I started a thread in the summer when I was anxious about approaching GP for support, but wanted to start a separate thread to share my experiences so far of being referred and having a diagnosis of an, it helps to get my thoughts out and may help others starting the same process.
I approached my GP in June, my eating had become very restrictive, despite my worries, the GP took me seriously and sent a referral to the hospital. Had some delays at this stage because he sent it without doing bloods and then the blood test appointment got cancelled.
My referral got accepted, again some delays, the first date I couldn't do, the second they had to cancel and I had my first appointment last week. So 4 months from first reaching, which given the delays the NHS have, is understandable, but the downside is that in that time my restrictions had gotten worse and my BMI continued to lower rapidly.
First appointment was with an allocated clinician lead and then with an allocated nurse, both seemed lovely and the clinician was easy to talk to, which is good as I was able to be fully transparent about my illness, it was mentally tiring though as it does force you to accept some of the realities of the situation.
After this appointment, discussing habits and having physical tests, she presents my case to the rest of the team so they decide what treatment pathway I need, so I am back next week to find out what the plan is, and what the wait time is to start that plan, and what the procedures are whilst I am waiting.
It is a scary process, but I am glad I reached out to my GP back in June when things had started to get really bad because I am not sure at the position I am in now I could physically tolerate a 4 month wait. And whilst I worry about what recovery will look like and how I will cope mentally with that, I know that I have taken so many big steps into accepting I have an eating disorder and taking the steps to start recovery.