Woman, 21, suffering from anorexia nervosa trims weight to 55-pound, causing brain functions like elderly

In a ward of an affiliated hospital of Harbin Medical University, Heilongjiang province, a 21-year-old woman weighing only 25kg (around 55 pounds) is lying on the bed. 

The young woman, named Xiaoqian, was a weight loss addict with her height 1.67m and weight 55kg. She suffered from anorexia nervosa when she was 18 because her mother was strict with her weight In addition to studying art, she was sensitive about body shape. 

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"You are getting fatter," a plain description spoken out by her roommate made her determination to trim weight. She started the suicidal losing weight journey since then for three years. 

She only absorbed 450kcal a day, which is one third the proportion of a normal human basal metabolism. Xiaoqian started to replace her normal meals with meal replacement powder, enzymes, nutritional powder, L-Carnitine and other health products. She also dieted from three meals a day to one meal.

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The more weights she lost, the more she refused to eat. She counted calories ingestion by grains of rice, skipped after dining and vomited food she had eater to make herself feel better. 

Three years later, Xiaoqian reduced 30kg and weighed only 25 and she was as thin as a stickman. She was too weak to walk; her arms were covered with red rashes; her back was bruised; her skin became brittle after her ankles turned swollen. The wound cracked like a mouth, making her mother heartbreak.

Xiaoqian's mother took pictures to the doctor and the director of the Department of Nutrition of Harbin Medical University thought she had a blood disease when first saw the photo.

"Xiaoqian's photo is shocking, blood stasis, ulceration, and skinny bones," Director Zhang immediately asked the mother to send Xiaoqian to hospital for treatment.

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On May 17, Xiaoqian was found suffering from anorexia nervosa, severe malnutrition, multiple organ dysfunction syndromes after preliminary examination.  Her BMI was 9 while a normal person reaches 18.

Director Zhang also found Xiaoqian received only 450 calories daily,  only accounted for 30% of normal people's basal metabolism. "It's a miracle. She is still alive."

On May 27, Xiaoqian accidentally fell to cause cerebral hemorrhage of her left brain. Although it was resolved after surgery, the blood pressure soared to 180 on the next day.

Dr Chu Ming, Director of the Department of Neurosurgery, said that this is related to her anorexia nervosa. Due to long-term severe malnutrition, degeneration of brain tissues and very poor elasticity, her body functions was equivalent to 60-year-old elderly.

After the operation, Xiaoqian fell into a coma and there were no obvious signs of recovery for more than 10 days. The doctor who came to the consultation sigh, "The situation is serious. She will very likely be a vegetative person even survived."

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However, another miracle happened at the end of June. Xiaoqian woke up and turned into another person to ask for food. What's more surprising is that she lost all the memories of these three years she tried hard to keep fit. The doctor speculated that she had a memory impairment due to a traumatic brain injury.

Even though her weak body cannot adapt to the sudden massive intake, she is now recovering and raised 10kg (22 pounds) in weight.

Xiaoqian said she hopes to reach 60kg (132 pounds) and Doctor Zhang said, "We thought it would be nice for her to survive. We didn't expect the current state to gradually turn back to a normal person."

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia has not spared a single Ukrainian power plant from attack since its all-out invasion, Ukraine’s new energy minister said Friday, as a recent escalation of aerial bombardments left hundreds of thousands of people without heat or light for days amid the coldest winter for years.

Denys Shmyhal said Russia conducted 612 attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure objects over last year. That barrage has intensified in recent months as nighttime temperatures plunge to minus 18 degrees C (minus 0.4 F).

“Nobody in the world has ever faced such a challenge,” Shmyhal told lawmakers in a speech at Ukraine’s Parliament, the Verkhovna Rada.

Russia has hammered Ukraine’s power grid, especially in winter, throughout the almost four-year war. It aims to weaken the Ukrainian will to resist in a strategy that Kyiv officials call “weaponizing winter.”

The grim outlook roughly halfway through the winter season coincides with uncertainty about the direction and progress of U.S.-led peace efforts.

“This is a critical moment,” Jaime Wah, the deputy head in the Kyiv delegation of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, said Friday.

“This is the hardest winter since the escalation of the conflict: punishing cold temperatures and the lack of heating and electricity are affecting millions who are already pushed to the edge by years of violence and economic strain,” he told a briefing in Geneva.

Ukraine's power shortage is so desperate that Shmyhal urged businesses to switch off their illuminated signage and exterior decorations to save electricity.

“If you have spare energy, better give it to people,” the energy minister said. “This is the most important thing today. People will be grateful.”

Ukraine has introduced emergency measures, including temporarily easing curfew restrictions to allow people to go whenever they need to public heating centers set up by the authorities, Shmyhal said, adding that hospitals, schools and other critical infrastructure remain the top priority for electricity and heat supplies.

Officials have instructed state energy companies Ukrzaliznytsia, Naftogaz and Ukroboronprom to urgently purchase imported electricity covering at least 50% of their own consumption, according to Shmyhal.

U.K. Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy was in Kyiv on Friday to mark the first anniversary of the “100-year partnership” between Britain and Ukraine. To coincide with the anniversary, Britain announced a further 20 million pounds ($27 million) for repairs to Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.

A grinding war of attrition is continuing along the roughly 1,000-kilometer (600-mile) front line. For all its military might, Russia has managed to occupy less than 20% of Ukraine since 2014.

Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

Emergency tents are set up in a residential neighborhood where people can warm up following Russia's regular air attacks against the country's energy objects that leave residents without power, water and heating in the dead of winter, in Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Vladyslav Musiienko)