An 18-year-old girl in India died from severe starvation after following an extreme water diet for months based on YouTube videos. Doctors said she had anorexia, a life-threatening eating disorder, and suffered severe complications, including malnutrition and a shrunken stomach and esophagus.
The girl identified as Sreenanda, from the southern Indian state of Kerala, was on ventilator for days before losing her life. According to Sreenanda’s doctor, Dr. Nagesh Prabhu, the teenager suffered from anorexia, a mental health condition where individuals fear gaining weight and resort to extreme measures for losing weight.
“Patients eventually lose their sense of hunger, and in Sreenanda’s case, her sodium and sugar levels plummeted beyond correction,” Dr. Prabhu told a local news outlet.
Reports suggest that the teenager had been following the unsupervised diet inspired by YouTube videos, drastically limiting her food intake for months and her family was unaware of the gravity of her eating disorder.
“She was almost starving and was on a water diet. I guess the troublesome eating pattern started around six months ago, and one of my colleagues advised her people to seek further help to fix the issue. However, guess they were not aware of its seriousness and downplayed it as a condition of youngster not having enough food,” Dr. Prabhu added.
What is Anorexia?
Anorexia is both an eating disorder and a mental health condition in which individuals believe they are overweight, even when they are underweight or at a normal weight. It can arise from a combination of factors, including genetics, stress, trauma, peer pressure, bullying, abuse, body image criticism, and obsessive or compulsive personality traits.
It can affect people at any age but factors such as peer pressure, stress and anxiety from bodily changes are more common among teens as they are more susceptible to the condition.
What are the signs?
Signs of anorexia can manifest physically, emotionally, and behaviorally. Individuals may experience bodily signs such as extreme weight loss, fatigue, dizziness, difficulty passing stool, and feel unusually cold. They may also develop swelling in the arms or legs, stomach pain, and difficulty sleeping. Behavioral signs include excessive exercise, fear of weight gain, and an obsessive focus on appearance, such as constantly checking for flaws in the mirror or wearing layers to hide the body. Emotional changes include irritability, mood swings, and social withdrawal.
From severe dieting, patients may develop signs of malnutrition including worn teeth or calluses from inducing vomiting. Individuals may also struggle with concentration, experience low mood, increased anxiety, and develop stress fractures or reduced bone mass.
Complications from anorexia:
Since malnutrition impacts the brain, individuals with anorexia may not recognize the need for treatment or may resist it. However, if left untreated it can lead to complications such as anemia, heart and kidney disorders, bone loss, low blood pressure, multi-organ failure, brain damage and death.
Every year, eating disorders claim the lives of 10,200 individuals in the U.S. It is estimated that 24% of deaths from anorexia are due to suicide. For young people with anorexia, the risk of death is 12 times higher than that of their peers in the general population.
