A Case Report on the Effects of Gamisachil-tang on an Anorexic Patient with Depression

Objectives: This study examined the effects of Gamisachil-tang on an anorexic patient with depression.Methods: A patient suffering from anorexia and depression was treated with Korean herbal medicine (Gamisachil-tang) for 14 days. To evaluate the therapeutic effect, we measured the daily food intake of the patient and used the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) for anorexia.Results: Following treatment, both the patient’s daily food intake of the patient and VAS score for anorexia had improved.Conclusion: These results suggest that Gamisachil-tang has a beneficial effect on both anorexia and depression.

The disappearing body: anorexia as a conflict of embodiment

Anorexia nervosa is often regarded primarily as a disorder of the body image, with affected individuals submitting themselves to the dictate of a predominant model of slenderness. However, even though this frequently functions as a gateway to the disorder, the paper intends to show that the actual conflict in anorexia consists in a fundamental alienation of the self from the body. In order to analyze this alienation from a phenomenological point of view, the paper introduces the polarity of lived body (body-as-subject) and physical body (body-as-object). It then explores the phenomenology of anorexia, drawing on characteristic self-reports as well as on the phenomenological, psychoanalytic and cultural science literature. The anorexic conflict of embodiment arises in adolescence, where the body becomes an object of the other’s gaze in a special way. Starting with an attempt to comply with the ideal body image, the anorexic patient increasingly fights against her dependency on her body and its uncontrollable nature, above all its hunger and femininity. To be in total control of her body and to gain independence from it, becomes the source of a narcissistic triumph. Thus, in striving for autonomy and perfection, the anorexic patient alienates herself from her embodiment. This results in a radical dualism of ‘mind’ and ‘body’: pursuing the ideal of an asexual, angelic, even disappearing body. Anorexia is thus conceived as a fundamental conflict of embodiment.

The role of nutrition in critical care

Critically ill patients have conditions that are considered life-threatening and require comprehensive care and constant monitoring; nutritional support plays a key role in the recovery of these patients and is an area of veterinary medicine that is very easy for the registered veterinary nurse (RVN) to have an active role in. Critically ill patients are at increased risk of malnutrition; acute and chronic illness, trauma and inflammation induced stress-related catabolism, and drug-induced adverse effects may reduce appetite or increase nausea and vomiting. Challenges exist in the provision of support, especially in the anorexic patient. This article focuses on how severe physiological stress affects animals that are critically ill and how this might lead to malnutrition, how to accurately calculate energy requirements, and discusses the importance of selecting the most appropriate diet to improve patient outcomes.

A Clinical Case: Restoration of Toothwear

This paper presents a case demonstrating treatment of localized severe toothwear and generalized moderate toothwear, in a previously bulimic and anorexic patient. The treatment plan and rationale for treatment is discussed. The case shows the analytical diagnostic steps taken to formulate the treatment plan, which focused on prevention, treatment of disease and restoration of teeth affected by toothwear, in order to achieve the objective of establishing oral health, function and aesthetics. CPD/Clinical Relevance: Using available interocclusal space created by repositioning the mandible into the retruded centric relation position, this case demonstrates minimally invasive direct additive composite placements to restore generalized toothwear in general practice.

Fracture of Anterior Iliac Crest Following Bone Graft Harvest in an Anorexic Patient: Case Report and Review of the Literature

In the treatment of jaw bone atrophies, autologus bone is still considered the gold standard because of its excellent osteoconductive, osteoinductive, and osteogenetic proprieties and lack of immunogenicity, which allow better graft integration and stability. Although various donor sites are available, the iliac crest represents the best source of corticocancellous bone, and literature suggests that it has low morbidity. However, this case report emphasizes that patients with systemic diseases such as anorexia should be carefully evaluated before such an operation, because unfavorable bone conditions may jeopardize the outcome. A 47-year-old woman needing rehabilitation of the upper arch was considered for iliac crest harvesting. She stated that she had suffered from anorexia for 30 years. A corticocancellous block was harvested by a bone saw using an anterolateral approach to the outer table of the right anterior iliac crest. The postoperative course was uneventful, but 13 days later, she complained of a sudden pain in the operated area, and X rays revealed a fracture of the anterior iliac crest. So far, the literature has mentioned 50 cases of iliac crest fractures after bone harvesting, and 28 cases among these are due to harvesting in the anterior part of the iliac crest. Several factors seem to be responsible for this complication, including the area of harvesting, residual bone thickness, technique used, and age and gender of the patient. To our knowledge, our case is the first of hip fracture after bone harvesting in a patient suffering from anorexia. Both low weight and osteoporosis are probably responsible for this complication. In our opinion, patients suffering from anorexia should be considered at risk for bone harvesting, and an appropriate mini-invasive surgical technique should be carried out instead.

Spektrum postaw wobec śmierci u osób z anoreksją

Anorexia nervosa is a grave psychiatric illness characterized by a distorted body image which triggers intensive self-starvation and — as a consequence — significantly diminished body weight. It can be fatal: the mortality rate is thought to be between 4% and 20%. The very essence of this eating disorder is a categorical refusal to be cured in conjunction with a profound denial of illness. The most peculiar aspect of anorexia nervosa that may account for the denial of illness and the difficulty patients have in accepting treatment is egosyntonicity. It means that the illness is highly valued by afflicted individuals and it is inextricably linked with their sense of identity. Thus this illness is existential. Some researchers describe anorexia nervosa as suicide, but the anorexic understanding of death seems to be more complicated. If anorexia is, for the patient, an avenue to a worthwhile life, then, giving up anorexia — gaining weight — can mean giving up the reason for living. Therefore the refusal of eating that in another patient might look suicidal, may for the anorexic patient be the only way of life. The article analyses various aspects of anorexic attitudes to death.