[veritymoon]

does anyone from the uk have anything positive to say about the NHS? Trying to get help in the uk for ed is shocking i was told by doctor that i was not thin enough to have an eating disorder and my friend today was told recovering from anorexia is like giving up smoking and to pull herself together. She spent today in the hospital recovering from an od after telling her doctor this morning she was so low and had thought about oding. how sick do we have to become to deserve help, they could not even find my friend a bed for the night to be evaluated so shes home alone with no one to help her and me 200 miles away.

Im not in the UK and I think that doctor needs to go back to school to learn better bedside manners. recovering from an eating disorder and also an ex smoker myself I can understand the concept of the "quit smoking" analogy but he could have found a better way to say it.

Eating disorders are like quitting smoking as in both are an adiction type behavior.

after quitting smoking the craving and wanting to do it is still there, and wanting to be like those around you and smoke is still there.

After getting out of the annerexic behavior and weight right on track with the physicians weight charts the craving to lose weight is still there, the wanting to be skinny is still there and the temptation of dieting like those around you are is still there.

The trick to beating them both is will power and courage and resourses.

The first is willpower because you can't help someone who doesn't want the help and is not actively trying and following through with the treatment plans and goals.

The second is courage because the person needs to look at not only the behaviour of the smoking and eating disorder but they also need to take care of why they started doing them to begin with.

The third is resources. Having the doctors, books, websites, therapy and so on won't do any good if the person does not have the willpower and the courage.

The doctor saying you were not thin enough to be considered eating disordered is in a way correct.

One of the universal criteria that the physicains (not therapists but the medical doctors) have to go by when evaluating if someone has an eating disorder is the weight and height chart. The person to MEDICALLY be diagnosed annerexic is that the persons weight must be less that one fourth (25%) of the weight they should be. for example a person who should be on the charts 140 pounts must be no more than 115 pounds.

To get this number they divide the chart weight ( 140 )by 4 ( to get the one fourth number of pounds under weight --- 140 divide by 4 is 35. Then they subtract that 35 from the 140 to get the criteria weight for annerexia --- 140 subtract 35 equals 115 pounds.

So if you were this person who should weigh 140 but weights in at 155 or below you are considered Medically diagnosed annerexic.

If you are this person who should weigh 140 but weights anywhere above 115 pounds you are not MEDICALLY diagnosed annerexic.

I was diagnosed MEDICALLY anerexic when I was supposed to be 140 pounds and lost down to 108. Now Medically since I weight slightly above 140 I am considered no longer MEDICALLY anerexic.

THERAPEUTICALLY I am considered a person who HAD anerexia. just like I used to be a smoker and now have it under control I am no longer a smoker I no longer HAVE anerexia. What I do have is the psychological left overs of the craving of being thin, the wanting to not eat things like with smoking that I have to catch myself BEFORE I become anerexic again.

OOPS I mistyped. That is supposed to read -

so if you were this person who should weigh 140 but weighs in at the MD appointment at 115 or below you are considered by that physician will MEDICALLY diagnose you as being anerexic.

Sorry for the 155 typo.

[veritymoon]

i think weight is unimportant its how you feel on the inside rather than how you look on the outside. you can have an eating disorder no matter if your 100lbs or 200lbs anorexia is not the only eating disorder.

[Genevieve]

Sadly, I've heard the same sorts of stories over and over and over about the NHS and EDs. There are something like 6 bed in all of Wales for EDs, and not many more in Ireland.

And the doctor has no excuse, beyond that sort of DenialLand they go into when there's nothing they can do, but they refuse to admit that. It would be more honest, and more respectful, really, to say straight out, "You should get help, but there's nothing I can do to help you get it." But that wouldn't help, either.

And the thing about weight? It really doesn't seem to matter in the NHS, although I suppose if you're literally at the edge of death they might make room for you on a medical ward.

All that said, I think I would still talk to the doctor. Say that you, or your friend, realize that resources for help are very, very limited, but you *need* help. Is there anything the doctor can do that can help you get the treatment you need? Is there any alternative that can help get you the treatment you need? I know there are some private programs over there with excellent reputations. And I know the private programs over here generally have a sort of "scholarship" program, to provide treatment for those who really need it, but can't afford it. Maybe contact some of the private programs and ask about that. Ask them not only if *they* have scholarships or reduced fee programs, but if anyone else, any other organizations, might have funds to get treatment for those in need.

It's terrible that it needs to be this way, and it's got to be damned hard on you being so far away from your friend. Good luck to both of you.

[Genevieve]

Another thing that isn't right, but proves that weight doesn't matter: when I was finally diagnosed with AN, at 40 years of age, my weight was well below the point that the guidelines say requires hospitalization for treatment. And my doctor made the dx, but left it at that! A couple of weeks later, I called his office to say that I didn't know what to do, and did he think that a dietitian would help? Until then, he just figured he'd done his job, by making the dx.

Sad truth is that there's a lot of ignorance about EDs, and that's one reason it's so hard to get treatment for them.

[dottie]

</font><blockquote><div id="quote"><font class="small">Quote:</font>
Im not in the UK and I think that doctor needs to go back to school to learn better bedside manners

</div></font></blockquote><font class="post">

You hit the nail on the head. I am in N.E Ohio...and I haven't yet found a Doctor with a respectfull bedside manner.

[veritymoon]

thanks for the information x

[veritymoon]

my friend went for an assesmnet and although shes taking up to 40 laxatives a day purging everything she eats vomitng blood and is diagnosed with anorexia the mental health nurse said she was not sick enough for treatment at the ed centre. she also applied for a grant/scolarship and they turned her down. she is on waiting list to see dietiton and from her od they have managed to find her a emergency councelling appointment in 5 days. its such a shame cause she really does want to get better she does not know where to start.
it was me that begged her to go back to the doc as doc said dont come back till your better or worse and because she was vomiting much more blood i made her go back and theat was when the doc was really horrible and she ended up oding i should have never pushed her to go back.