The situation is dire

There are 202 NHS beds for children and young people with eating disorders. On top of that there's a handful of private hospital beds with NHS funding. 

I'm not sure of the exact number for adults, but when you think how often eating disorders start in adolescence, this figure is disturbing. This situation is dire.

I am, by no means, someone in a bad situation, not in comparison to other people. 

This is not a pity party. But I am someone who is told repeatedly that I am not thin enough to get help, I am still too heavy. My consultant psychiatrist sat opposite me a few weeks ago and asked in an ideal world what help I would like, I replied that I wanted therapy around the way I view food, the way I view gaining weight, in order for my brain to understand that healthy weight gain is not a negative thing. She smiled at me, and said 'oh well you don't weigh little enough to get that sort of therapy'. Again, this is no pity party, but I sat there weighing 45kg. 

Yet that is still too much. 

Therefore I am given 'general' mental health help, from a team once a week, who see people with a range of mental health difficulties.

Although I am grateful for this help, the team I see do not specialise in eating disorders.

When I was referred I was told I was an 'urgent' referral. From my course, I know urgent referrals have an assessment target time of a week. I waited four weeks for my assessment.  

In a way I was lucky, as I only lost a handful of pounds in those four weeks. But for other people, those four weeks could be detrimental. 

As well as the physical side of losing weight, there is also the mental side, and a big deterioration can happen in four weeks. 

I know I will never recover through the help I am getting now, and I am lucky I can choose private help. But not all people have that option.

The situations, the waiting times, the help, everything that people with mental health illnesses face have room for improvement. But people with eating disorders, above all else, are massively overlooked, pushed aside, under-treated and made to wait for far too long.

Having trained as a nurse and worked in several different mental health teams, I know all too well that the money isn't there, there aren't enough beds or staff or agencies to help everyone.

It's all over the news that we are constantly slamming health services for not doing enough but, again having worked in many services, I know that professionals are doing all they can do. There just simply isn't enough of them.

Eating disorders become chronic and completely take over your life. 

The best way to beat eating disorders is to catch them before they become chronic. All I can really say is if you know someone who struggles, or if you are struggling, look for help through your GP or online services like b-eat and look for help before it snowballs into even more of a hellish nightmare.