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Teen Eating Disorders - Thread 6

1000 replies

myrtleWilson · 03/02/2022 23:06

Hello everyone, and welcome to anyone looking at these threads for the first time..

Here is a link to thread 5 www.mumsnet.com/Talk/eating_disorders/4360801-Teen-Eating-Disorders-Thread-5

We've seen such an increase in young people facing eating disorders and these threads are testament to that.

With that in mind, we thought we'd try to include at the start of each thread some resources that have helped us along the way to date. No one resource will be a panacea but hopefully this list will be a useful starting off point for any newcomers and a reflection for others. It is our first go at sharing a list of resources on a thread so it won't be perfect!

www.beateatingdisorders.org.uk

anorexiafamily.com/?v=79cba1185463

www.youtube.com/evamusby

www.youtube.com/channel/UCa7G1P5WQopVMc9qTSP_lgA

www.orri-uk.com

www.nhs.uk/mental-health/feelings-symptoms-behaviours/behaviours/eating-disorders/overview/

www.stgeorges.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Junior-MARSIPAN-Risk-Assessment-Framework.pdf

OP posts:
Thread gallery
11
AndPeggy08 · 11/06/2022 10:33

Thanks @Girliefriendlikespuppies - yes paid sickness would be an option - terrible timing as I have taken on more responsibilities and am on a secondment to a role above my usual band but at the end of the day my daughter has to come first. I totally hear what you say about not letting her choose her own dessert - I guess I was just relieved she had one at all but I will make the decisions going forward. I actually find it awful that menus now contain calories - I know it’s to help with obesity but is terrible for anyone with an eating disorder.

I spoke to the school on Thursday, they were really supportive and my dd mentioned yesterday that her HOY kept appearing in her lessons, just observing. She clocked him and her tutor looking her up and down a few times. Her friends have been worried about her and she says they make her eat her lunch though I only have her word for that. I’ve asked that she be allowed to sit out of PE and she doesn’t do any other sports at school - only her musical theatre classes which end shortly for the summer.

@D1ANA22 I’m so sorry to hear how hard it was to get your daughter help. I will go find that YouTube clip. I’m being hopeful (and again probably totally stupid and naive) that she does seem to want to change and has just got herself in this mess because she was so overweight before and is scared to go back to that again. She did not react how I thought she would when I deleted MFP and took the Cubii so she couldn’t exercise - she’s always been the easier of my children and is so mild mannered that she never argues - she let me do it without any reaction at all to be honest (I expected her to be beside herself).

In honesty - I know I sound like I’m in a bit of denial and I know that’s frustrating for anyone who has been dealing with this to read what I’m writing :-( We’re just trying to get our head round it the best way we can and reading this thread has been helpful in getting us to take the first step of seeking help so I truly appreciate all comments.

Namechange22temp · 11/06/2022 14:21

AndPeggy08: Calories on the menu for anyone with or recovering from an ED are a disaster. Do they even have an option now of menus without calories? I’m glad to hear the school is supportive. DD’s school kept an eye on her at lunchtime and reported back to me. I made her ‘catch up’ when she arrived home. You absolutely have to take control of her meals and snacks. Don’t give her choices (but try to give her food you know she likes). She might even be somewhat relieved by you taking control of food for her. I watched the www.youtube.com/evamusby clips yesterday and they are excellent. You will learn a lot in a short time.

Namechange22temp · 11/06/2022 14:41

Does anyone have a recommendation of books or video clips that they showed their DCs to help them understand their eating disorder? As DD has made progress I think she is in a better place to understand her eating disorder. Or should I just leave that to the therapist? She has had 2 sessions of FBT but she was on the waiting list for months (as not 'high risk') and during that time we made do with with GP visits, private therapy, took over her eating etc. hence why she made gained weight and made progress.

NCTDN · 11/06/2022 15:18

We got PowerPoints from the group sessions that the hospital did. Luckily they were online as there's no way dd would have joined a group of others with EDs face to face (I'm glad as not sure how much good that world have done). I can send them you if you want?

Girliefriendlikespuppies · 11/06/2022 15:42

Calories on menus are a disaster, you can ask for calorie free menus and quite often the menus online have a calorie free option.

She was probably relieved you took control Peggy my dd also relinquished control fairly easily to start with (it does push back again when the reality kicks in.) Be very careful about thinking about her pre ED weight as 'over weight' there is a good chance you'll need to get her back to that weight or even higher to get her into full recovery. Any fat phobic bias you have needs to be completely quashed.

