Early stages of Eating disorder for 15 year old - how to overcome ???

[lovinit]

My DD who is just 15 has now lost 5kgs in the last 3 months and is now definitely not in control and displaying all the symptoms of having an eating disorder. It is so scary and upsetting and a mine field to steer around as she is hiding the fact she is not eating and now asking her brother and sister to lie for her.

Its been the last 3/4 months and she has gone down to 52kilos which is healthy weight for her height - but only now and we can see this continuing and going out of control

We have contacted GP but CAHMS huge waiting list .

Being at home all the time does not help either ...

Any advice out there please ? (sad)

How stressful for you. I didn't want your post to go unanswered! I have two DDs, the elder (no longer a teenager) developed an eating disorder a few years ago, and my younger DD has been on the edge of one. As you've found out, the waiting times for CAMHS etc are truly terrible. I do know that the thing that helped my older DD was the GP setting a clear eating routine for her, of little and often, so not aiming to have three big meals a day, but instead smaller meals with planned snacks. It only worked though because my DD was admitting she had a problem and wanted to get better. There's a charity called BEAT, which has a great website and telephone help lines. I'd recommend calling them,

thank you so much for your reply blimppy ... we have managed to get the diagnosis from CAMHS and now will begin the challenging steps ahead. I have tried BEATS and will try again as we personally as parents are really struggling and it has affected the whole family especially during lockdown.

how long did it take your older daughter to overcome the eating disorder?

I had a friend in college who was hospitalised due to an eating disorder before we met. She overcame the anorexia to be a healthy weight when I met her at 17/18 although I dont think it really left her until she was in 20’s (by that I mean she was conscious of what she ate and drank and never put on weight beyond what was required). A few things helped including a change in friendship groups (lots of her existing friends had similar eating disorders and unhealthy ideals of female body image), for my part I always made sure we had a good healthy lunch and a low cal chocolate dessert and if she didn’t finish hers I finished it for her (she eventually accepted I wasn’t going to judge her for eating it). Also she found things she enjoyed doing like going out to play pool etc. Which I think distracted her from focusing on body image. Best of luck

Try the book by Eva Musby called Anorexia and Other Eating Disorders. Our DD had anorexia for over 2 years and we found that and the forum FEAST way more helpful than the specialist eating disorder place in London she went to or CAMHS. Hope things get better quickly, it's a worrying time I know.