Anorexia can be fatal. Consult your child's physician for more information. Treatment should always be based on a comprehensive evaluation of the adolescent and family. Individual therapy usually includes both cognitive and behavioral techniques. The frequent occurrence of medical complications and the possibility of death during the course of acute and rehabilitative treatment requires both your child's physician and a nutritionist to be active members of the management team.
Parents play a vital supportive role in any treatment process.
While it is difficult to predict which anorexic patients might have life-threatening cardiac consequences that result from their illness, up to 95 percent of hospitalized anorexic patients have been found to have low heart rates. Normal movement in intestinal tract often slows down with very restricted eating and severe weight loss. Gaining weight and some medications help to restore normal intestinal motility. Renal changes usually return to normal with the restoration of normal weight. Amenorrhea often precedes severe weight loss and continues after normal weight is restored.