At 15, Nancy Tucker went to her GP about her problems with food. She felt fobbed off and spiralled out of control – she and her mother talk about why turning to the medical profession was a disasterWhen Nancy Tucker was 15, her mother, Jessica realised that she had a problem with food. Nancy had gone on a diet, but the diet seemed to be going on and on, she seemed more and more obsessed with what was on her plate, and she was behaving strangely at mealtimes.Jessica persuaded Nancy to visit their GP, but the GP’s reaction was unexpected. She weighed Nancy, consulted lots of charts, and then said she didn’t meet the criteria for referral. Her weight wasn’t “low enough”, it seemed, to trigger help. Continue
Tag: life and style
I’m worried that my teenage daughter has an eating disorder
She denies she has a problem, but she has lost a dramatic amount of weight and seems obsessed with food and cookery programmes. What can I do? Annalisa Barbieri gives her adviceOver the past year, my teenage daughter has lost a dramatic amount of weight. She smiles and says she doesn’t have any problems and dismisses any concern that I (or others) express over her weight loss. She has become obsessed by food and cookery programmes and gives us the impression of eating more than she obviously does.I had postnatal depression after her birth, followed by miscarriages, so she did not get a good start. When she was younger, my husband and I realised she was (understandably) very insecure and focused a lot of attention on