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Teenage daughter eating disorder

NAS79999

Hi, my 14 yo daughter has recently been diagnosed.  She is convinced she has an eating disorder . We have been to the GP and have had a referral to a eating disorder charity and full bloods and they have said she has disordered eating as she eats the same things and doesn't eat at school. 

We have a lot going on with her ,just found out she is autistic, her school , false allegations and obsessing with certain friends and now this . She is convinced she is fainting although we haven't experienced it nor have the school. She says she has no energy and I have to take her back to the gp. I've made a non emergency appointment  for the gp but she is not happy with this and is insistent I take her to a and e where she thinks they will keep her in and feed her by a tube. I don't know if this is something she's seen on tiktok.

I can't seem to get through to her that they won't do anything . I don't want to be too blunt as she really believes she has an eating disorder and is blacking out. If I challenge her she has a melt down.

She is eating, her bmi is good, her bloods say she is OK.

Any alive would be appreciated 

Parents

  • Hi, I realise I’m not a teenage girl but I started to develop my eating disorder when I was 13. When my weight and bloods were all okay, when everyone in my life ignored my requests for help and ignored me when I said I’d passed out. Just because they hadn’t seen it or because they didn’t want to accept that I was telling the truth. I’m now 34 and have an official diagnosis of anorexia alongside ARFIDS. My BMI is mid 17 (trying desperately to get help before I get any more unwell) and dropping every week. I have had heart failure, organ issues, chronic bowel problems, nutritional deficiencies, and yearly anaemia (that gets treated and then comes back every single year without fail). My blood pressure currently sits well below where it should be, my heart has a permanent misfire in its beating, and I vomit blood if I don’t take meds to keep food down if I do manage to get any food in. 

    If your daughter has said she’s having problems, please take her seriously, and make sure her GP does too. If, however, she is getting it off TikTok or any other social media, then please be aware that what could start as a hyper focus can very easily turn in to an actual disorder. Especially if she thinks she’s being ignored and not being taken seriously. 

    As for her request to go to A&E. Take her, speak to the triage nurse (without your daughter listening) and explain that you need to speak to the crisis team because your daughter is hyper focusing on a disorder that can turn her health upside down in less than a week. Especially if she decides to try and force the issue about getting an NG tube to be fed through. They can speak to her and refer for psychological support, as well as discussing it with the local autism team and the local ED team in time. However starving yourself is as bad for your body as any obvious physical self harm and to ignore it could result in permanent damage. The CAMHS team for your area will know more once that first contact is made. If you’d rather not go to A&E then ring your surgery the next day they’re open and ask for an urgent appointment because this isn’t a routine issue and your daughter could go to extreme lengths before she’s even made it to that appointment. 

    Always remember when an autistic person hyper focuses on an eating disorder it is twice as difficult to treat once it takes hold. Please don’t assume your daughter is just messing around. By the time you know she’s serious, you could be forcing her into inpatient stays for the next 1-2 years and having her lose out on so many experiences she should be getting to enjoy. 

  • in reply to NAS80106

    I’ve also just read the other replies and I repeat: get the crisis team involved and get urgent support in an a&e setting. It may be the only way to get through to her. She may need the no from them to take away the hyper fixation on that as a quick fix. Also, take her phone off her or take off the apps that she can be getting this info from (TikTok, instagram being the main 3) because she will not stop hyper-focusing on it if she has free access to the ana images on those platforms.

    Also, as someone that does have anorexia and ARFIDS, I also think a tube might be the only way to improve because my sensory issues have become completely overwhelming and I can’t cope with trying to eat things in enough of a quantity to stay alive. Please push for NHS support through CAMHS. Your GP will not act until she becomes so underweight that she will be too far gone to be helped properly. For the sake of your daughter, give her what she wants and get CAMHS/crisis involved when you do. 

    Good luck! 

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  • in reply to NAS80106

    I’ve also just read the other replies and I repeat: get the crisis team involved and get urgent support in an a&e setting. It may be the only way to get through to her. She may need the no from them to take away the hyper fixation on that as a quick fix. Also, take her phone off her or take off the apps that she can be getting this info from (TikTok, instagram being the main 3) because she will not stop hyper-focusing on it if she has free access to the ana images on those platforms.

    Also, as someone that does have anorexia and ARFIDS, I also think a tube might be the only way to improve because my sensory issues have become completely overwhelming and I can’t cope with trying to eat things in enough of a quantity to stay alive. Please push for NHS support through CAMHS. Your GP will not act until she becomes so underweight that she will be too far gone to be helped properly. For the sake of your daughter, give her what she wants and get CAMHS/crisis involved when you do. 

    Good luck! 

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