthy for them to be on these diets and healthy for them to lose 20-30 pounds, but if I eat how they eat I will continue to lose weight and become more unhealthy. When they say that they are being healthy though by eating like that, part of me thinks that there is nothing wrong with me eating like them. Why would I think that I have a problem if I am eating "healthy".
To make matters worse, my own body is fighting against me. After eating 1/3-1/2 of the calories that I needed for over a year, my body isn't used to being full. It isn't used to digesting a lot of food. It isn't used to digesting a lot of fat or even vegatables. Eating as much as I should makes me feel ill. The dietician and some support group members assure me that this is naturual.
It has been documented that many affects of anorexia can come from any kind of starvation, even the psychological symptoms. Even body distortion is a symptom of starvation.
I am trying to do this outpatient, but it is difficult in a world that does not understand. The recovering cocaine addict can avoid the substance and the dealer. I have to deal with food and people who think that dieting and being thin is ideal every day of my life. Most of the women in the group who have gone to treatment centers have said that they are very positive experiences. They are not about being submissive, except they force you to eat and not engage in other destructive behaviors. They are about being strong people who acknowledge and voice their needs.
I don't care whether or not you think that anorexia is caused by willfully engaging in a destructive behavior. Almost all anorexics need help to get better, even then it can be difficult. Do you think that people enjoy involuntarily committed by their families? Do you think that they enjoy feeding tubes being forced into them? Even if that hasn't happened, do you think people enjoy being cold and weak? Whether or not the behaviors were a choice at the beginning, there comes a time when anorexia isn't just a choice.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

9. Perhaps it's some kind of feedback spiral

The young woman purges once because she's "guilty" about having overindulged, and the act of purging tips her body chemistry into "needing" to purge even more.

[freeplessinseattle]

12. but anorexics do have an appetite, they just try to control it

for bulimics I can see the value of this research, but they are really overlooking other factors, and not considering that the appetite disturbance may have begun after the eating disorder did.

[Nikia]

13. I don't have much of an appetite

I am recovering from anorexia. I have a much impaired appetite. If I only ate when I was hungry, I would be worse off then I am now. Following the diet they gave me to gain weight is hell not only because of the psychological factors but because I really do have no desire to eat a lot of the time. Whether this is because I have developed a fear of food or whether my stomach has greatly shrunk and food digests slower or whether my appetite is infered by something else, I don't know. I do enjoy looking at food, recipes, and menus but I don't feel hunger or appetite like I did before the eating disorder.

[TechBear_Seattle]

21. Cause and effect?

That seems to be what Freepless was wondering: Does the immune attack on the appetite cause the eating disorder, or does the eating disorder begin for psychological reasons and then become a systemic feedback loop? A similar thing was found some years ago about overeating, about how fat produces a hormone that supresses the hormone that supresses appetite. In other words, the more fat cells you have, the hungrier you tend to be. That might have led scientists to ask if a similar loop develops in people with very little fat.

In any case, this research should be very helpful for people with anorexia, bulimia and related disorders to recover.

[HuckleB]

20. Indeed.

The chances that this particular research will lead to much are small, but every road must be traveled.

[HuckleB]

19. What poor writing.

Of course it's a physical illness, just like depression, anxiety disorders, bipolar disorder, and on and on. Just because we have yet to identify the specifici components underlying it doesn't mean we didn't know it was a physical illness. It's sad to see the so-called science press continue to stigmatize mental illness with piss poor reporting like this.