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

[B00kThi3f]

Anorexia and ED numbers are soaring. My daughter has battled the disease for 6 years. It kills far quicker than obesity and the sooner it is treated the better the outcome. During the last few years I have witnessed so many parents fighting for treatment and now in some severe cases patients are just being given palliative care.

Most areas are now planning cuts to specialist eating disorder services.

The fact we apparantly have ££££ to spend on weight loss jabs when children and young people are essentially being left to die is not ok and highlights a quick fix medicated approach by the NHS as opposed to longer term MH provision.

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.

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.

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.

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.

God this.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The funding is not all put into one group of people, you are incorrect.

There is only so much money to go around in life and the NHS and so there tends to be support for funding that helps the most people. We will all have different views on where most money should be spent. It's just different opinions to yours.

I would also add that the vast majority are paying for their own weightloss jabs as it is practically impossible to get them on the nhs and not available at all no matter how long you wait or what other co-morbidities you have in many areas.

That has been changed now

I agree, I have 2 friends on WLJ, they both pay for their own.

Isn't it only the very obese with co morbidities that are able to obtain on the NHS?

Yes, I think it's only around 250,000 people who will be eligible initially, and around 28 percent of adults in England alone are obese, so it's really not very many people who can access weight loss injections on the NHS.

It is impossible to get weight loss drugs on NHS. I'm severely obese following binge eating order during an infertility journey. I have been told surgery which I don't want is my only option as the NHS cannot get hold of injections.

Yanbu.
But I guess eating disorders mostly affect young women and they don't matter. Bloody awful disease.

Really? She's not being unreasonable to wish there was more funding for eating disorders, but to blame it on a completely unrelated group of people (who will actually save the NHS money if they get weight loss medication) is very unreasonable.

Would you be so indignant about money going towards cancer patients,or heart disease or stroke patients? What about patients with mobility issues or needing hip/ knee replacements? Because obesity is a major contributing factor in all of these .Or do you think of obesity and anorexia as being two sides of one coin? That money going towards one has to have came from the others pot?

@LastHeraldMage I didn't say to remove them? I literally said they are great for obese people. I'm all for them in that respect.

@Moglet4 Yes I've replied to someone else saying that already, great news.

There’s not disgust towards the overweight there is however disgust at how the two different groups are treated on the NHS.

@B00kThi3f because you think one group doesn't deserve any help at all, clearly.

The obese aren't treated kindly OP