Massive rant but who is fed up with some (not all) medical professionals judging and not helping when it comes to different mental health categories, especially in eating disorders. Who has heard they can’t have a specific disorder because they don’t tick every stupid little box, or you can’t have a certain disorder because you are not “skinny enough” or “fat enough”. Also why do when people think of eating disorders it is automatically it is anorexia nervosa or bulimia nervosa or binge eating disorder. What about the many other eating disorders out there. What about disorders like: OSFED, EDNOS, AFRID, Diabulimia, Orthorexia, muscle dysmorphia, compulsive eating disorder, selective eating disorder, drunkorexia, pregorexia and many more. Out of every disorder listed so far only a few are actually registered as eating disorders by DSM and ICD, which makes me feel incredibly mad that people who have a disordered relationship with food or has disordered eating cannot get help that they need all as it is unofficial diagnosed because they are not seen by world health organisations or because a person does not tick every single box in one condition. Did you know that not all anorexics are size 0 some are healthy weight but it that journey from maybe being the high end of overweight to how they got to the lower end of the healthy weight scale. Some bulimics are overweight, some binge eaters are healthy weight. So WHY can we not get help for anyone that has any kind of body image issues or any disordered eating patterns or disordered relationships with food.
I hope in the future to look more into the different forms of eating disorders, so if you have any suggestions of one that is not listed, please tell me, I will do the research and I want to write a post to raise awareness of these other conditions.
For me, I did not tick all the boxes for 1 condition or another when it came to my experience with an eating disorder. I went to seek help so many times and honestly, I was told I was not skinny enough, and being addicted to laxatives and purging, eating very little and exercising to the point now I have permanent damage to my joints and stomach problems, also ignore the fact by doing all that I went from about 22 stone down to 14 stone in only a few months, but not without severe consequences. Back in 2012 I went from 14 stone down to 8 stone and again that was in very little time. I followed the “Ana” and “Thinspo” community like it was a religion, and it almost killed me. However, most GPs I saw told me anorexics do not purge, on the flip side bulimic would binge which I very rarely did, and when I did it would lead to fasting, exercise, purging and self-harming. It was a good support system with people that I care about and paying privately for counselling that helped me get to this “recovering” stage. Now I’m seeing articles that England is putting the calories of their food and drinks on all menus even on takeaway menus. Which, honestly, I’m not too thrilled about. It took a long time to eat out comfortably but I still do worry about calories so I prefer not seeing what I’m eating (despite mentally if on a bad day I could guess the calories). I feel like the only good thing the government has done recently to help a little is putting an age limit on laxatives, considering I was buying them when I was 17. I also know Covid-19 and being in lockdown was a massive eye opener for me on how bad things can get as recovering and how easy it would have been to slip into things again, however I also know how hard it has been for those who are struggling with eating disorders.
I just hope those who are struggling with any kind of eating disorder is able to find help, especially during this difficult time. I know for me some days are easier than others but there are some days where I want to throw in the towel and go back to my eating disorder ways. However, I know I’m lucky to have Matthew and my support system for when those days happen. I also hope one day, that the mental health boards and the NHS and world wide they will start accepting that there are more than a few different types of eating disorders and each of them needs treatment, also that even if you don’t tick every box (say bulimia boxes) then it doesn’t mean that you don’t have that disorder.
littlescarredangel 