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Anorexia

How do doctors diagnose anorexia?

There is no simple test for anorexia.

To diagnose this illness, your doctor will ask you questions about your life, eating habits and problems. Your doctor will also need to see how strong and healthy your body is.

Source:
Becker AE, Grinspoon SK, Klibanski A, et al.
Eating disorders.
New England Journal of Medicine. 1999; 340: 1092-1098.

Your doctor may want to ask you about your family, or about other important relationships. The doctor might also need to talk with people close to you.

What your doctor needs to find out

Your doctor may check your height and weight, and then compare those measurements to average measurements for healthy people who are about your age.

Source:
Becker AE, Grinspoon SK, Klibanski A, et al.
Eating disorders.
New England Journal of Medicine. 1999; 340: 1092-1098.

¹
If you are a woman, your doctor will ask you if you have stopped having periods.
If you have anorexia, you may be

dehydrated
When you're dehydrated, you don't have enough fluid in your blood. This could be because you're not drinking enough or because you're losing water by sweating or having diarrhea.

dehydrated, so your doctor will check for this.
Your doctor will also look for other physical signs of anorexia, such as fine hair on your face and dry, yellow skin. To read more about this, see What are the symptoms of anorexia?
Your doctor may want to do some blood tests to make sure that you're not

anemia
Anemia is when you have too few red blood cells. Anemia can make you get tired and breathless easily. It can also make you look pale. Anemia can be caused by a number of different things, including problems with your diet, blood loss and some diseases.

anemic. Your doctor may also use tests to be sure that you don't have any other illnesses, like

diabetes
Diabetes is a condition that causes too much sugar to circulate in your blood. It happens when your body stops making a hormone called insulin (type 1 diabetes) or when insulin stops working (type 2 diabetes).

diabetes. Those tests will also let the doctor make sure you have the right balance of chemicals in your body. Starving yourself, vomiting, or taking

laxative
A laxative is a kind of medicine you can buy over the counter. Laxatives empty your bowels by making you go to the bathroom often.

laxatives,

diuretics
Diuretics are a type of medicine that reduce the amount of fluid in your body. The extra fluid is removed in your urine.

diuretics or diet pills can upset this balance.

Source:
Becker AE, Grinspoon SK, Klibanski A, et al.
Eating disorders.
New England Journal of Medicine. 1999; 340: 1092-1098.

¹
If you've had anorexia for a long time, or if you are severely underweight and purge a lot, your doctor may want to know how solid and strong your bones are. This is done by measuring your

bone density
Bone density is a measure of how strong your bones are. Bones that are less dense are brittle and easy to break.

bone density. Anorexia can keep your body from producing the

hormones
Hormones are chemicals that are made in certain parts of the body. They travel through the bloodstream and have an effect on other parts of the body. For example, the female sex hormone estrogen is made in a woman's ovaries. Estrogen has many different effects on a woman's body. It makes the breasts grow at puberty and helps control periods. It is also needed to get pregnant.

hormone estrogen, which helps new bone to grow. Without estrogen, bones can get weak and break more easily. This is called

osteoporosis
Osteoporosis is when your bones get too brittle. It happens if not enough new bone tissue is growing to keep bones strong. If you have osteoporosis, the bones in your body may break easily.

osteoporosis.

Questions your doctor may ask

Your doctor may ask you the following five questions to see if you have an eating disorder.

Source:
American Psychiatric Association.
Eating disorders.
In: Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. 4th edition. American Psychiatric Press, Washington, D.C., U.S.A.; 2000.

Do you make yourself vomit because you're uncomfortably full?
Do you worry that you've lost control over how much you eat?
Have you recently lost more than 14 pounds in three months?
Do you believe you're fat when others say you're thin?
Would you say that food dominates your life?

Different kinds of anorexia

There are two kinds of anorexia: restricting and binge-eating/purging. It's possible to have both kinds at different stages of your illness. Your doctor will ask questions to find out which kind you have. Here's a little more information about each type.

Restricting type: You limit the amount of food you eat, but you don't regularly binge or purge.
Binge-eating/purging type: You regularly binge and then purge (for example, by making yourself vomit or by using laxatives or diuretics). Some people who have anorexia purge without binge-eating first.

To learn more, see What is bingeing? and What is purging?

The binge-eating/purging type of anorexia is similar in some ways to bulimia. See Other eating disorders for more information.

Sources for the information on this page:

Becker AE, Grinspoon SK, Klibanski A, et al.Eating disorders.New England Journal of Medicine. 1999; 340: 1092-1098.

American Psychiatric Association.Eating disorders.In: Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. 4th edition. American Psychiatric Press, Washington, D.C., U.S.A.; 2000.

This information was last updated on Feb 09, 2009

This information is for educational use only, and is not a substitute for prompt professional medical advice. Readers should always consult a physician or other professional for advice and treatment.
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