Teen girls often put on weight as it's needed for brain and body development, it usually evens out once they get to adulthood.

I'd also advocate blind weighing your dd, she does not need to know her weight and you only need to know it so you can monitor her recovery.

I still believe your dd needs an a&e assessment though so ideally you should do that today/tomorrow. Teens are very good at compensating for the lack of food until they're at the point of complete collapse.

Lots of parents on the FB group have left it too long and then had their child admitted straight to ITU to be stabilised.

Lottsbiffandsmudge · 11/06/2022 16:03

Can I just add @AndPeggy08 that you cannot trust the ED at all...when my DD appeared compliant it was because she was secretly and silently exercising in her room or when I let her go out on a walk with a friend. She would go earlier than she had agreed with the friend, run laps of the field, see her friend, her friend would leave, she would run more laps and then wait until her fave returned ti normal before coming home. My DD was always 100% trustworthy. The ED turned her into a liar. Please take care around compensatory behaviours (not just exercise vomiting etc too) and assume the worst
I had to have DD on 24/ 7 surveillance.
And yes totally to losing any 'fat phobic' thoughts . All food is good. No food is bad.
Calories on menus are a night mare. My mostly recovered DD was in Wetherspoons with Dh and wanted the curry. Then saw the 'lighter' option and wanted to swap luckily DH said no.

myrtleWilson · 11/06/2022 16:11

Seconding @Lottsbiffandsmudge points about compliance - my DD managed to exercise whilst in hospital with her anorexia - obviously she wasn't burning many calories doing star jumps in the toilet but it was her complying with the ED's voice.
At home she'd set alarms to exercise through the night. When she admitted this to us (as she wanted to stop) we reached the slightly odd decision that we'd put a camera in her bedroom. It was the only way she could manage not to exercise - she was able to 'tell' the anorexia that she couldn't exercise because of the camera . Sometimes if they have an 'excuse' the ED whilst still abusive to them isn't as abusive if they were breaking ED rules because of their own free will

OP posts:
Lottsbiffandsmudge · 11/06/2022 16:37

Exactly and that is why you make all the food choices. It gives them an 'out' with the ED voice. It's actually a kindness. A few weeks ago my DD admitted that at the height of her illness she was so hungry she ws in pain constantly. And yet that voice in her head would not let up. She said it was a relief to be forced to it. (Even though at the time shebgotnangry, violent and hysterical with despair) Such a cruel cruel illness.

Lottsbiffandsmudge · 11/06/2022 16:38

Forced to eat....

Namechange22temp · 12/06/2022 16:34

@NCTDN: thanks. I actually have power points form the online group sessions. Although the ones I attended were only for the parents. I was wondering more about any short videos / books for teens that are made specifically for them maybe with some people they can relate to who talk about their ED and their road to recovery. There are a lot of YouTube clips but am not sure which ones might be suitable.

NCTDN · 12/06/2022 16:44

A day in the life of anorexia
I didn’t want to wake up this morning, but I had to. I don’t want to be here anymore, as the thoughts have become unbearable. I feel weak, and can feel my body crying. My body needs food, but I need the feeling of an empty stomach. I will become more attractive if I’m thinner, the thinner the better.
My hair has started to fall out, and my bones are now prominent, but it is all worth it to be skinny.
I once hit my target weight, but now I want to better myself and lower that number. This is a challenge I am determined to win. People have said I look ill, I never smile anymore, but I don’t care because I’m thinner than I used to be therefore people will accept me. I am freezing when I am snuggled under my duvet, so getting out of bed is a daily battle. As I go down to breakfast, I am already counting up the calories in my head, even though I already know how many calories I am going to consume.
I don’t see my friends anymore, as food has become the centre of my life, which is ironic as I have a fear of it and it is insignificant to me. I no longer are able to focus on my education, as the thoughts of food and being hungry cause a lack of concentration. My grades are dropping as my weight is. I thought I would be happy at this weight, that I would be accepted, but I don’t feel it. Maybe I need to be thinner, I’ll feel wanted then. People get angry with me all the time, but they just don’t understand the strong will that it takes to become this skinny. It’s no longer my weight that I’m bothered about, I am too tired to care. I now don’t want to see my friends or family, I want to be isolated from the world.
Filled with anxiety, my hair falling out, my body frozen, my eye sight blurry, my legs collapsing, my stomach rumbling, my chest aching, my heart beat slowing, tears constantly rolling down my cheeks. It’s all worth it to be thin.

