To think the NHS should not be cutting funding for Anorexia and EDs if they are going to be spending ££££ on weight loss jabs

No it shouldn't. Completely separate issues. Obesity affects far more people (millions more) than ED and so to address that actually saves more money (and more lives) for the NHS to spend on other things.

Well quite. The chronically obese can just eat less in the same way anorexic patients can just eat more. If only life were that simple.

The vast majority of people you hear about getting weight loss drugs are paying for them via private prescriptions @B00kThi3f so not taking money away from the NHS.

If you're going to get angry at obese people getting weight loss drugs then you may as well get angry at everyone that gets NHS funding for conditions that won't kill them as quickly as anorexia can in the worst cases. And what about people getting NHS support for fertility treatment or conditions like acne that could be considered cosmetic.

YABU and your anger at the NHS having very limited resources is directed at the wrong people.

For many people who are very seriously overweight their eating is a disorder.
They have been not only left to fend for themselves but actively blamed for their own condition.
It is high time help was available and this is just as worthy of nhs funding as other eating disorders.
I am glad that much of the stigma has been removed from anorexia and bulimia but those with these conditions and their families should stand with others who are suffering from their eating not promote division.

Nobody is questioning whether you are knowledgeable. You are obviously very angry with literally everybody and you aren't engaging with anybody here in good faith. You are just picking fights, even when people are trying to look past your aggression and approach you with kindness.

There is help and support on MN but not when you post aggressively on AIBU and are rude to fellow sufferers and those with other health struggles. You are clearly hurting and it's hard to believe that starting this thread and choosing to argue with people online can possibly be helping you. I really would urge you to start a thread on the relevant board, not lashing out but looking for support, and try to engage with people who understand. The support is there.

They could OP, and often do.

No-one I know gets their weight loss jabs on the NHS- it's all self-pay.

We could move to a private insurance model, then even the NHS patients would have to contribute. Hate to break it you though, private insurers love a cheap solution, hence weight loss jabs taking off even more in the USA. Not so keen on hard to treat MH conditions though.

God this.

Some people seem to have a real bee in their bonnets about weight loss injections, like it's cheating (even if it was, so what?) or because they think people don't deserve to be able to lose weight in an easier, more effective way.

I can't understand it myself. I've never been overweight a day, don't even think about food at all really, but I understand that lots of people find it much harder for all kinds of reasons, and I'm glad those struggle can access medication that makes their lives easier, and helps them to get healthy.

Thank you for expressing this thought. I was trying to think how to phrase it gently but you did so much better than I could have.

its such a shame that so many people are getting help and support to lose weight

But they aren't, @thecherryfox! I went to the GP with a BMI of 41 and got told to buy a dog to get me more active. The NHS does not provide help, support and resources for obese people. I now pay for my own weight loss jabs, my own gym membership, my own personal trainer - I'm funding myself. The NHS has never helped me with my weight in over 30 years of me yoyo dieting my way to obesity. Any time I have asked a doctor in the past three decades for help in managing my weight, I have had nothing at all. Almost everyone on weight loss injections is paying for them privately. There's no more help and support available on the NHS for obesity than for anything else.

If more funding was channelled into mental health and EDs to tackle binge eating disorders early, fewer people would end up needing WL S. I know not everyone who is obese has an ED, but many do. Many. More than are actually diagnosed.

It is a shame that there’s no Ozempic equivalent for AN that people can administer themselves online at low cost.
WLI are not the reasons why ED are overlooked. You must be old enough to know that services that affect children and women the most are always seriously underfunded and under researched. Gynaecology is another specialism with the same fate.

WLI are rightly not available on the NHS to anyone who wants them but they provide the opportunity for massive savings on procedures and treatment associated with obesity eg cancer, heart attacks. Hospitals have to balance the books and if investing £150pm on a patient saves hundreds of thousands, even million + then it’s the logical thing to do. It doesn’t mean that ED patients should be left to die - if it frees therapists and say physios and heart specialists then that’s a good thing for ED sufferers.

