Who weighs patients when they have an eating disorder

[User40589]

My dd is under the cmht and has developed an eating disorder alongside her other mental health conditions. She’s at the stage where she’s worried they might want to weigh will she be weighed by her psychiatrist or her care coordinator?

I’d imagine she will be weighed by her cpn or care co. This will be fed back to the psychiatrist. (Student mental health nurse)

I'd've thought it would be essential for them to monitor her weight to make sure she is safe.

For my daughter it was our local practice nurses as it's quite far to travel every week.
They then emailed the info to camhs.
It was all done very calmly and matter of factly, but was necessary. Hope your dd gets the help she needs

thank you i think of her psychiatrist was weighing her she would be unlikely to comply.

It's really important your DD feels safe and not-judged around her psychiatrist. If that is not the case it may be a good idea in the long term to request to see someone else.

My daughter attends an eating disorder clinic that is run by EWMHs (aka camhs in other areas) and is weighed either by an eating disorder nurse, or family therapist, depending on who the young person is working with.

There is a psychiatrist within the clinic but they don't do weight checks, it's the allocated clinician.

I'd have thought she would be referred to an Eating Disorders team

Is she alarmed that psychiatrist will ever know or just dreading that moment of psychiatrist finding out?

She doesn’t want the psychiatrist to ever know.

Children at the school I work at who have developed eating disorders have been weighed weekly by the school nurse. This isn’t the only option though. We’ve also had pupils attend various clinics and gp surgery to be weighed.

afaik, The psychiatrist has to know her BMI & blood test results to have full picture of what her risks are. They can't assess or evidence anything about her needs and engagement with her care plan without this info.

Does she believe that the psychr will have a low opinion of her b/c of the low BMI? Is her BMI

I’m not sure what her bmi is. I think it’s about 16 at the moment. I would have thought she would be with the eating disorder team but apparently that’s not possible due to her other diagnoses.

You could probably ask your practice nurse to weigh and ask her to do a blind weigh if your daughter would prefer. The psychiatrist can call or email the practice. With an ED she’ll need her BP checked, her bloods and heart. Is she going t be referred to an ED team?

Please feel free to message me if you’d like information on support groups etc you can access for advice and help.

A large % of people with EDs have other MH issues.

Low BMI is a health condition to a psychiatrist, not a moral defect. Is she afraid psych will develop a bad opinion of her?

I hugely admire psychiatrists. They work with very difficult patients.

She’s refusing to have bloods. She’s worried the psychiatrist will do physical obs at her appointment next week to.

Is she a child or adult daughter?

She’s an adult which is why it’s harder to get her to comply with the treatment.

She can decline anything she's not comfortable with.
I hope she will still consent to receive some treatment & monitoring. x

Ok, if she lives with you, you have some options. Do message me

Thank you yes I hope she will however unfortunately it’s not looking likely.