NCTDN · 12/06/2022 16:45

A day in the life of me
I wake up with a spring in my step. Another day to pursue my dreams.
I feel hungry, so I go downstairs and make myself a nice big breakfast to fill my stomach and fuel me for the day. Thanks to my breakfast, I am now able to concentrate and perform in exams to the best of my ability. I go into college, and sit with my friends, laughing and joking. We make plans for the weekend, I look forward to it. When with my friends, we chat, then order a takeaway, which is unknown calories, a risk I would have never have taken before, but I don’t care anymore, calories don’t mean anything to me. I am known as ‘the smiler’, because happy thoughts fill my head. I go to parties and social events, eat snacks and make new friends.
Yes I have gained weight, but I have also gained friends, a future, happiness and a life worth living. I look back at photos and see how ill I looked, I can’t believe I thought I was more attractive then. My strong thighs touch, my cheeks are fuller and my smile wider, life is good.
I apply to university, living away from the life I’ve known for so long, I can’t wait to be independent and break from my home routines. I have now learnt to drive, therefore become more independent and am becoming more so every day. I am so much more than just my weight.
I no longer weigh myself every day, because as my friends said, your weight doesn’t matter, no one can tell whether you’re one or ten pounds heavier. I thought my friends would have left me when I was ill, but they are right by my side again and are so happy to have me back. It took a while, but I have learnt to love myself and realised that living my life trapped by anorexia was not the way I wanted to live. My life has become mine again

NCTDN · 12/06/2022 16:46

I found these earlier and thought they may be good to share. I'm going to show them to dd later. A year ago she wasn't interested in looking at anything like this but I'd like to think now that she'd read them and realise how far she's come.

NCTDN · 12/06/2022 16:47

Reasons to Recover Poem

There once was a girl who was known for her smile
She was content with her life and had been for a while.
With ambitions and strength, she made her parents proud,
However there was a voice in her head that was about to get loud.

There was one thing that cause the little girl anxiety,
It was her body, and this was cause by the pressures of society.
No flat stomach or thigh gap, she felt so insecure,
If I could only tell her now, she was worth so much more.

In the February she started exercising at the gym,
It was all so innocent, she just wanted to be thin.
Off she’d run, she would run for miles,
But the more she ran, the less she smiled.

In the March she went out laughing with her friends,
Little did she know, this all soon would end.
In the April she had reached her first target weight,
The body she once loved, she soon began to hate.

Over the summer it was hot yet she was cold,
‘You’re losing too much weight’, she was beginning to be told.
‘Just one more pound’, the voice in her head would say,
She was losing weight and happiness each and every day.

September was the month she lay empty in her bed,
Consumed by the voices inside her tired head.
She painfully looked down at her red, raw skin,
But this wasn’t enough, she was still desperate to be ‘thin’.
‘You have Anorexia’, the psychiatrist said,
She just stared at the carpet, wishing she was dead.
It was only then she realised it all made sense,
It was Anorexia that had caused her to be so intense.

The sun went down and she felt so alone,
Her hands and feet were freezing, she was chilled to the bone.
Her hair was brittle, it started to fall out,
‘You’re still not thin enough’, Anorexia would shout.
So she counted the calories and gave a little sigh,
She had lost her happiness and the sparkle in her eye.

She struggled to climb the stairs, she’d black out once again,
She knew she wanted to recover, but wasn’t sure when.
When she was told her heart was struggling to beat,
She cried and cried and begged herself to eat.
She picked up her lunch, with lots of hesitation,
She calmed herself and whispered, ‘Food is my medication’.

She ate and ate and the more she gained,
The less she cared about the amount she weighed.
Her smile came back, her hair was thick,
Her health was restored, she was no longer sick.
When she stopped weighing food, she realised she was winning,
When she stopped counting calories, she started fully living.

Some people ask who I chose to recover for,
I say, ‘My heart, my smile, my body and more.
I did it for my family, mum, dad and brother,
These are all the reasons why I chose to recover’.

sunshineandsuddenshowers · 13/06/2022 14:34

No school today. Said she couldn’t go until she has eaten breakfast. So she hasn’t gone… GP tomorrow.

She had eaten well for 2 weeks so this is an unwelcome reminder that these things don’t lift easily…

D1ANA22 · 13/06/2022 19:36

@sunshineandsuddenshowers sorry to hear your DD refused breakfast. How did the rest of the day’s eating go? Advice I got was when a mealtime failed, learn from it and move on to the next and not to dwell - the gist was not to have that failed meal impact the whole days plan. I recall you said your DD hated her routine disrupted, did no school today ‘motivate’ her to eat? Hope tomorrows breakfast goes OK.

sunshineandsuddenshowers · 13/06/2022 20:15

No food at all, all day. What do I learn???

