In our practice at Change Creates Change Eating Disorder Care, we often hear from parents that their children living with eating disorders claim that they “feel fine” or their vitals are “fine”, so therefore they must not be sick or they must not be sick enough. The truth is that the symptoms of the eating disorder and starvation, such as decreased vital signs, are all being masked by the body’s built-in safety nets.
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The Body’s Protective Factors
When we talk about the body’s built-in safety nets, what we are referring to is the way that the body keeps itself sustaining life in the presence of an eating disorder. When a child is living with an eating disorder such as anorexia nervosa or bulimia nervosa and their body is in starvation syndrome, the body turns on built-in protective factors. At Change Creates Change, we like to call them the body’s built-in safety nets.
The protective factors, or the built-in safety nets, are the body’s back-up systems that try to keep your child alive longer even though their body is not receiving the amount of nutrition it needs to properly function. When this happens, their body makes adaptations, or changes, in an attempt to keep them alive in the presence of starvation. These changes may be seen as signs and symptoms to warn you that there are underlying issues happening with your child.
Slowed Down Metabolism from Under Eating
In times of starvation or malnutrition, one of the very first changes that we see in an individual is a slowed down rate of metabolism. An important thing to keep in mind is that when we talk about metabolism here, we are not talking about it in the same frame that diet culture does. What we are talking about when we discuss metabolism are all of the many processes that happen inside our bodies to keep us alive. These processes include digestion, a beating heart, breathing lungs, muscle movements, and body temperature regulation. All of these processes, and many more, are a part of the body’s metabolism.
When we talk about a slowed metabolism, we are not talking about it in the same frame that diet culture does. We are talking about the systems in our body that keep us alive.
Lowered Body Temperature
When the body’s built-in safety nets are kicked on in your child and the metabolism slows down, one of the first signs is a lowered (or reduced) body temperature. This is why it is common to hear that folx living with eating disorders tend to feel cold all the time. This is especially true in their hands and feet. The reason for this is that the body is trying to keep the blood circulating around our vital organs. These include our heart, lungs, and brain. The circulating blood focuses on staying in the ‘trunk’ (abdomen) and head of the body. This leaves our hands and our feet feeling quite cold. If this is a complaint you often hear from your child, it is important to speak with a healthcare professional about it. Our bodies have a specific temperature range that they function best at, and a lower temperature may lead to dangerous health complications.
Decreased Blood Pressure
Another common sign that the body’s built-in safety nets have been “turned on” is a decreased (lowered) blood pressure range. Signs of low blood pressure may include feeling dizzy, lightheaded, fatigue, nausea, or blurred vision. The lowered blood pressure is another way that your child’s body is trying to stay alive when it is not receiving enough nutrition. Another protective change is that your child’s heart rate will slow down. This is why when people living with an eating disorder have their vitals taken, they often have a low heart rate.
Changes in Blood Sugar Levels
Another thing we often see in our practice in times when the protective factors are ‘turned on’ is a change in folk’s blood sugars. As we talked about above, digestion is a part of the body’s metabolism that is slowed down in times of starvation. When digestion slows down, the body’s absorption of glucose into the bloodstream is also slowed down. This means that we may see a decrease in your child’s blood sugar levels if they are living with an eating disorder.
Constipation
A common complication of slowed digestion with an eating disorder, or an increased transit time, is constipation. This is because digestion is slowed, so the total transit time of food in our bodies is longer. This also means that stools are hard and may be difficult to pass. This is another attempt of the body trying to absorb every last nutrient before our food is passed as waste.
Eating Disorders and Body Hair
A less common protective change that the body makes in times of starvation is something known as lanugo. This is the growth of a thin layer of hair all over the body. Sometimes it may look like fur. This is an attempt by the body to regulate body temperature, keep us warm, and avoid hypothermia in times when we are not receiving enough nutrition.
Signs and Symptoms of Eating Disorders
To recap what we have talked about, the body has built-in safety nets that it initiates to slow down metabolism and sustain life longer when we are not getting enough fuel. These protective changes are a response to starvation syndrome. The symptoms that we often see include:
- Decreased body temperature
- Decreased blood circulation
- Lowered blood pressure
- Slowed heart rate
- Decreased blood sugar levels
- Slowed, decreased digestion
- Lanugo, or fine hair growth
With all of this being said, when these warning signs appear it is extremely important to seek help from a qualified professional before trying to reintroduce a higher calorie intake. The refeeding process needs to be gradual to avoid refeeding syndrome, where the body cannot adapt quickly enough to the change and cannot cope adequately.
At Change Creates Change Eating Disorder Care, our team of expert dietitian nutritionists and therapists believe in family-based eating disorder recovery. Our team is here if you and your child need us. Book a 15-minute free consultation call with us to find out how we can help.
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