Dr Sarah Ravin speaks sense....

Thank you to my dear friend, Mamame from the ATDT Forum and FEAST, for this link to Dr Sarah Ravin's latest article. (She is a really clued-up US expert on eating disorders.) The content is particularly relevant to us at the moment as it becomes increasingly clear that at least one half of our treatment team is, unfortunately, living in the past, adhering to outdated theories rather than modern evidence-based eating disorders treatment.

The more I think about it, the more I'm angry about Fri's CAMHS session...

Seeing Ben and H go off cycling today spoke volumes about where Ben is in the weight recovery stakes. He may be within the first 6% centile of boys of his age, height, etc, but in my very strong opinion he is NOT Weight Restored...

1.2kg weight gain since our last scales session... BMI now 19.7

Mixed messages at our CAMHS session yesterday with the psych's assistant. Some of it was absolutely OK, but my gut instinct wasn't too sure about other bits - unless it was the assistant's clever way of making Ben react in a positive way to yet more weight gain... It might be... so the jury, as they say, is out on that... But the Very Good News is that, 10 weeks into the Contract, and over the past 8 weeks, Ben has averaged out at a weekly weight gain of 0.4kg which is almost what the NICE Guidelines recommend. Considering that for MONTHS, he'd lost and then maintained (after an initial fast gain right at the start of our CAMHS treatment last spring), I think that's well worth celebrating!

A bit of bribary (hopefully) goes a long way...

The prices of Ben's favourite Warhammer models go up tomorrow, so yesterday he wanted to do a 'bulk buy' online. He didn't have enough cash so he asked for an 'advance' on the Contract points money. So I thought about it and said "OK, yes, in principle, but it would have to be a 'conditional' loan"...

Delegating and talking...

Thanks for the lovely feedback re. my "cry for help" the other day! Ben offered to clean the house yesterday afternoon in exchange for some new shoes he wanted, so that's sorted for a while. My sis has been visiting my Dad and is going again tonight, so I won't need to go until tomorrow. As you'll see from my other entry, my wonderful friend S has been brilliant; her cups of tea are positively soothing. And I had a word with Ben about his behaviour the other night...

Watch Laura from ATDT and FEAST on the telly!

Laura Collins, the founder of FEAST and its ATDT forum has just recorded a TV interview talking about FEAST and also explaining how parents / carers are central to helping their teenagers recover from this dangerous but treatable illness. See her here>> And read her own comments on her blog here>> It is excellent and well worth watching if you're a parent or carer of a teenager with anorexia or another eating disorder.

Some people are AMAZING... positively SAINTLY!

I have a friend who I will call Sarah who I briefly mentioned in the last entry. Sarah has Secondary Breast Cancer which has spread to her lungs, spine and liver. She is currently having horrible intravenous Chemo which makes her feel pretty naff most of the time and all her lovely hair has fallen out. Yet Sarah has a cunning way of getting you to come clean with what's bugging you - and also of phoning you when you could really use a good chat with a friend. She is a saint.