I still suffer from ‘teenage eating disorders’ in my forties

SHE’S been battling eating disorders since she was five, but it wasn’t until two years ago that 46-year-old Alison Perlman-Miller sought help.

She’s one of the soaring number of the “older generation” with eating disorders.

The conditions are usually associated with a younger age group, but the charity Beating Eating Disorders claims there’s a growing number of people in their 40s and 50s seeking help with food-related illness.

And Scottish charity No Bodies Perfect says around half of its service users are over-35.

With 78% of anorexia deaths falling in the over-49 age group, it’s a growing concern.

Health expert Dr Jennifer Thomas recently launched a book which says if you’re not suffering from anorexia, you probably know someone who is.

She says one in 20 of us are suffering from “almost anorexia”. It’s on the rise.

“It started when I went to school,” Alison explains.

“I have memories of pushing my dinner around the plate and being threatened with hospital when I didn’t eat.”

Alison, from Renfrew, was a self- conscious child, and believes this aspect of her personality triggered her difficulties with anorexia which continued and escalated throughout her teenage years.

“When I was 17, I combined a severely restricted diet with a punishing exercise regime every day,” she recalls.

“I would often weigh myself several times an hour and carry around a tape measure to measure my waist and hips.”

At her lowest point, Alison’s weight plummeted to six stones.

She continued to dip in and out of anorexia and bulimia throughout her 20s and 30s.

It was only in her 40s she realised she had a problem. “The word ‘anorexia’ made it onto my medical records a few years ago but only because I was treated for a depressive disorder where anorexia manifested itself alongside the depression,” she says.

“I was prescribed medication to keep my anxieties under control, and I realised I had to talk to someone about it.”

Alison, who works in the civil service, manages her anorexia with regular visits to her GP and has reached a stable and healthy weight.

“I don’t think anorexia will ever leave me — there’s always a danger it could be triggered by emotions,” she says.

“For years I didn’t say anything, as it’s a condition associated with teenagers.

“It’s as if it’s a more forgivable disorder when you’re young.

“It’s okay to be unsure and dysfunctional as a young person, when you don’t quite know yourself and you haven’t quite figured out how to handle yourself in the world, but the shame really hits when you’re at an age when people expect you to be functional and settled and successful and self- aware and self-controlled.

“I didn’t think anyone would understand, but now it’s such a relief to be able to talk about it — and to know I’m not alone suffering from an eating disorder in my later years.”

For help with eating disorders contact B-eat on 0845 634 1414 or visit b-eat.co.uk or No Bodies Perfect ( Scotland) at nbp-eating-disorders.co.uk