Number of eating disorder cases doubles in just six years
SHOCKING NHS FIGURES REVEAL RISE IN SUFFERERS – BUT CHARITIES SAY MORE PEOPLE ARE GETTING HELP
THE number of children as young as 10 seeking help for eating disorders in Greater Manchester is soaring.
In Salford, Tameside and Glossop, the number of children, men and women receiving treatment has tripled since 2010.
And NHS figures obtained by the M.E.N. for the whole of Greater Manchester reveal that the number of people of all ages accessing treatment for eating disorders has doubled in the last six years.
People living in Tameside and Glossop were treated for eating disorders 72 times in 2015/16. This was up from 24 in 2010/11.
And in the Salford Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) area, the number of treatment episodes also tripled from 28 to 83 over the same period.
The figures also reveal that the number of girls aged 10 to 12 being treated for anorexia rose from three to 21 during the six years across Greater Manchester.
And it is not just girls and anorexia. The number of males and females in the same age group receiving treatment for all eating disorders was up from three to 28 over the same period.
Eating disorder experts say the risk is highest among youngsters between the age of 13 and 17, but say people can develop problems at any age.
In December 2015, teenager Pippa ‘Pip’ McManus died after a devastating three-year battle with anorexia.
The 15-year-old left a note saying she couldn’t fight the illness any more before taking her final, fateful last steps at Gatley railway station in December 2015.
Her family are still waiting for the coroner’s recommendations following an emotional two-week inquest into her medical treatment and death.
Eating disorder experts say anorexia claims more lives than other psychiatric condition, and that people suffering with illness should be able to access treatment ‘without delay.’
Eating disorder charity Beat, however, say the figures are a positive sign that more people are accessing treatment in the region. “We know that eating disorders can affect anyone regardless of age, gender, or background but, as the NICE guidelines suggest, the risk is highest for young men and women between 13 and 17 years of age,” a Beat spokesman said.
“The fact that we are seeing parents and families spotting signs of an eating disorder early is positive. Full recovery from an eating disorder is possible but the sooner someone gets the treatment they need, the more likely they are to make a full and sustained recovery.”
Treatment for eating disorders is often described by sufferers as disjointed and under-resourced
Sam Gayne, 24, was diagnosed with anorexia at the age of 14 but says her mental illness started much earlier.
Sam, who lives in Withington, says many factors played a part in her mental illness. For her it was never about weight loss or ‘looking thin,’ rather a healthy eating obsession.
Sam, who is now in recovery from anorexia and works as an ambassador for Beat, said: “When I first became ill I remember there being a lot of emphasis on getting your five-a-day.
“I was 14 and I was thinking I needed to stop eating sweets and be more healthy. I thought eating your five-a-day would be a good place to start. I then started scouring magazines for food advice which is one of the worst places to look. It then started to control my diet.
“I would only eat a portion of a certain food groups. I started to cut certain things out or develop phobias of certain foods. If I didn’t eat the exact same thing every day, or say a banana was too big, I would have a mini breakdown.
“Obviously I lost weight but that was never my intention. I never thought I looked good but I also never connected the way an anorexic person looked to the way I looked.
“It was like body dysmorphia. I never saw myself in that way.”
Sam believes her problems started when she was feeling stressed at school. “I was quite a perfectionist and I was worried about doing well at school,” Sam explains.
“That combined with the stresses of adolescence may have triggered something in me.”
Sam says she was lucky to have a supportive family who intervened and took her to a GP. While she eventually found the right treatment for her eating disorder, she said at times she would go for up to six weeks without seeing a specialist.
After two years of ‘subsisting,’ Sam was admitted to hospital at the age of 16. Her weight had become dangerously low and doctors felt it necessary to treat her anorexia in hospital.
With the right treatment Sam was able to recover and move from her home in Northamptonshire to Manchester to start university.
The overall increase in Greater Manchester may be due in part to a rise in the number of times girls aged 10 to 12 are treated for anorexia. But the number of times 10 to 12-year-old boys and girls were treated for eating disorders was also up from three to 28 over the period.
There has also been a rise in the number of times 13 to 15-year-olds have been treated for bulimia, up from five times in 2010/11 to 10 times in 2015/16.
In 2015/16, children aged under 10 were treated for eating disorders six times in Greater Manchester.
Campaigners at Beat are keen to dispel the stereotype of eating disorders as a ‘female illness.’
A Beat spokesman added: “We hope that the increasing number signals that more men are feeling able to come forward for treatment, not bound by those stereotypical views of the illness.”