A letter I wrote to CAMHS in 2011 about getting Ben WR

This is a letter I wrote to CAMHS in June 2011, 15 months into my son's treatment for anorexia: As of last Friday, Ben is now XXkg (BMI XX. However I am concerned that, as a result of last Friday's session, Ben now believes he is Weight Restored and that CAMHS consider him to be physically "recovered". I am hoping he has misinterpreted this message.

Looking across the dinner table at Recovery

It suddenly dawned on me last night as Ben and I sat across the dinner table eating Italian bean, aubergine and red pepper stew on buttered ciabatta with parmesan cheese (and, in Ben's case, a boiled egg on top) that I was looking in the face of Recovery.

So carers should be screened for depression, say doctors' leaders?

Why has it taken 'the powers that be' so long to come to this conclusion? As parents / carers of a young person with an eating disorder depression is no stranger, as many, many other parents will testify. But, I would like to ask, what good would it do?

Post #2 from 2011: Breakthroughs - the eating disorder is losing the fight...

Recycled post #2: Thursday, 6 January 2011 What do smoked mackerel, After Eight mints, low fat spread and jam on toast, five varieties of biscuit and carrot cake have in common? They are all things that, 12 months ago, Ben would have avoided like the plague but which he’s eaten this week without any problem. And this Christmas, he had a chocolate advent calendar.

Special offer! Get my book "Please eat..." for just £9.99 inc p&p while stocks last

I have 20 copies of my book "Please Eat..." available for just £9.99 each including p&p (within the UK), a saving of £1.68 on the Amazon price (while stocks last).

Okay, maybe I should clarify things a little

I recognise that I wasn't clear as to exactly why I was jealous and angry in this post - or, rather, which camp I felt Ben belonged to: the former or the latter. Great treatment and outcome versus not-so-great treatment and not-so-great outcome.

Wow, this was such a weird experience!

Ben has a history of horrible in-growing toenails. We thought they'd been fixed long ago, but recently they've reared their ugly heads and so it was off to the chiropodist today which was a really weird experience.

I realised I was jealous and angry

Having talked to 20 families for my new book When Anorexia Came To Visit: Families Talk About How An Eating Disorder Invaded Their Lives (published this summer), it became clear that some families had received an exemplary approach to treatment from start to finish - from GP through to eating disorder recovery. Others had received a haphazard, slow, messy, outdated and often counter-productive approach. Guess which approach was more successful?And you know what?

I'm speaking at this conference in November

This is the conference I'm speaking at in November and I've been asked to pass on the details to anyone who might be interested in coming along. It's being run by Professor Janet Treasure OBE and Gill Todd under the umbrella of Kings College London and the South London And Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust:

My very first blog post on 5th January 2011

Recycled post #1: Wednesday, 5 January 2011 Only last night there was a programme on the TV reporting on the pressures of young girls to look stick-thin. But it’s not just girls that develop eating disorders. For the past 18 months, my 17 year old teenage son (who I’ll call "Ben" here) has been battling with anorexia nervosa and this new blog will be about our progress.

My plans for this blog while things are quiet

Things are pretty quiet here (which is a GOOD THING). But I was thinking about this blog which I've been writing for almost 29 months. I know that it's been useful to a stack of parents; indeed the things they've said about it make me blush. Being able to help other families in their fight against anorexia is one of the reasons I put my 2011 and 2012 posts into 2 printed books which I published earlier in the year. However I think I've sold a grand total of THREE!

Updating you on what's happening in our family life at the moment

It's been a while since I've given you an update on Ben. To be truthful, I've been keeping a bit of a low profile in our household on the ED-front. In other words I've tried to keep things as near normal as possible. No mention of weight, no mention of calories, no getting out our contract and "doing points" as we still do on occasions. All of which is a Good Thing.

Nearly there with my new book "When anorexia came to visit"

My new book When anorexia came to visit: Families talk about how an eating disorder invaded their lives, is almost complete! Janet Treasure has written a Foreword, Becky Henry (author of Just tell her to stop) has written a Preface, Laura Collins (Founder of FEAST and author of Eating with your anorexic) has written an Introduction - and then there are 20 individual family stories plus a snippet from my own story at the back.

A huge thank you to "my" 20 wonderful, generous and courageous families!

I continue to be immensely grateful to the 20 UK families that have contributed their stories for my new book When anorexia came to visit, families talk about how an eating disorder invaded their lives. But you'll have to wait a month or so before it's published. In the meantime, here is the draft introduction to give you a taster and to show how wonderful these 20 families are...

Talking to ECHO about their self-help intervention for carers project

As part of the background research for my new book "When anorexia came to visit, families talk about how an eating disorder invaded their lives" I talked to Rebecca Hibbs of the ECHO (Expert Carers Helping Others) project to discover how this is helping parents and carers across the UK deal with the emotional and practical pressures of looking after an adolescent with an eating disorder. (Thank you, Becky, for talking with me!)

A very brief fantasy letter to the medical professionals

Dear GPs, CAMHS, the local hospital and everyone else I came across in the course of my son Ben's anorexia and all those other medical professionals out there, I am putting a book together where I talk to approximately 20 families across the UK about their own journeys through anorexia and you know what?

Life before ED...

I have a huge purple concertina file box by the side of my desk which has been gathering dust for the past four years. It contains a mountain of historical research I was doing, and had been doing for four or five years, which stopped - dead - when Ben's eating disorder arrived on the scene.

This rough intro sums up what my next book is about...

Here is my first and very rough draft introduction for my next book: When anorexia came to visit: Families talk about how eating disorders invaded their lives. So, if you're interested in knowing what this new book is about, the following pretty much sums it up. (It's still a draft and I need to check my facts and sources, but it'll give you a good idea.)

Gah, husbands!!

Everything was going smoothly as regards me explaining The Plan to Ben yesterday lunchtime when - ROAR! - in comes a huge Sherman Tank in the form of my husband who began to say a ton of stuff that was probably best not said right there and then. Or not said at all, probably. Result? Lots of yelling and crying.

Batty's BIG CHALLENGE for the week is...

... to bring the Contract back into play BIG TIME to encourage Ben to put on weight in the run up to making the decision about university which we need to do by the end of June. Ben has lost nearly 1kg since I last weighed him 2 weeks ago, and so it's all systems go as far as I am concerned to get the weight back onto him - and more. It will be interesting to see how easy or difficult it is for me to get him to play ball...