When I don’t eat enough, I get low blood sugar and I find it hard to concentrate and function enough to do anything. And that’s just from skipping a meal, let alone if I hadn’t eaten for days or was subsisting for years on a very small amount of calories. When I see anorexic people in movies or books, they seem to have enough energy to exercise compulsively, go to school or work, and other things. Is it that their eating disorder gives them anxiety and that makes them more energetic? Or does your body just get used to not eating and functions fine after a while?
In: Biology
the short answer is, very poorly. they feel as crappy as you do when they’re hungry, they just do the things anyway. often they are extremely emotionally sensitive, they’re tired all the time, they don’t perform to their best potential at school/work. it is a very systemic disorder.
It’s like being possessed and controlled by an external force and all the force cares about is calorie calculations, weight, size. It rules everything. The rest of you is on Autopilot zombie mode. Seeing but mentally asleep to the world. Hearing but not listening, perceiving but not feeling or internalizing. Speaking but not actually connecting. Can be high performing in day to day pursuits somehow, by sheer willpower. Often high performance in activities is also branching from the deep need for control which anorexia stems from. but your soul is starved. Only after you recover do you wake up and realize you were partaking in a slow motion suicide.
I believe it’s the most deadly of all mental illnesses so eventually without treatment your body will stop functioning.
Edit: to anyone struggling: recovery is possible and you CAN get yourself back. Can confirm.
Very, very poorly. They really only appear like they have the energy to go to school/work because they have to. Life doesn’t stop because you feel awful. You don’t go to work, you’ll lose your job, and your house, you’ll lose access to therapy or medical attention if you are receiving it, etc. It’s very common to have symptoms though like exhaustion, mood swings, etc
And with compulsive exercise, I think it’s kind of in the name – compulsive. It’s not something the person necessarily want to do, it’s something their brain is telling them they have to do, even if it hurts them.
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You pretty much sleep constantly, too, unless your control issues (which anorexia is often linked to) demand you do other stuff instead. Often I was dizzy and faint constantly, and had to pray I could power through whatever it was without fainting. I also couldn’t take part in hobbies or social activities because I was so tired. If starvation on that level was easy, it wouldn’t be a disorder.
Speaking from experience caffeine and even a tiny amount of nutrients will provide an incredible boost when you’re running on empty
Having worked with someone who was anorexic (they got help, thankfully) the easy answer is they don’t. Long story short, they will try and pretend to be stable, but will have some weird issues that you write off as just being quirky. When they are home they are having all the drama, meltdowns, etc. Then, one day, something will fully set them off at work and it will all come out.
11 year AN survivor. 1.5 years in recovery here. Your body adjusts in incredible ways. People are genetically predisposed to having an ED- some people try and try to restrict or purge and they just can’t do it. It’s like the part of my brain that tells me to eat when i’m hungry is broken. It truly defies our innate primal instincts and “survival of the fittest” and evolution. the hungrier a “normal” person gets, the more their motivation to find food increases. that’s the opposite with anorexia. the hungrier I get, the more my motivation to find food decreases, until it feels like an insurmountable obstacle. for a long time I got by on prescription ADHD stimulants and caffeine. I had to sleep 9.5 hours every night or I was dead to the world. I had major GI issues all the time but people in my life, including doctors, passed them off as anxiety or food intolerances. 1.5 months into intense ED treatment I was diagnosed with gastroparesis-it’s the rule for people with restrictive EDs, not the exception. only 6% of people with an ED are underweight. MANY people with anorexia have normal labs the whole way through. when you’re in it, you’re so so sick and your brain is so fucked you truly can’t see how sick you are. after I weight restored, I couldn’t BELIEVE how I felt. I couldn’t believe that I could start to feel sick and low energy, and then eating a meal completely fixed it. some days I still can’t believe that. i’m thankful to be in recovery, but I think about relapse every single day. AMA
edit: typo
As someone who has anorexia, we are barely functioning. When I was at my lowest I could barely get out of bed without getting out of breath, my heart rate was slow and I felt (no exaggeration) like I was just waiting for my body to give up every second. Your body learns how to survive off of whatever it has – I would go days without eating and obviously didn’t die. All the energy, for me, came from caffeine. I felt like shit the whole day but at least I could get stuff done
Not well. I think “function” is a bit of a stretch. People with anorexia have trouble focusing, lack energy, and just generally don’t feel good. It’s constant brain fog and lethargy.
They eat just enough to stay upright, because people notice when you faint. Eating disorders are also very similar to addictions. The behaviors, such as working out a lot, are so compulsory that not even being tired will stop them. Those with anorexia who work out a lot will eat enough to keep their blood sugar from dropping so low that they faint. What you see as an energetic person working out is really just an addict getting their fix at any cost.
The body also adjusts. It’s not perfect, but if you go a while without eating that many carbs, your body will get used to that and your blood sugar won’t spike and drop so much. It’s why low carb diets have become so popular. We *can* survive, at least temporarily, on a very small amount of carbs, and carbs are what raise your blood sugar, which eventually drops. The shakiness and sweating that come with low blood sugar is mostly due to the sudden drop of it, not necessarily the fact that it’s low.
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