I wasn't a typical anorexic, but my GP shouldn't have dismissed my eating disorder

Specialist eating disorder services are overstretched and there is a shortage of support if labels like ‘anorexic’ and ‘bulimic’ don’t seem to apply

Almost nine years ago to the day, I was standing on a set of scales in my GP’s surgery, waiting to be told if my weight had stabilised or dropped.

I remember thinking that not weighing myself regularly was something that separated me from people with eating disorders, and I wondered if my GP was thinking the same. I ate sweets and chocolate, and I didn’t obsess over calories. Nor did I think I was fat when I was clearly underweight; a lot of people with eating disorders fail to recognise when their weight loss has gone too far – I knew I was too thin.

I got the classic advice that "Your body is like a car: it needs fuel in order to work".

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