EDAW '14 | Welcome to Eating Disorders Awareness Week

With at least 1.6 million people living with an eating disorder in the UK alone, I believe everyone should already know about the devastating impact they can have on someone's life, but unfortunately, not everyone does.

So that's why EATING DISORDERS AWARENESS WEEK exists. 

It's a chance to talk about eating disorders, all of them - anorexia, bulimia, binge and EDNOS - share our own experiences, bust myths, speak up even more than usual. 

It's a chance to break down misconceptions of what causes an eating disorder, who they hit and why. It's a time to remind people they're serious mental illnesses with serious consequences. It's a chance to break down stigma and change the stereotypes. 

But it's also about raising awareness to the fact that you CAN recover from an eating disorder. It's about letting people know about the charities, services and help that's out there to support their recovery and helping them get on the path and letting other sufferers know they're not alone.

It's about fighting back at pro-anorexia, fighting for more specialist eating disorder services, it's about fighting for parity of esteem in care, for more education to prevent them and so much more..So welcome, I did a little vlog to say hello...

I urge you to speak up, join the conversation, use the #EDAW2014 hashtag everywhere, write to your MP about services in your town. Hold a fundraiser, do your own thing, make extra effort in your own recovery. Talk, tell your story, don't be ashamed, educate and inspire. 

A few links: 

Join BEAT's 'Sock it to Eating Disorders' Campaign

It's also NEDA's EDAW over in America

How to write to your MP about eating disorders

Whispering about eating disorders in Westminster

When I have my mind set on doing something, it often becomes hard to stop me striving to change the thing  I feel passionately about. That comes in handy sometimes.

And there's not much that comes close to matching how determined I am to raise awareness of eating disorders and push for quicker access to specialist services for people trapped by them.

That's why at the start of last year I wrote to my local MP Jeremy Lefroy, during Eating Disorders Awareness Week, urging him to listen and to take action to change things here in Staffordshire and right across the UK.

We're lucky in Stafford to have an excellent eating disorders service, but even our neighbouring NHS trusts are still short of the specialists and when they do have them, the challenge is getting access. Quickly. Even The Royal College of Psychiatrists say the level of specialist care out there is not good enough. 

If nothing else, I hope other services can learn from the multi-disciplinary approach I know I'm lucky enough to get. I know cash is short, but when eating disorders alone rack up healthcare costs of £80-100 million every year and affect at least 1.6 million people, it's got to be worth investment, right? 

If we think of the wider economy, eating disorders cost an estimated £1.26 billion in England alone. Shocking, yet preventable. 

Jeremy Lefroy (second left) with the EDU team at SS&SFT and me.

Since writing, I've met with Mr Lefroy at his Stafford office, he's visited my EDU, met with staff and learnt more about how things work here - I'm trying to arm him with enough of the facts to take the issues to the top. The very top.

And that's what he and I did, we arranged to meet with the inspiring Brooks Newmark, MP for Braintree, who's also an eating disorder survivor himself. 

So, in November I caught a train to London, hoped off at Westminster, jumped feet first into the heart of Parliament and met Jeremy and Brooks at Porticullis House, avec an large americano, of course. 

We discussed the findings of Beat's shocking Waiting Times research, which highlighted more than a quarter (26%), that's one in four sufferers, have to wait longer than six months before they're referred to a specialist OP service, in which time many people's desire to recover reduced. 

I shared my experience and was able to hear first-hand about Brooks' own battles and why he is also keen to keep eating disorders on the agenda, and of course we spoke about ideas for change.

Brooks Newmark MP

Of which I have lots, firstly education, education and more education to break down the stigma in schools and arm teachers, friends, parents and doctors with the facts to provide early intervention. Who could argue that this would be a way to PREVENT eating disorders from taking control at all? 

But when they do start to ruin lives? Well, that's when the Government needs to ensure the right services are in the right place and at the right time. It would cost the NHS a lot less to treat the early signs of eating disorders, than it does right now to rescue people from crisis.  

This is what I want to keep at the forefront of politicians' conciousness, until we can see changes to the way eating disorders are viewed and until more people are getting help, sooner. I can't do this alone, and knowing who they know, and with me pushing from behind, I'm sure both MPs can ensure our voices are heard in the right ears. 

