To ask my doctor for help with this?

[Idunnooo]

I’ve accepted (after being in denial for a while) that I have a problem with my eating habits.

Everytime I eat I can’t stop thinking about how many calories it is, how long it would take to burn it off, how fat it will make me and how much I hate my body. I’ve just been doing periods of calorie restricting and fasting-sometimes I eat 1000 calories or more but other times I eat less than 500 or just coffee. And sometimes I binge and then hate myself. It just depends on how I’m feeling. I’ve been working out a lot too to try and burn more.

When I look in the mirror I want to cry. There’s so much fat on my legs and I hate my body so much. On one hand I want to lose more weight until I’m and skinny as I want to be, but the other part of me knows I’ll never be happy and I’ll never feel skinny enough.

The thing is, I’m not extremely underweight or unwell from this. I know eating problems can get serious quickly and I’m not minimising this- I know I need to get some help but my BMI is only a bit underweight but it’s not omg-you-need-to-get-help-asap underweight and I’ve always been a bit underweight anyway. Basically, I’m not actually sure what kind of help I’m even looking for from the doctor or what to ask for help-wise. But I want to stop this before it becomes a bigger problem. I have no idea what to say to the doctor or what to expect, and I’m so nervous about it. What if I come across crazy or like an attention seeker because I’m not unwell?

I’ll write down so I know what to say but I’m 200% sure I’ll burst into tears and embarrass myself. I’m in my early/mid 20s and I know I need to get a grip.

Has anyone had to speak to a doctor about this before? Or is anyone a doctor/nurse and has any advice? Does anyone know what will actually happen after speaking to the doctor? x

I’m so sorry you’re having these problems. Please see your GP that’s what they’re there for. Good luck.

I'm exactly the same. I also have lost all my appetite, the thought of food repulses me at times. However, I am not what anyone would call 'slight', in fact, I'm curvy. So I feel like I can't say anything.

I do sometimes wonder whether it's a thyroid issue but with health anxiety, I'm to scared to check.

I would highly recommend a visit to the GP and only hope I also take the advice

Thank you I really appreciate it x

It’s so scary admitting you have a problem isn’t it!

I’m so sorry you’re struggling, it sounds so scary especially with the fear of thyroid problems on top! I really hope you manage to get some help x

Just bumping this x

It’s helpful to think what you want from the doctor.

Are you asking them to refer you to a dietician, a therapist, a local support group for example. Or are you asking them for medication? Or do you want someone to listen to you?

Have you already looked up how it works in your area - here you have to self refer for an eating related issues and for the dietician, so check if that’s what you want if you need to do that.

Im not saying the GP won’t be able to help but it’s important to work out if they are the right person to go to - if they ask what you’ve already done to help yourself it’s really helpful to have a list of that too for example if you’re already in therapy then you talk about that.

Look up eating disorder services in your area as you may be able to self refer rather than going to the GP.

Beat might be able to help too. Here’s a link….

BEAT helpfinder

Thanks for the link/help, unfortunately we can’t self refer x

Just to give you the reality of what the doctor can and can't do from someone who works in primary care.

You won't get referred to ED service.

Here you can only be referred to the ED service by GP if you have suspected anorexia with a bmi <17 (or between 17-18.5 if you're aged 18-25 via the early intervention pathway) OR if you have severe bulimia with 7+ episodes of binging/purging per week (mild/moderate bulimia for aged 18-25 on Early Intervention pathway).

You might be offered some general counselling if the GP has a direct referral route into any services but more than likely you'd be signposted to local self-referral general MH support (which have super long wait times here) and services such as BEAT for you to contact yourself. It might be suggested that you find a private counsellor who specialises in eating disorders. This is of course ££.

I've been where you are OP. I believe that thousands of women have this kind of disordered relationship with their bodies/food but there isn't much a GP can do other than signpost you to things to look into yourself.

💛

Honestly I don’t even know what help I’m looking for or what to expect- I posted before on here about it and everyone said to go to the GP but I don’t know what to expect, on one hand I want to have a normal relationship with food but on the other hand I want to be skinnier x

If your BMI is underweight, why do you want to be skinnier? It sounds like you are a bit unwell and should therefore speak to someone (therapist, perhaps?)

Could you do an E-consult? Your GP could then direct you to an appropriate eating disorder service.

You’ve been so brave admitting this and trying to work out the next step, not easy at all
eating disorders can quickly get a grip and much better to seek help earlier than later. It’s very variable what is in each geographic area, some have very well set up snd funded projects and others don’t. B-EAT is a good place to start with getting some general information and if saying it all out loud is difficult just copy your first post into an e-consult to your GP and that much really help get reduce to pressure to say/remember everything in the appointment. They should know what is available locally
very best of luck

I just wanted to say that I recently spoke to my Nurse when she was doing my yearly blood pressure/blood tests. I told her how hard I was finding it to loose weight.

I'm overweight and just seem to be stuck at 17 stone. Some weeks I binge and eat takeaways then other weeks I eat low kcals but the weight stays the same. I'm concerned about my BMI. She said to leave it with her and to my amazement later that day she rang me to say that I'd be able to get 12 weeks free gym sessions and to see a nutritionist to help me discuss my weight and understand kcals better.

I know that you're the other end of the weight scale but maybe you would be offended something similar to myself. I'd make an appointment with a GP and maybe write down how you feel if you find it difficult to say what you want. Good luck

Thank you so much for being so understanding (and everyone else too), it’s a relief that I’m not the only one like this and I’m not going totally crazy!

Honestly I don’t even know what I’d be hoping for by going to the GP, I just posted on here before about the weight problem and wanting to lose weight and everyone said go to a GP , I was reluctant because I didn’t think I had a problem at all or that the GPs would be able to do anything because it’s not serious or anything so it’s not like I need a referral, but everyone had commented saying go to the GP so I thought I’d try before it becomes a bigger problem. Thanks so much for the info, I’m actually under 25 but I probably wouldn’t be able to justify paying £££ for help so I’ll just try and find ways to fix it myself. Thank you so much for the help 💕