Valeria Zanna, head of anorexia and eating disorders at the Bambino Gesù children’s hospital, have doubled access to the emergency room, is the situation increasingly serious?
“Unfortunately, cases of eating disorders have become quite frequent. We are witnessing critical situations where there is a need to intervene with specialists».
Has age gone down?
“There are cases even from 8 years of age. Anorexia represents the intention to lose weight: it often begins with a diet cure which, due to anxiety, degenerates until one stops eating».
What happens to the organism?
“When you stop eating or do it insufficiently, there are serious physical consequences. We need to intervene to avoid permanent repercussions ».
Are children also affected?
«Even children are now influenced on a physical level, there is an attention to the image of the body that already begins in the third grade. Parents must learn to talk about these issues with their children, even in discussions with a doctor.
There are also those who suddenly stop eating?
“Unfortunately there are also children who suddenly stop eating and drinking. It can happen after a trauma, for example if the food went sideways, but in that case it is necessary to intervene in the very first days: the opinion of the pediatrician is asked and then one goes to the emergency room, also to exclude organic pathologies ».
In that case, what to do?
«The child does not have a mental construct on which to intervene. First of all, the patient needs to be fed and hydrated, with hospitalization: the children arrive emaciated, with very slow heartbeats. When they don’t eat, the heart rate drops and the problem can also be seen in the blood values”.
Why has the situation gotten so much worse with the covi?
«Because that important resource has disappeared, which acts as a shock absorber, which is the sociability with which everything is diluted. The vital drive has failed.”
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