Your local ED services may be cut because of the increase in NI and minimum wage. It’s sad for the people who need the services but I don’t begrudge minimum wage staff getting paid more at an increasingly expensive time.

Have you read the thread???

its such a shame that so many people are getting help and support to lose weight and funding is put into the weight loss support but mental health disorders and Ed’s are not taken seriously or have the funding to take people seriously until it’s too late

This is an awful thing to say and really unnecessary. You can campaign and want those with eds to have more help without complaining about others getting weight loss support.

You do realise that many obese people also have mental health conditions?

Unfortunately with eating disorders, they only seem to use bmi and only help people when it’s too late. I went from being an overweight 19 year old at about 15 stone (I’m only short) to within 5 months being 6 stone because I refused to eat. I went to my gp and they saw the concern and referred me to an eating disorder clinic. The clinic wrote back within a week and said that I was in the average bmi and I wasn’t a candidate for help. They looked over the fact that I wasn’t eating and dropped 9 stone in 5 months because I wasnt eating, over exercising and using laxatives. I was fainting, I had stomach issues, I was severely malnourished and had to be hospitalised multiple times especially with dehydration as in my eyes even water made me ‘fat’. I unfortunately tried to end my own life a few months later because I wasn’t getting the help I deserved- and even then the mh help with the nhs during impatient care and post care is shocking.

its such a shame that so many people are getting help and support to lose weight and funding is put into the weight loss support but mental health disorders and Ed’s are not taken seriously or have the funding to take people seriously until it’s too late

I think we all know the agenda here. Op comes across as intelligent and articulate so I fail to see how she doesn’t understand that this one particular drug isn’t the cause of the underfunding. She knows full well it’s not. This is just an excuse to have a go at a group of people she clearly despises.

You were too thin, dangerously so, couldn't see that and so had to be pushed into eating. And that probably saved your life. Be grateful that those that are overweight are also getting the help they need to live the longest, healthiest life they can.
If you truly can't see the difference in circumstances you need to go and ask for support again.

Yes agree . I think there is more going on here than anger at funding. Especially considering the Op has had anorexia herself.

@AlmostAJillSandwich I hear you. I've suffered from this disorder since a young child. I have a background of complex trauma which started in infancy. I'm 25 stone and I'm so tired of it all. I went back to Overeaters Anonmymous online meeting today for first time in ages (it helped before some years ago now) and I feel I need to get back in recovery. I have been having therapy for the trauma and other related diagnoses including BPD/EUPD and have made some progress but eating still remaining an issue. Today I felt some renewed hope that maybe I can do this . I've been in a freeze mode kind of slump for so long.

Does it though? What about the costs of someone with anorexia not being able to work and earn money, pay taxes and contribute to society, instead we'd be paying someone unfit to work in terms of disability benefits.

Surely we have to look broader than simply the "cost" to the NHS. We need to also factor in costs in other areas too.

I'm not sure if you are being facetious

OP

You seem incredibly angry at everyone and everything.

Maybe an Internet forum isn't the best place for you.

Suggest you stop arguing with strangers in the Internet and go do something that won't aggravate you further. This is solving nothing for you, aside from increasing your anger and stress. à

I have had ED my whole life. I was anorexic for many years, and am now obese. For many people (not all) they are deeply connected. I absolutely agree with you, OP, that anorexia services are vital, but deeply disagree with you seeing obesity services as the culprit for them being underfunded.

Adult obesity services are shockingly underdeveloped and the arrival of weight loss jabs hasn't changed that. It is highly convenient for so many people (including in the NHS) to pretend the answer is health education and self control. About as useful as telling an anorexic to 'just eat more'.

I find it quite worrying that the mother of a young person with anorexia should be so hostile towards and prejudiced about people suffering with the disease of obesity. Overweight/obesity is not a moral failure any more than anorexia is. The OP’s disgust at fat people (I’m not overweight btw) is not a healthy example.

What's your point