The years between childhood and adulthood – the teens – are not the easiest. Teenagers face some of society’s greatest pressures yet find it hard to know how to talk about it. Do you talk to parents? You don’t want to worry about them. See a GP? Well, it’s hard to get an appointment.

1. Young and
worried?
How to tell
your GP
By Susan Ramwell

2. The years between childhood and
adulthood – the teens – are not the
easiest. Teenagers face some of society’s
greatest pressures yet find it hard to know
how to talk about it. Do you talk to
parents? You don’t want to worry about
them. See a GP? Well, it’s hard to get an
appointment. And anyway, what are you
supposed to say? You see if it’s not clearly
a physical worry you have, most of the time
you are not sure how to describe the
problem.

3. Every day, on Ellern Mede’s Outpatient Eating
Disorder Service Line, I speak to young people and
parents who desperately need advice, starting
with – do I have a problem or not; do I need help
or not. It’s the right question to ask.
But an even better place to start is with your GP,
armed with some information of your own about
how to diagnose an eating disorder. You also
need the confidence to know, that if there is any
chance you do have the beginnings of an eating
disorder, the earlier you have a GP initial
assessment the better.

4. You need the following
physical health
measures taken by the
GP:
Your Height
Your Weight
A Full Count Blood Test including Phosphates
Your own account of your typical daily diet
Your own account of recent weight fluctuation
Your own account of recent behavioural and
attitudinal changes

5. Your GP will be able to tell from the above
assessments, and by consulting Junior MARSIPAN
guidelines from the Royal College of Psychiatry
Faculty of Eating Disorders, whether or not to
refer you for a Specialist Eating Disorder
Assessment – either with your local NHS service
or a private outpatient service such as that we
offer at Ellern Mede.

6. A specialist private outpatient assessment is affordable
for most families. If this assessment concludes a diagnosis
of early stages of an eating disorder, a short treatment
programme on an outpatient basis is also affordable, and
is designed specifically to each person’s needs, time
availability and budget.
In most cases, early stage intervention will prevent the
condition worsening, strengthen you against relapse in
the future and prevent you ever needing an inpatient
hospital stay.

7. Talk to Us
Head Office
Ellern Mede RidgewayHolcombe HillThe RidgewayMill HillLondon
NW7 4HX
Email Address
info@ellernmede.org
Phone number
020 3209 7900