Mental causes
Both adults and children can suffer from temporary underweight as a result of a stress reaction of our body. The stress can have many causes, ranging from grief due to the death of an important caregiver to stress at work, all of which literally strike at the stomach and the affected persons do not feel appetite and lose weight. Besides these temporary causes, anorexia and bulimia are other well-known psychological factors that lead to underweight.
Since these two clinical pictures have a lot to do with a disturbed relationship to food and the own body, therapeutic help is urgently needed. Underweight is the result of a loss of fat and partly also muscle loss in the body. Only when deficiency symptoms occur, one speaks of pathological underweight.
At the latest when they occur, one should consult a doctor. Especially if the weight loss is without reason and involuntary, a visit to a doctor is highly advisable, as many serious illnesses are accompanied by a sudden weight loss. In case of malnutrition, the body lacks vital building substances and energy suppliers in the body.
The body begins to break down fat and muscles in order to provide the necessary energy for all body cells. The lack of energy first manifests itself in paleness, reduced performance, tiredness and concentration problems. Further emaciation and slowing down of the metabolism eventually leads to the first physical symptoms such as circulatory problems, dry skin, brittle hair or even cracked nails.
Those affected are weakened in their body’s own defenses and are thus more easily susceptible to illness than other people and need longer after the illness to get back on their feet.Wounds tend to heal poorly and, in combination with the higher tendency to infection, lead to higher complication rates. In children, the lack of building materials leads to dwarfism. This can already occur during pregnancy and the children are born with a very low birth weight.
Underweight in children leads to dwarfism in the course of their lives if the lack of nutrients continues. Only if the energy deficiency persists for a long time, both in children and adults, can not produce enough proteins in the liver and fluid can no longer be held in the vessels and starts to leave the vascular system and accumulate in various parts of the body such as the abdominal cavity. This is how the so-called hunger edemas with an apparently bloated abdomen develop when the rest of the body is emaciated.
The consequence of permanent malnutrition is also a change in the hormone balance. In women this manifests itself in menstrual disorders or even complete absence of menstruation. However, heart and circulation problems can also occur.
In bulimia, the eating-breaking addiction, permanent vomiting can completely disrupt the salt and acid-base balance of the body and, last but not least, a loss of potassium can lead to life-threatening cardiac rhythm disorders. However, effects on the calcium, magnesium, phosphate and iron balance are also to be expected. The constant vomiting permanently attacks the teeth in the oral cavity and the hydrochloric acid contained in the gastric juice can cause irreparable damage to the teeth.
Patients with bulimia or other eating disorders are not always easy to recognize, because the affected people usually go to great lengths to keep their eating disorder a secret. But there are signs to which the environment can react. Especially girls in puberty tend to be dissatisfied with their own body and want to follow the current beauty ideals.
The affected girls try to promote their weight loss through excessive sport. The food intake is much more critical, because those affected deal extensively with nutritional values and avoid nutritious food. In everyday life, they try to eat only food of their own choice and avoid family meals or other public eating opportunities.
The affected people have the need to weigh themselves several times a day and feel too fat despite weight loss and underweight. Although hardly any food is consumed, they think about food most of the day and their thoughts are constantly revolving around it. It is important to recognize the eating disorder at an early stage and to seek help, because without help it is usually not possible to escape the eating disorder.
