A 21-year-old woman whose eating disorders left her suicidal, BMI classified her as underweight and said she is "too fat to get professional help"



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A young woman was denied the help of a professional because of her severe eating disorder because she had been deemed "too fat" by the company. health team who evaluated it, letting it continue to automutilate and consider suicide.

Sammy Halstead, of Caerphilly, Wales, had an badessment with a community mental health team in Cardiff, where she was studying psychology at the university, when she was told that she could not to be helped.

    Sammy Halstead has been denied the help of a specialist in eating disorders in Cardiff

WALES

Sammy Halstead has been denied the help of a specialist in eating disorders in Cardiff

The 21-year-old girl received a letter several weeks later, in which she declared that she did not meet the criteria for the help of a specialist in a clinic of eating disorders. because its body mbad index (BMI) was not considered low enough.

Sammy, heartbroken, had already struggled with food and compulsively exercised all his life; she self-mutilated and attempted suicide while her eating disorder lost control after the letter.

She told Wales Online: "Looking for help was hard enough for me, but receiving a letter just stating that I was too big to help them help me." makes me think that I was a kind of fraud.

    21 years old, he was told that his BMI was not low enough to ask for help

WALES

21 years old, he was told that his BMI was not low enough to ask for help

"This letter haunts me, I think about it every time I eat, that my BMI is way too high and that I should not consume more calories.

"I've read and heard some very debilitating things from professionals, but nothing that has so invalidated my struggles around food and weight."

Prior to moving to Cardiff to study her studies, Sammy had previously been found eligible for help from specialized eating disorder treatment services in her hometown, seeing a nurse every week for therapy sessions. .

But when she was dismissed from the Eating Disorders Department for help with her mental health, as her self-mutilation began to intensify, she was not seen by a psychiatrist only three times in addition to a year.

    She had already been accepted to help by the specialist from her hometown

WALES

She had already been accepted to help by the specialist from her hometown

After moving out last summer, Sammy hoped to be referred to Cardiff's local mental health team after registering with a new general practitioner – but again, she was was disappointed when she left for another badessment.

She added, "I struggled to consume something other than a small meal and cups of coffee a day – and I also felt very physically, which my body mbad index would not tell the evaluators."

A few weeks after the badessment, Sammy received a letter from the Central Liaison Center, based at the Royal Cardiff Infirmary, that, despite being underweight, with a BMI of 17.8, she was not not eligible for support.

The letter haunts me. I think of it every time I eat a meal, that my BMI is way too high and that I should not consume more calories.

Sammy Halstead

The six early signs of a eating disorder

Losing weight is not the only sign that someone you know might be suffering from a eating disorder.

But detecting the signs earlier is the best way to save lives and help a person get the diagnosis or early treatment they need.

Most British adults do not know what to look for, so here's a helpful list of six things to remember:

  1. Lips – Are they obsessed with food?
  2. flips – does their behavior change or has it changed dramatically recently?
  3. Hips – do they have a distorted view of the size of their body?
  4. kips – are they often tired or have trouble concentrating?
  5. Nips – do they disappear to the bathroom after meals?
  6. Jumped up – did they begin to exercise excessively?

In response, the Cardiff and Vale University Health Council said: "We are sorry to hear that the patient felt that she did not get the support she needed from the patient. mental health team.

"We provide mental health services to people with eating disorders, who cover the full range of body mbad indexes – and we have a number of specialized and multidisciplinary teams in charge. to provide support and treatment.

"The team collaborates to make case decisions and practitioners use factors such as psychiatric comorbidity, physical health and BMI to determine which part of the service is best for individuals.

"If the patient wishes to discuss any aspect of his care, we ask him to contact our team of problems."

Last summer, a campaign called "Dump the Scales" was launched, calling on services to judge patients with eating disorders based on their mental state and not on their physical weight.

He wants the UK government to fully implement the guidelines through GPs and clinical training to ensure that people with eating disorders receive treatment before reaching their goal. a critical point.

Hope Virgo, who runs the campaign, said: "When asked to imagine a person with a eating disorder, most of them will imagine a lean girl, at lean air, but this is not the reality.

"Too often, people refuse to receive essential support because they are not skinny enough to be considered a risk – which leaves them feeling as if they are not worth supporting." , which could leave suicidal.

"That's why I'm calling on governments to review the guidelines provided by clinicians for eating disorders. It is time for us to stop waiting for people to find themselves in crisis before offering them support.

This woman also explained how she was struggling with a eating disorder, revealing that Instagram had "fueled" her anorexia, leaving her only 20 calories a day after browsing images of girls lean.

And Megan Crabbe, an influential influencer in women, told her story of bouncing back after experiencing an imminent death experience with anorexia, where her parents had been invited to say goodbye.

In addition, a nursing student who was so anorexia sick that she was afraid to drink water explains how she changed her life.

The former anorexic Annie Windley, who was worried about gaining weight, said that a chocolate treat had saved her life

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