RYL Forums - emergency GP appointment

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emergency GP appointment - and follow up

At 5pm this afternoon.
About my anorexia. My therapist has said it needs urgent medical attention on the physical side.
So scared.
I would really appreciate some support and kind words. Please.
Oh, and I'm not at work today, obviously.

Oh Katie in sorry to hear this I imagine it is very frightening for you. I hope appointment goes okay and pleaseknow we are hhere for you the whole way before and after also. Can you be gentle with yourself today before the appointment?

Gentle hugs Katie. I can imagine how scary this must be, but as a positive, its lovely they want to help you. Could you think of something you could treat yourself to following the appointment? x

Hope you manage to.explain everything.to the doctor x

Thanks so much.

I am so so scared. Shaky.
And I feel so weak.

Try not to worry about it.x
Would you be willing to try or ask for ensure/fortisip to help up your intake? It could help.
Are you taking anyone with you?
You could always bullet point things down on paper so you don't forget anything (I've had to do this today).
Good luck and i hope they can help!

Thanks. :)

I don't know about asking for things directly beyond 'anything I can take that might help?'. The thing is what I [apparently/do] need is checking my heart etc and perhaps a meal plan, medical supervision.
I haven't got anyone to go with me, as it doesn't work for my willing manager today.
I've made notes, yes, as long as I don't get 'bulldozed'.

I am so struggling with the 'but I'm fine, there's nothing wrong' mindset.

When I was ill with my eating disorder I had my blood pressure checked, a battery of bloods test, height and weight recorded. I was then referred to OP eating disorder clinic who dealt with the medical side of my ED as I was already in therapy for the underlying issues. Once I the referral came through I was give an eating plan by the dietitian, which was pretty much the same as the plan given below. I thought it might be useful to see the sort of meal plans you might expect. Hope your appt goes ok.

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Thanks. :)
Sounds sort of similar to me, though I don't know if she'd refer me.
Reading the plan is a bit much at the moment, but I did make it to reading part way through lunch...

Well, whilst you're there you might as well let the GP do the decision making on your physical state.

I would personally [of course you might want something different] ask for advice on a basic meal plan structure to help you gain back your energy levels and hopefully any weight you have lost throughout this crisis. And then ask for a follow up appointment in a couple of weeks so that you can see how the eating has gone from a physical perspective.

What sort of support with meal planning would you like? Is it instruction or meal suppliments? If you were fine you wouldn't be seeking the advice of a psychotherapist in the first place. Try and trust that her concern is in your best interests.

Thank you.
I do have pretty similar noted down.
I would imagine she'd want a follow up once she has my therapist's letter anyway, but probs once my blood test results are through. Two birds with one stone. I don't know.
It's the weakness I need help overcoming.
The thing is, I can plan meals, but I have no appetite for them, and then with anorexic mind on top of that it's really hard.

To be honest, I don't think I gain much from seeing the ED team, with the exception of getting the eating plan, much of the useful work came through the therapy I was having.

Don't worry about reading it, you can always come back to it if you think it will be useful further down the line. I still sometimes refer back to it if my eating goes awry.

I get the not wanting to eat if you don't have an appetite, what I find helpful is to have distractions whilst eating, e.g. eating whilst reading a book or if I am at work eating whilst at my desk.

Thanks. :)

I am working on all the therapy stuff in therapy, but that's kind of hard while I'm still so weak. So it's kind of like how I need ad-s to help ease things enough so I can work in therapy, I need help sorting out my eating to gain strength so I can start to more directly confront the underlying issues.

I've got to get ready to go out now.
Thanks for all your support.
I'll let you know how I get on.

I also didn't find the ED team very helpful, it was the dietician support and my determination/choice to move forwards.

I get when you have a lack of appetite its hard to eat but a GP may not be able to make you feel more hungry; the meal planning advice is probably all they could offer. My suggestion is to treat food like medicine, it may taste rank [like when you have a cold] but 'get it down ya' and see it as your key to mental clarity, functioning and essentially better mood. I've sat miserable as hell knowing I need it and literally gagging and physically struggling to swallow anything without copious amounts of fluid [which doesn't help in itself] but it will get easier, its an adjustment thing, but it will happen.

The brain's preferred source of energy is glucose so reguardless of how much you eat, never leaving more than 3 hours between 'pit stops' is vital. Maybe you could drink more calories so you don't realise you're eating them persay, but you have to drink and if that's helping you get energy, that's another 2 birds scenario.

I hope the appointment goes okay. I think it's important to distinguish between anorexia and anorexia nervosa. Like, the ED side of things is more behavioural and body image and focused on things like that - do you find you have an issue with this? Anorexia (the lack of interest in food + associated weight loss) can arises from depression and can be equally as damaging both physically and mentally, but I think its important to work out which you feel you have issue with as they both require different types of intervention.

Good luck.

How did the appointment go?

Thanks all. :)

Jodie, it's a bit of both in a whole messy stew! They each feed off each other, pardon the pun. :P I do have a body image issue, and a mindset of wanting to lose weight so at least I'm good at something, and at times I believe I look fat and at times not. The root is depression related though. Which the anorexic mindset hooks into and says 'oo cool she's not eating, she's losing weight, awesome, she'll be pretty and people will like her, managers will see that she's achieving at something'. When obviously I'm baseline underweight anyway and losing any more is not cool. And I know the thought stream is 'crazy'..

Well, I was in the waiting room for a whole hour... I was beginning to abandon hope!

But she was amazing. Really understanding, and really listened.
Basically, she's added full blood count, iron and folate & B12 to be tested in the blood test. Then I'm to see her again once the results are in. She'll check my weight and blood pressure again then and if need be prescribe supplement.

In the meantime, I'm to eat every couple of hours or so, something small, not to worry about full meals, not to worry about eating healthy, just to eat what I like. She gave some examples. The aim is to build up to one decent sized meal a day. This takes a heck of a lot of pressure off. Then she'll monitor the effect that's had on weight etc. As I have lost weight.

I was in there for like ages, and she didn't shove me out the door. She would have preferred to have my therapist's letter right there, but so be it.

Was this the same GP who scared you so much before? If so, I'm really glad you got on with her so much better this time.