To complain about this somehow?

[pregnantandletdown]

I am pregnant and am seriously struggling with my mental health (depression and eating disorders). I am in theory under the care of both the community eating disorder service and the perinatal mental health team. I am having sessions with a nurse to support me with my eating disorder- however despite the fact I should have had 10 sessions so far, she has cancelled 5 of them last minute. The sessions I have had have unfortunately not been useful- they are supposed to be CBT/integrative therapy sessions- she hasn't asked me any questions about myself at all- the only thing she knows about me is my profession and that I am pregnant. She spends the sessions talking at me for an hour, making no suggestions on how to help (and I don't know how she could given that she knows nothing about me)- but going in depth about how we need to figure out together how to change my thinking- but has openly admitted herself that she doesn't know how to do this.

With the perinatal team I was seen by a psychiatrist nearly two months ago who offered to prescribe me three different types of drugs, and she emailed me the drugs info for each one a week later for me to read through and decide on, said she would ring me to discuss what I have decided, haven't heard from her since.

To be honest, I feel completely abandoned. I can't get support from my dad (my only family) as he was recently diagnosed with cancer and is very ill- the last thing I want to do is burden him with this.

In a desperate attempt I emailed the person who I thought was my care coordinator to ask if we could speak as I am struggling and have concerns about my care. She replied saying she is too busy for an appointment, and that she is no longer my care coordinator so has forwarded my email onto the nurse who is offering me the therapy sessions as they are now my care coordinator (which I am upset about as no one had told me, and it is in part the lack of support I'm getting from my sessions with the nurse that I wanted to speak about).

I just don't know where to turn from here. I'm in my last trimester now and I just don't know how to cope. I could go back to my GP but surely they would just refer me back to the same groups of people? I am also seriously worried about the physical health of my baby due to my eating disorder behaviours.

And thank you so much if you managed to read all of that!

I'm sorry OP it does sound really tough. Unfortunately mental health services are ridiculously stretched. Having said that it's a shame that the appointments you've had have not been more useful. I've also struggled with a restrictve eating disorder and excercise compulsion and can absolutely sympathise with how difficult it is to get help and how little is known aot eating disorders even by some GPs and nurses.

I know this might be completely impossible but if you could possily afford private care it's absolutely worth it and is the best investment in your growing family you could make. I saw a specialist dietician and pyschologist online alternating every week and it was really such a vital step in my recovery. You might also find some online communities helpful. If you're on reddit (and it's very quick to join) the sureddit EatingDisordersOver30 is very active and helpful. FuckEatingDisorders is also good but tends to be women in their twenties. Tabitha Farrar, and Becky Freestone on youtube are good too (although oviously be aware these are just people talking about their experiences and aren't professional).

I wish I could offer more useful advice but can definitely sympathise with how tough this all is and how alone you can feel. In terms of making a complaint. I agree that the care you've recieved has been inadaquate. I don't know if making a complaint would be worthwhile. Perhaps it would highlight the issue for future patients but might not result in you actually getting immediate support which is what you really need.

Hopeful bump?