There is much more to do and so much more to say, but as I think both Jeremy and Brooks have already realised, I'm not going anywhere any time soon.

I will go to Parliament, speak openly, tweet and meet as many people, as many times as it takes until I feel change is happening. 

Just you watch me. 

The Dangerous ED Waiting Game

Eating disorders are mental illnesses that can have a devastating impact on those suffering and everyone around them. They can be fatal.  The longer someone battles with an illness like anorexia, the more consuming it becomes, the bigger the medical impact and the less likely they are to recover.

But recovery IS possible. That's why there's a fresh call for the Government to do more to help suffers make the break from their eating disorders and end a seriously dangerous waiting game.

Despite the need for quick intervention and care, research from the UK's leading eating disorder charity BEAT's found that more than a quarter (26%), that's one in four sufferers, have to wait longer than six months before they're referred to a specialist service. 

That's not the worst of it, 8% said they had to wait for longer than a year between seeking help from their GP and starting outpatient treatment. This is truly shocking and a seriously dangerous, heartbreaking waiting game. 

The poll of 500 eating disorder sufferers revealed shocking figures on NHS waiting times, which the charity says are 'unacceptable' and need parity with 18-week targets set out for physical health, and I say are just down right dangerous. 

As someone who's been let down and saved by NHS services, I know all too well the devastating reality of not getting specialist care before anorexia consumes someone's life. I wasn't taken seriously and was made to feel not 'sick enough' by a service. 

What happened? Well, even under the care of a community therapist who told me I just had 'low self-esteem' and issues with food, I dropped a significant amount of weight in a very short space of time. My BMI hit critical and THEN I was taken seriously, sort of. 

I moved GP and counties and was very nearly 'lost in the system' but after being given an 8-week wait for assessment following a referral from my GP, I broke down. I couldn't cope, no chance. I called the EDU and screamed that if I wasn't seen NOW, I wouldn't bother recovering and I'd die. 

They acted, I got seen, diagnosed with anorexia and treatment started within a matter of weeks. I know I'm one of the lucky ones. Even so, my weight plummeted further and I became more consumed by anorexia.

I dread to think what would have happened if I'd stuck with the original NHS waiting time? I have a feeling I may have become one of the 20% of sufferers who die from anorexia, making it the mental illness with the highest mortality rate. 

I'm not alone in not feeling 'sick enough' for treatment, 74% strongly agreed or agree that they were made to feel like this too, with 40% being told their BMI wasn't low enough to access treatment quickly. 

The problem is the longer someone goes without help with recovery, the more severe an eating disorder becomes. The poll found that almost three quarters of sufferers felt their illness became more severe whilst on a waiting list. Mine certainly did. 

Not only is the culture of leaving eating disorder sufferers on waiting lists with no clear targets seriously putting lives at risk, it's actually making the problem worse. Worse for the families and the friends of sufferers but for the NHS itself, because the longer someone has to wait for help fighting an eating disorder, the longer it takes to recover and let's be honest, the more it costs too. 

That's if sufferers haven't given up hope of recovery before they're seen;  60% said the longer they waited, the less motivated they were to even change.

Let's hope action is taken before it's too late, it's about time this dangerous waiting game was ended because recovery is possible, but waiting times make it a hell of a lot harder than it should be.

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You can read more on BEATs research and download the full survey results here: FULL SURVEY 

See what BBC Newsround had to say on the poll's findings HERE
Read more about the work I'm doing in Staffordshire with my MP Jeremy Lefroy HERE

If you are on a waiting list or need to access treatment, please get in touch with BEAT and get help now. or call the helpline on 0845 634 1414

VLOG: Why NOT talk about eating disorders?

Ilona and I asked what we should talk about in our first joint vlog and people asked us WHY we go public with our struggles with mental health and recovery from eating disorders. 

Why do we talk so openly about it?

In a chatty, waffly, rambling way, we hope we answer that. But, really? Why not, after all it is #TimeToTalk isn't it? 

Are YOU ready to start YOUR conversation about mental health?

It's TIME TO CHANGE