[Yack]

Does losing your appetite from depression mean you are anorexic? I know this sounds stupid...I can't gain weight.

I don't think so, Yak. I think losing weight comes with being depressed. You lose your appetite. Anorexa is when you intentionally don't eat even when you're hungry.

[eskielover]

Yack,

My weight loss usually comes from other issues other than body image. The first time I had massive weight loss was from the Anti-depressants I was on......lost my appitite completely. I fit the definition of Anorexia in the DSM-IV book except for a few symptoms. I was forced to go to an eating disorders treatment center for a month....it didn't help....& was treated for malnutrition on & off in the medical hospital for almost a year after that until I was finally at a point where I wasn't physically sick any more.

The last time was at the end of last year & beginning of this year. I had been losing weight because I had been physically sick at the beginning.....they a trauma hit with my Mothers care when she was dying of cancer. I was so stressed, scared, & exhausted that nausea kept me from eating & drinking.....just couldn't keep anything down. I was hospitalized in a medical hospital & my GP did every test in the book to try to figure out what was the cause. Nothing showed up physically except for the cortisol level being off. Everyone was Dx'ing me with anorexia......because I again had most of the symptoms in the DSM-IV. But again, there was no body image issues involved. When I was told to find an eating disorders treatment center that would work this time....I talked to them & was told that I was probably having some other cause than the defined anorexia with the body image reasoning.

I did quite a bit of research on anorexia over the internet because I just didn't know where to turn. The general definition of "anorexia" is massive weight loss that causes anemia & malnutrition. The cause can be anything.....cancer, anxiety (including PTSD, etc), depression, reaction to meds, any illness that causes lack of appitite & massive weight loss, etc.

The psychological "Anorexia Nervosa" is exactly as defined in the DSM-IV which requires a body image issue where one feels that they are fat even though they are way underweight. The complete definition is found in the DSM-IV.......with the major difference being the body image issue.

Either way of weight loss is unhealthy with similar results physically however treatment is different. Once treated for the depression it should help with the lack of appitite & weight loss.....where people with the psychological problem of body issue have to come to terms with their thinking about themselves.

Hope this helps a little,
Debbie

no.loss of appitite is a part of the many symptoms of depression but that type of appitite loss is not anorexic. A person who is anorexic perceives themselves to be fat, ugly and so on so they force themselves into not eating to lose weight. they continue with this frame of mind even though their bones are starting to protrude. a person whos body wieght is at or below one fourth of that of the phsycians weight/height charts is medically considered anorexic.

[Yack]

Thanks.

[CompGeek]

Losing your apetite as a result from depression does not mean that you are anorexic. You inability to gain weight could be for a number of reasons, are you taking any anti-depresents, I am not sure the side effects of them but one of them may be loss of appetite.. But just because you have a loss of apetite does not mean that you are anorexic

[eskielover]

Yack,

The bottom line "no matter what the cause" for extreme weight loss is that it is dangerous if the weight loss is below the minimum weight for your size.

My first weight loss was from depression & a reaction to several Anti-depressants I was put on. I am 5'2" & ended up weighing 85 lbs before anyone realized it was a problem. This last time (the beginning of this year), I lost massive weight due to stress & going through a trauma regarding my Mothers death. Same height & ended up weighing 93 lbs.

The cause wasn't the mental anorexia nervosa...(no body image problem....knowing I looked like a walking skeleton).......both times I continually became anemic & suffered from malnutrition......no it isn't anorexia nervosa.....however the definition of excessive weight loss is anorexia.....no matter what the cause. Also no matter what the cause, if you become anemic & end up with malnutrition.....the physical care is the same no matter what the cause

Be careful not to let the weight loss get too extreme with your depression like I did....you don't want to go through the physical treatment necessary to keep you physically healthy....being medically hospitalized with a central line (IV) with TPN nutrition being put into your body to keep you alive is a horrible way to live.

Take care of your depression so you don't end up with the extreme weight loss. One thing in our favor is that we only need to deal with what is physically causing our weight loss & not the body image issues that go along with the mental causes of anorexia.
Debbie