Description
Types of eating disorders include anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge eating disorder, avoidant restrictive food intake disorder, other specified feeding and eating disorder, pica and rumination disorder.
A variety of laboratory tests and blood work may be needed to determine the correct eating disorder diagnosis and assess the appropriate level of care for an affected individual. This can be helpful to guide your provider to provide an appropriate level of care.
This panel includes the following test:
CBC Test: Complete Blood Count
CMP Test: Comprehensive Metabolic Panel
LH/FSH
Magnesium
Phosphorus
Prolactin
TSH Blood Test: Thyroid Stimulating Hormone
Fasting not required.
Additional information about each test is listed below:
Anemia, leukopenia and thrombocytopenia are frequent complications of anorexia nervosa. The complete blood count provides useful information to diagnose and characterize these findings.
A Comprehensive Metabolic Panel (CMP) is important for someone with anorexia because it provides crucial information about their body's chemical balance, particularly regarding liver and kidney function, which can be significantly impacted by severe malnutrition associated with anorexia, allowing healthcare providers to monitor for potential complications and adjust treatment plans accordingly.
The low LH and FSH levels can be accompanied by low thyroxine and high plasma cortisol concentrations; the latter finding differentiates anorexia nervosa from pituitary insufficiency.
The essential mineral has a calming and stabilizing effect on the central nervous system, making us more resistant to stress. Low magnesium levels have the opposite effect, leaving us more vulnerable to low moods, unable to cope with downward spirals and with little hope for improvement.
Phosphorus is an essential mineral that is, in the form of inorganic phosphate (Pi), required for building cell membranes, DNA and RNA molecules, energy metabolism, signal transduction and pH buffering.
The findings suggest that prolactin level measurements may be indicated in eating disorder patients who have a history of atypical symptoms and/or menstrual disturbances that are unrelated to weight loss.
Anorexia nervosa is usually associated with lower levels of thyroid hormones especially suppressed TSH and T3 with normal T4 levels due to the effects of starvation on metabolism. We present two cases where the underlying eating disorder masked the thyroid dysfunction.