Namechange22temp · 13/06/2022 20:56

NCTDN: Thank you for those. I will show them to DD when it is a good time.

sunshineandsuddenshowers: That is so difficult. I'm not sure that I have any good advice. She must feel so weak. Definitely get help from the GP ASAP or is CAHMS available for you?

D1ANA22 · 13/06/2022 21:19

@sunshineandsuddenshowers sorry I didn’t know of the continued food refusal and with no ‘wins’ there is nothing to learn today. Your situation mirrors where we were when DD wouldn’t eat - we took her to A&E and her admission as an inpatient and refeeding kick started her recovery. We left it too long and DD fell seriously ill - please don’t wait as the NHS is overstretched and won’t automatically put your DD first - you have to be pushy.

NCTDN · 13/06/2022 22:32

@sunshineandsuddenshowers i also think you need to go to a&e if she’s not eaten all day.

sunshineandsuddenshowers · 14/06/2022 14:36

So. She ate nothing at all yesterday. Today she woke early and came down to lie on the sofa looking just as weak and feeble as you'd expect. Fed her two large slices of toast and butter and jam (huge loaf, not just a standard square). She then ate my orange, and half a piece of her dad's bread and jam too.

Back home for lunch, where she ate bread and cheese, several tomatoes, an artichoke w butter, a peach and an eccles cake. All with no complaining or fuss.

Which is how, until yesterday, it had been for a solid fortnight.

It's as if this is her go-to response to anxiety, and so long as things are good, she doesn't 'need' to do it. Is that possible??

I didn't take her to A and E because she really isn't thin/underweight, and I thought that I'd be more likely to undermine my cause (that she needs to eat every single meal) than get any support... Just now it feels that everything I do comes with such risks and downsides.

D1ANA22 · 14/06/2022 23:02

@sunshineandsuddenshowers pleased your DD ate today, and from her intake it doesn’t appear that she is restricting any food groups (eating carbs, dairy, sweet stuff and savoury), that’s important.

I hear what you say about her anxiety and coping mechanism - fasting and restricting food quantities is one way to take control when the outside world feels chaotic. This could be atypical anorexia nervosa, also known as higher weight anorexia. The disease can lead to experiencing all the classic anorexic symptoms but one: to not become emaciated.

Please bear in mind if she doesn’t eat then going to A&E can be a stick to motivate her.

D1ANA22 · 18/06/2022 07:28

Is the silent treatment coupled with the anger of the anorexia usual? DD hasn’t spoken to either me or DH for weeks, follows the meal plan but literally yes and no and grunts answers to us, unless she wants something. Trying not to but I am getting worn down by it all.
@sunshineandsuddenshowers hope things are improving..
@Girliefriendlikespuppies is your DD discharged from CAMH? DD is nearly weight restored and they are looking to discharge her - she does not talk to the eating disorder nurse at the meetings, we have parent only meeting with nurse which aren’t as regular as the earlier stages and really not much new is added in those meetings now. DD has started seeing a private adolescent counsellor (other mental health issues aswell). From your experience and with you being further along with your DD’s recovery I wondered if there is anything we are missing or should / shouldn’t be doing at this stage? We are at the point that we feel that we are pushing the food and DD meets with her therapists and that’s it, I always feel like I should be doing more but what? Is time the healer?

Girliefriendlikespuppies · 18/06/2022 10:14

D1 my dd is discharged from Camhs, she got to 100% wfh and they decided she was better 🤨

We've stayed in this hazy no man's land since then, dd eats most of what I give her (some days are better than others) and maintains a 'healthy' weight but there's still very little freedom with any of it. She still is very self critical and she still has a few ED behaviours like leaving a certain amount of food on her plate.

The eating side of things has gone backwards tbh as exams are almost over and without the routine of school to keep her ticking over she has too much time on her hands.

I can't afford private therapy for her and I'm not sure she'd engage with it anyway, she has stopped seeing the useless school counsellor which I'm relieved about as she just made everything worse.

I don't know what to do other than keep going with food and hope she decides recovery for herself. I kind of think of it like I'm holding her above water but she has to make the decision to swim.

D1ANA22 · 18/06/2022 11:35

Thank you @Girliefriendlikespuppies that is a good analogy and really insightful for us - as parents we desperately try to fix things for our DD, however with the eating disorder we are the life jacket and DD needs to learn to swim again.

Dreading school summer holidays with the lack of routine and DD not speaking to us.

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