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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 check to see how strong and healthy your body is.¹

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

• Your doctor may check your height and weight, and then compare those measurements to average measurements for healthy people who are about your age.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, 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 anemic. Your doctor may also use tests to be sure that you don't have any other illnesses, like 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 laxatives, diuretics or diet pills can upset this balance.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. Anorexia can keep your body from producing the hormone estrogen, which helps new bone to grow. Without estrogen, bones can get weak and break more easily. This is called osteoporosis.

Your doctor may ask you the following five questions to see if you have an eating disorder.²

• Do you make yourself sick 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?

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.

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. ©BMJ Publishing Group Limited 2008. All rights reserved.