Update on who I'm seeing, when and why

Firstly, I'm meeting up with my local MP at some point next week (probably) to talk about the issues raised in the letter I posted here a few days ago (primarily over 16s and eating disorders). Secondly, I'm meeting with two of our local GPs to talk about the current situation as regards diagnosing / understanding / recognising / referral for eating disorders. And, thirdly, I am talking with (so far) 17 UK families about their experiences from when they first realised something was wrong with their child through to referral for eating disorder treatment.

Getting out of my comfort zone...

As I just said on my Facebook page: What is it about contacting the medical profession that scares me so much? Is it because I'm "just a mum"...? Obviously if I'm going to write a book about UK families' experiences of the early months of their child's eating disorder, which would include presentation at their GPs' surgery, then I am going to need to talk to the medical profession in order to take an informed viewpoint. So why does it scare me?

My letter to our local MP. Get writing!

Please feel free to adapt this to send to your local MP! (the wording for paragraph 2 is taken from of this report, as are some other facts and figures). Here goes...

And just in case you're wondering about "Please eat..."

I am still waiting for Ben to finish reading it! In the meantime I have sent off for a final printed proof in the hope that he won't have too many changes. So, all being well, Please eat... will be published in early March.

UK parents, I need your assistance please!

Back in the summer of 2009 when my son, Ben, began to show classic signs of anorexia, I had no idea that boys got eating disorders. As a result I didn’t recognise the warning signs. I knew something was wrong and that it appeared to be getting worse, but I had no idea what “it” was. As the parent of a teenage boy you don’t expect your child to get anorexia. You don’t even think about it.

I am LIVID, LIVID, LIVID. And I know I am not the only one.

Today I read an article in the Daily Telegraph about yet another 18+ teenager with an eating disorder that has been failed by our current system of allowing 18+ young people with serious eating disorders to make their own decisions about whether or not they have eating disorder treatment. Worse, this young woman was discharged because "at 18 she was deemed to be old enough to care for herself". Having reach that magic age of 18, she discharged herself. Within months she was dead.

Letter I wrote "to anorexia" in Feb 2010

I've just unearthed a letter I was asked to write "to the anorexia" at the start of Ben's CAMHS treatment but which was never followed up at a subsequent CAMHS session, so it ended up in the cobwebby archives of my PC. Here it is, and it's going into my book: