New person, New blog, New topics....?

Well I guess that's the theory, but perhaps not.

My name is Liz, I'm a little bit crazy, a little bit special and a lot of bits caring. Perhaps too much caring.

I live in South London, and see all the joys of the world pass by regularly.

But I want to use this blog to reach out a bit, especially after delving into the darker side of mental health an all it's joyous NHS workings....

So firstly, the reason this has come about is that my partner KP has three lovely children.

Her eldest daughter, M, has Restrictive Anorexia Nervousa, RAN for short. She is well into year three of being diagnosed (plus the rest before diagnosis). Much of it has been spent inpatient in various child and adolescent facilities, some specialising in eating disorders some not. She has also recently been diagnosed with border line personality disorder and severe depression. So it's complex to say the least.

For those of you who haven't really met an eating disorder (ED), it causes chaos to normal family life. Meal times become hell, become a battle of wills, screaming matches, food flying, obstinate sullen silences or worse broken sobbing.

We all associate meal times with sitting with our families round the table, chatting and enjoying each other's company at least a few time a week. but when you have a child with an ED it gets to a point when you have a stranger round the table, a person who looks like your child, sounds like your child, but isn't your child, because when they speak it is like something has taken over and your child has a demon inside them. In fact when you talk to families who have a child with an ED they will often refer to the ED itself as the uninvited house guest.

So why am I blogging about mental health and in particular eating disorders today?

I belong to Girl Guiding UK, I am a Brownie Leader and I love my Brownie pack, and recently there was a huge consultation about the Promise. Consequently the promise wording has changed and we had to have a little bit of update training. Fine, lovely and it was a great night of insights, both good and bad.

One of the activities we did in this evening was to look at scenarios and the question was 'What should you do?' as in what is right to do. Sods law the one I pull out is a scenario with eating disorders (scenario being: Your friend has suddenly started to eat a lot less and looks thinner, should you let her parents or another adult know)....out of all the cards! However, the discussion that ensued was an interesting one. In a room of around 25 leaders not one of them knew what you should do in this situation.

It was a real eye opener, lots of comments, lots of assumptions, lots of negative thoughts over the topic of EDs. The biggest thing that hit me though was the lack of knowing where to turn, who to ask questions of, what to do. There is a wealth of information out there, but it is as everything, it is knowing where to find it.

First, to knock some Eating Disorder assumptions vs facts on the head first:

• 'You can't be cured from an eating disorder' - YES you can, but it's not an overnight thing, or next week, or next month. We call it recovery. It takes 5 to 8 years of no behaviours to be considered recovered.
• In fact a study showed around 46% of Anorexia patients fully recover (Steinhausen 2002) and around 45% of Bulimia sufferes fully recover (Steinhausen &Weber, 2009).
• An eating disorder can be diagnosed in children as young as 6.
• It presents very differently between children and adolescents.
• In August 2011, figures were recorded from 35 Uk NHS Trusts finding that over three years 600 children under the age of 13 needed treatment intervention for an eating disorder, of this number 98 were aged 5-7 (Rainbow age) and 99 were aged 8-9 (Brownie age). from The Gardian
• 1 in 150 girls aged 15 are diagnosed with Anorexia each year
• 1 in 1000 boys aged 15 are diagnosed with Anorexia each year
• 1 in 25 females in the UK suffer from Bulimia
• Around 20% of Anorxia sufferers die prematurely  because of direct links with their illness

As a Guiding leader I have applied to become a trainer because I find it very hard that other leaders do not know what to look for let alone where to go for information. 

I want them...no correct that, I NEED them to know where to go what to do.

So, I would like to challenge other leaders within Girl Guiding - Do you know what to do?

Some thing I found from B-eat perhaps something to think about challenging your girls with?

SCOFF Questionnaire:

Do you ever make yourself Sick because you feel uncomfortably full?

Do you worry you have lost Control over how much you eat?

Have you recently lost more than One stone in a three month period?

Do you believe yourself to be Fat when others say you are too thin?

Would you say that Food dominates your life?