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.
There I was, taking Ben to see a healthcare professional, and immediately and instinctively I knew I could trust him to know his stuff implicitly, get the job done well and give us the best advice. So I just sat there and let him get on with it. And, meanwhile, Ben explained to the chiropodist what was wrong, in detail, so the chiropodist could get a good picture of what was going on, from Ben's perspective, and put it right.
It was just so wierd!
You have to understand that, over the past four and a half years, I haven't accompanied Ben to see anyone except mental health professionals (excluding a hand specialist and broken nose specialist in September 2009 following an argument with a wall and a rugby ball - but that was before I took Ben to see the GP about the eating disorder).
It just felt so very odd to be sitting in front of a health professional trusting them to know what they were doing and to do it right, without even having to think about it. No hackles rising, no feeling that I'm going to have to fight to get good treatment, no sense of the clinician fumbling around in the dark "experimenting" with this, that and the other treatment to see what might work - and, of course, no Ben denying anything is wrong or actively working against the professional and me.
And yet again I found myself up against the incompetence of the NHS - or at least at GP level.
We saw a private chiropodist because the GPs' receptionist told me in no uncertain terms that chiropody was no longer available on the NHS. She snapped my head off as if I'd requested a boob job on the NHS.
Yet the chiropodist says there is an NHS podiatry team that Ben needs to see - and he needs to be seen urgently as his ingrowing toenails are seriously complex and pretty nasty. And he thinks an appointment should come through pretty quickly once he's sent off a referral.
(Unlike Ben's eating disorder where we were told there would be an 18-22 week wait, hey...)
But I still can't get over the almost spa-like, relaxing experience of being with a clinician who obviously knows his stuff inside out and who I felt I could trust implicitly to solve my son's problems.
Want information on eating disorders in boys? Worried your son has an eating disorder? What are the signs of eating disorders in boys? In 2009 my 15-year-old son developed anorexia. Now aged 31 and with a MSc in Psychology he is recovered & working in mental health using his experiences to help others. I help to raise awareness of eating disorders in boys, point parents to helpful resources & talk about how eating disorders can traumatise families.
Our good old NHS seems to be at it again. I battled for years with them to no avail. I beat my eating disorder and I now have my own counselling clinic that treats other sufferers. Sadly the NHS till does not want to help me. This time I am a professional and the NHS will deal with me or send patients to me. This is despite the fact that I am the only specialist eating disorder counsellor in my area. The NHS does not have any specialist therapists like me. And still they prevaricate
ReplyDeleteYou can find me at
Thanks for the article. It is important to stress that recovery from an eating disorder is possible. I completely recovered after almost dying from anorexia. In the UK treatment of eating disorders is patchy at best and in large areas, especially those outside London and the South East specialist treatment for conditions such as anorexia is virtually non-existent.
I now run my own counselling service where i try and help others to beat their eating disorder.
You can find me at derbyshirecounsellingservice.com
Thanks again