Shropshire Star

Too much publicity given to obesity among youngsters

I’m getting a bit fed up with all the publicity being given to obesity.

Published

My daughter was in the obese category when she left primary school. It shocked a lot of people as it was just a little puppy fat which we knew would vanish at secondary school.

At this point she used to go swimming with friends go out on her flicker and was a carefree young person who had ambition.

Gradually as time went on she became fussy about food, refused to eat breakfast, then I found out she was skipping dinner at school, I had several meetings but all my daughter would say was the smell of the canteen made her feel ill. Then she limited what she ate at home and was self harming.

She was diagnosed with bulimia, this graduated to anorexia, eventually she was admitted to PRH and on a ward for her own wellbeing where she still refused to eat or even drink water, the nurses and patient visitors were amazing as she was getting psychotic.

After a week and losing nearly a stone she didn’t need to lose, she was admitted to a unit on the other side the country where she was restrained and tube fed six times a day. The doctor there said this was the worst case he had seen in three years and she could have had heart failure at any time.

She was at the unit nearly four months and they were amazing.

But every time the TV is on all we hear is the ‘f’ word, starting with schools, which is when my daughter’s problems started. She feels fat now as she isn’t a walking skeleton. I do feel that in all the hype they should also be aware of the other side of the scale which has a higher mortality rate than other mental health conditions, and maybe give some attention to this matter.

Last year I really thought my daughter would die. At least now she has her physical health, but the emotional side is not helped by the constant propaganda in the media.

Name and address supplied

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