adult with an eating disorder

[rabbitfawn]

hello everyone! i am usually a lurker on mumsnet but i decided to make an account. im a student in university, and i’ve relapsed with my eating disorder.

to cut a long story short, i have physical health monitoring by the GP and have had my initial assessment with services. my blood tests are slightly abnormal and i am a red on the MEED rating (previously marsipan) due to risk.

i’ve been told after my initial assessment, that i will definitely be seeing a dietician (although whether that will be this year they don’t know), and that therapy is something they need to discuss further. i’ve been given the practical advice of 2 bowls of cereal a day (in order to maintain????) and really no other practical advice.

i am worried that my physical/medical risk will increase, and am not sure what to do. even though my gp knows i am at risk, my physical health monitoring is every 2 weeks, and i’ve been told to just focus on the day by day. i feel stuck with no real support in the interim, and i’m really worried that things will get worse (even though i really want to recover).

any advice would be very much appreciated. 💗

Well done for reaching out. It sounds like you really want to get better but just need some help getting over the first hurdles.

Do you have a perosnal tutor of some kind who you can reach out to for help?
They might be able to connect you to the university mental health services or a university linked GP who could give a second opinion and perhaps get you a bit more frequent help?

They very likely have their own counselling sevice that you could also sing up with to see if that helps complement your therapy.

Whatever happens, keep on trying every day. No matter what the previous day brought, each new day gives you a new chance and a new hope for yourself.

I'm not sure if I've missed anyone else recommending this. Apologies if I have.

https://www.beateatingdisorders.org.uk/

They have helplines, text support, virtual workshops etc. They will also be able to signpost you to local counselling services.

thank you everyone. i have an update - i am currently eating dinner - not soup, but some sweet potatoes with spicy seasoning and salt 😊

i’ve messaged beat before, and didn’t really find out much i didn’t know already, but got some well needed reassurance at the time🌿

ive spoken to someone at my uni - who has recommended i book an urgent gp appointment- i tried today to no avail, but first thing tomorrow i’ll call and ask for an urgent appointment.

Well done!! Sweet potatoes are very nutritious.

You can do this. That's a great update.

Thanks for the update. Is there anything else you can eat alongside this. I note you’ve eat pretty much no fat today. You really really need fat to heal. Your brain is screaming for fat. Eating fat will help you to do well on your course.

What time do you have to call the surgery to get an appointment? Where I live you have to call 8am on the dot.

I was thinking you were vegan because of the almond milk. But you eat dairy. Do you eat eggs or meat?

It's great you recognise you don't want it to get worse and you do want to recover.

The advice of more fat is great but I know it can be overwhelming to suddenly jump in to healthier eating when your illness has put your brain somewhere else. Keep going with increasing the safe options and increasing wherever you can. As your calorie increase your brain will be rational and it will be easier.
Keep going - you can do this

i eat meat like once a week, usually some form of chicken.
eggs i’m not the biggest fan of (pre-existing the ED / due to textural issues) but i have some boiled when back home with parents

i have to call at 8 !!

This leaflet might help you. It is the guide I was given to help my son regarding snacks.

These snacks are in addition to your 3 full meals. So a day might look like
Breakfast 7am
Snack 10am
Lunch 1pm
Snack 4pm
Dinner 7pm
Snack 9.30 pm ish
We have been following this for 6 months . It has worked. It's tough going. My son is fully weight restored but needs the therapy .
If he can do it so can you. You have to ignore the guilty feelings. After all there should be no guilt in choosing to Live.

In our area you can self refer to the community ED team, I was seen initially within 48hrs of emailing them my referral form.

I have anorexia and spent seven months of the last year as an inpatient on an ED unit. It was the community team who referred me for inpatient.
I'd been on less than 500 calories a day for months and although blood checks were still okay, I did have postural tachycardia like you.
I was convinced I wasn't unwell enough and didn't meet the threshold for inpatient, but the psychiatrist there said they wouldn't have given me a bed, unless I needed it.

If you're struggling to start recovery and re-feed yourself, then an inpatient stay can really help with that. It's not easy, and they follow the three snacks, three meals routine. But I believe my admission saved my life, as I was in self destruct mode.

Hope that you can get the support you need.

hey!! thank you !! i’ve actually been referred to my local community services already - had my assessment earlier this week. waiting to hear back on the outcome - was told it might be a few weeks? for the letter to come back

im just stuck waiting now for the support to be put in place - was told it might be after christmas that i’d even see a dietician. my GP says to take things day by day, but i’m both physically and mentally deteriorating :( i do think i need the extra push to start recovering, but the GP’s advice was to wait for the referral, and now i’ve had my assessment..

the gp knows i’m at risk, so do i (i’m not stupid, just ill and i know that’s not an excuse)- they just do not seem to be acting with the urgency expected, waiting week on week for me to get worse and for the responsibility to be passed on to someone else.

i know that the only person that can make me recover is me logically? but i need the extra support in process to help me along - more than i can provide for myself right now.

Morning lovely. Good luck with getting a GP appointment today. What are you studying?

Isn't the point of the monitoring that it would prompt escalation where necessary?

I'm afraid resources are very limited and waiting lists are universal. It's entirely possible all the other people waiting are just as bad.

The monitoring is in place to triage the wait list. It is a sad fact that you would need to get worse before you could jump the list. It's the right thing to do to see the GP but they may not be able to do anything more.

I sincerely hope that is not what happens though and that you are able to at least maintain or make some small positive changes with whatever support you can find informally even whilst waiting for the definitive support

Or if you feel you could access services more easily at home than at uni would you consider taking time out and going home for a bit to be seen? Some areas have better resources or it may be easier to re-access a service you already used.