If you're battling an eating disorder, you'll know that accessing support can greatly impact your journey to recovery. It's often scary taking the first step toward treatment, but it's also brave and can result in big changes in several areas of your life. Although eating disorder patients often require treatment from a specialist, there are several ways your medical centre can provide support in addition to liaising with your specialist care team.
Medication Prescribing
Your GP can prescribe medication to stimulate your appetite, improve weight gain or reduce anxiety. Anti-anxiety medications can be particularly helpful in the early days of recovery when meal times can cause significant anxiety. Additionally, if you're experiencing depression, your GP can work with you to find an antidepressant that's right for you. Anti-depressants can also be used in the short term to help control appetite in those who binge eat or overeat.
Weight Checks
If your eating disorder specialist recommends weight checks as part of your treatment plan, your medical centre may be able to facilitate this. This can be useful if you live quite far from the hospital your eating disorder specialist is based at. Most medical centres run weight management clinics that are open to a wide variety of patients, so if visiting your medical centre is more convenient for you, ask to have your weight checks carried out there.
Emotional Support
It's very common for those in treatment for an eating disorder to receive emotional support in the form of psychiatry services or counselling. Medical centres often run counselling clinics where you can access one-to-one counselling or group counselling. Some medical centres also run support groups for eating disorder patients, which can be really valuable and help you realise you're not alone.
Tertiary Referrals
Eating disorders can develop for a number of reasons, and it's not always possible to pinpoint the trigger. However, trauma is often a trigger and some patients develop an eating disorder when food is one of the very few things in their life they can control. Depending on what may have triggered your eating disorder, your GP may be able to make a tertiary referral to an appropriate support service. For example, if you are a victim of domestic violence, your GP can refer you to a crisis support service to help you access emergency housing.
If you'd like to know what services are offered by a medical centre, speak to your GP or the centre manager.