Pain sensitivity in anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa

Abstract

A reduced pain sensitivity has been found in eating disorder patients, but it is unclear what physiological and psychological factors are associated with this abnormality. The underlying mechanism seems non-opioid. Some authors propose a hypothesis that the decrease of the susceptibility to pain in lean subjects/animals may be induced by the increase in endogenous ghrelin activity, or increase of the susceptibility to pain in obese subject/animals may be induced by the decrease in endogenous ghrelin activity.