Anyone with experience of bulimia?

[Runoutofideas]

My 15 year old sister is close friends with a girl from school who appears to have bulimia. My sis has done the right thing and brought it to the attention of the form tutor and lady in charge of the boarding house. (This girl boards at school - my sis doesn't). To me, the school doesn't seem to be doing much about it. The dinner ladies have been asked to keep an eye on her, but sis says nothing seems to have changed and other people are starting to try it too! I feel this girl needs help and it needs to be nipped in the bud with the others, but how do you do it? How do you get them to stop? Any advice I can give to dsis, who is clearly very concerned about her friend, would be gratefully received.

School nurse? It is lovely that dsis wants to help. I had bulimia and nobody picked up on it. I had it for about 14 unhappy years. If the school is any good they will have policies on this. Bulimics can be very cunning. I know this. The dinner ladies will be too busy to keep tabs on her, I'd have thought.

The matron in the boarding house is aware - don't think they have a school nurse as such. What should the policy include - they don't seem to be doing much so far.

I'm sorry you suffered for so long and hope you are better now?

Can anyone else help, please?

My daughter is 14 and recovering from anorexia. This girl MUST be treated seriously and quickly. There is a website called Beat which is an excellent source of advice on eating disorders. IME schools try to ignore this kind of issue which is heartbreakingly wrong - the earlier there is intervention, the more chance this girl has of recovering. 20% of teenage girls with an eating disorder will DIE from it - the highest death rate of any mental disorder.

Please, please tell this girl's parents and send them to Beat and ask them to get a referral to the teenage eating disorders unit at the Maudsley Hospital in London which is the world leading centre.

If you wanted to read my blog of my very personal journey then google search "anorexia mummy".

One last point: if this child is at boarding school then her parents may be tempted to go the private route but actually the NHS treatment at the Maudsley is the only one in the world proven to be successful whereas private doctors want to go the hospitalisation route (priory etc) which is an awful experience.

I am so glad you are not ignoring this child's need.

I am completely better now, Runoutofideas. anorexiamummy has some very, very good advice.

My daughter's school policy sets out who should be contacted if it's thought someone has an ED and what they should then do. There is a warning that the head will write to parents of a girl with a suspected disorder and insist that they assure her that they are taking action.

It is very good of you to be so worried about this poor girl.

Thanks both of you. I am worried about her - especially as she is a boarder so not seeing her parents daily. My sis is 20 years younger than me, and really doesn't know what to do. Our Dad won't get involved and I'm 200 miles away and don't know the girls parents.
I suspect school are trying to ignore it and hope it will go away, which is clearly not appropriate....

I am very shocked by their response. It seems very uncaring.

Can I suggest that you contact the parents. They are the first line of defence. Although the school has a duty of care, the parents are the girl's best hope of overcoming this dangerously lethal brain disorder - the statistics are 20% mortality from an eating disorder.

www.feast-ed.org is a good place to start for the facts and treatments.