"Our beautiful daughter is fighting anorexia"

Our daughter is clever, kind, funny, quirky brave, diligent, beautiful, energetic, interesting, determined, mature beyond her years, an old soul. In the last year, this amazing girl has slowly been consumed with anxiety & anorexia.

She has been sitting her higher exams & is leaving school early to take a gap year before starting university. Such a big year for her. Transitional and as of now, without a real plan.

We had noticed a very slow decline in her weight, energy, health and happiness. She became more and more precious with routines and what and when she would eat. She began to exercise in her room and go for runs along with her usual walks. At her most worrying she was grey, always cold and low in energy and painfully skinny. She could not talk about her eating, she could not acknowledge the clear physical and emotional decline in her health and happiness. She would become upset and uncharacteristically angry when we tried to talk to her about it. She refused to talk & would become distressed at the thought of therapists and doctors. She didn’t believe she was unwell. We talked through the dangers of not eating & becoming too thin. hair loss, fainting, brittle bones, Managing these important exams gambling with her future fertility, & loosing periods. She could not take it in. She thought she was okay.  

Her period stopped, a warning from her body that she couldn't ignore. Her determination to get better was immediate and powerful at first. She managed to eat 3 meals a day religiously. It was like watching a wilting plant burst back into life when it finally gets watered. Her colour came back, her posture changed, her sense of humour & quick wit started to show again. Just in time for her exams.. ironically and thankfully, she rallied so well on sheer determination during her exams but the week after, she had to go into school to finish her advanced higher art project. She was obviously struggling, she became unbearably anxious and found it really hard to eat again. She finally agreed to see a doctor.

Our local GP was wonderful. She talked everything through, She took our daughters weight and hight, booked in a blood test & let us know she was referring our daughter to the eating disorder specialists in Stirling as an urgent case. When we got home I received a phone call from the doctor saying she was so sorry but because our daughter is under 18, she will be added to the CAHMS list. My heart sank. We have been on that list for anxiety before during Covid days, but didn't even make it to the waiting list. It felt hopeless so we immediately began looking for private specialists to help us..

The next day I was phoned by Mandy an eating disorder specialists from CAHMS based in Dundee. I was so taken a back that i burst into tears. I was also really alarmed. It felt like our daughters case must be really awful if she was such a priority that the overwhelmed, struggling NHS was prioritising her case so urgently. Mandy was instantly warm and reassuring. We made an appointment for the next day! again I could not believe the care and quick action of an NHS facility. 

We arrived at our appointment nervous and overwhelmed but so grateful. Our daughters weight and height were taken, her blood pressure (which was a little low) & other physical tests which all seemed okay. Although I couldn’t help but wonder how they would have been at her lowest. 

Mandy had the prefect manner with our daughter. She was strong & direct with her language. The severity of this eating disorder was made clear. The dangers and the potential consequences were communicated clearly and urgently so our daughter couldn’t shy away from then. She was kind and asked questions that we as parents have been unable to. We learned so much about what our daughter has been going through by listening to them talk. I didnt think there was much that I didnt know about my daughter but I was wrong. Donna, a nutritionist joined us and between them they put together a plan for our daughter. 3 meals a day and 3 snacks as a prescription.. a plan. Such a powerful thing. 

We are now one week into her treatment. True to form our daughter has done everything that has been asked of her. Taking her “prescription” of eating very seriously. She has been careful not to over exercise, only going on one small walk a day. although we are at the very beginning of our daughters recovery we feel she is beginning to thrive again. We are so grateful to the team. As I said when  we were there. I cant believe this is the NHS. This is not what you read about or hear about. It has been honestly an unbelievable start to getting our daughter back.

I cant thank you all enough.