Medical Health Encyclopedia

Weight Loss. The primary symptom of anorexia is major weight loss from excessive and continuous dieting, which may either be restrictive dieting or binge-eating and purging.

Note: Young women who have both diabetes and eating disorders may have normal weight or even be overweight from the effects of insulin. However, they still are at high risk from the medical consequences of anorexia.

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Other symptoms of anorexia may include:

• Infrequent or absent periods
• Compulsive exercising coupled with excessive thinness
• Refusal to eat in front of others
• Ritualistic eating, including cutting food into small pieces
• Hypersensitivity to cold  -- some women wear several layers of clothing to both keep warm and hide their thinness
• Yellowish skin, especially on the palms of the hands and soles of the feet -- from eating too many vitamin A-rich vegetables such as carrots
• Dry skin covered with fine hair
• Thin scalp hair
• Cold or swollen feet and hands
• Stomach problems, including bloating after eating
• Confused or slowed thinking
• Poor memory or judgment