To bring this up with her mental health team

[User36367]

My dd is 25 but still lives at home. She’s recently lost a lot of weight and disclosed to me she’s now got a bmi of 16.9. I’ve worked out this is about nine pounds underweight. She’s under the mental health team for other mental health condition. Do I bring this up with her team? I know she’s an adult but I’m worried about her.

I would. Has she lost it through anxiety or an eating disorder?

I think she was just trying to lose weight and it’s got out of hand.

I would too, but if they are seeing her they may well be aware of the weight loss already (either visually or she may have brought it up).

They haven’t seen her since February and she wasn’t underweight then.she said she’s too worried to bring it up in case they dismiss it unfortunately.

Yes, absolutely, that’s a low BMI. Contrary to what most people think about eating disorders they are basically caused by lack of adequate nutrition (negative energy deficit) you need to make sure she’s eating and adult or not she’s under your roof. It’s important to know that actual weight doesn’t tell the whole story either. It’s possible to have anorexia if you’re overweight.

Thank you for the replies. I’ve suggested we create a meal plan but she’s not keen.

Feel free to DM me for some helpful resources.

I would. It’s perfectly reasonable in mental health that the family of a service user has some involvement.

I would flag it with her team and GP. Eating disorders teams tend to get involved with BMIs under 17. It may be part of her picture and need attention. Good luck.

I assume it would be hard to get a referral to eating disorder teams at the moment.