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What to do when something is really wrong, and you cant get help

What to do when something is really wrong, and you cant get help

I find it hard to cope with all the slogans and advice about getting help, but even when I recognise something is majorly wrong and i am not coping, I seem to be the one that slips through all the gaps in the system and I dont know where to go and I seem to be getting ping ponged backward and forward and going around in circles.

I have been so ill from anorexia and really physically unwell and majorly depressed and unsafe, and everywhere i go I am told I am too ill from anorexia to get help and no one wants to take on the responsibility of anorexia.

Everyone says I need to be in hospital but the wait lists for private hospitals and the exclusion criterias means I cant access care when I need it, and the local public hospitals just say they dont treat eds and they wont/cant do any proper ax or referral process.

People talk about early intervention but what about when you cant get treatment and just get sicker and sicker, and are effectively left at home on your own getting sicker and left to self destruct.

If people are ready to access treatment it would be nice if there was actually treatment available. When health professionals and services refuse to offer treatment when it is needed people just get sicker and sicker with more and more complications.

Everyone knows the death rate with anorexia is the highest of all mental illness, yet it is impossible to people with a severe and enduring eating disorder to access treatment.

14 replies

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In response to: What to do when something is really wrong, and you cant get help

Re: What to do when something is really wrong, and you cant get help

Thank you. I have it and will follow up.

In response to: What to do when something is really wrong, and you cant get help

Re: What to do when something is really wrong, and you cant get help

Looks like you have had similar experiences of Emergency.

Everyone seems to think if you go to hospital when acutely unwell you will be offered treatment of referred in the right direction, yet it never works that way, and it is a waste of time going to hospital, because you just get sent home to the same situation that landed you into hospital with nothing changing.

My anorexia has absolutely nothing to do with body image, media or anything. It is about self-hate, trauma, and probably never growing up and developing adult skills. I developed anorexia at 13 yrs so missed all the normal things that teenagers do and experience, I have just been in a cocoon of anorexia ever since.

In response to: Re: What to do when something is really wrong, and you cant get help

Re: What to do when something is really wrong, and you cant get help

Getting bounced around and not receiving the appropriate treatment (in both medical but also impersonal) is frustrating and disappointing.

As you mentioned, Ivana, some practitioners can seem like they don't really care, but remember that not all hospital staff are like this. Like with all things, there are 'bad' and 'good', and there always layers to this as well (i.e., understaffed hospitals, lack of resources, workplace culture) which can influence 'bad' behaviour. I don't want to excuse poor behaviour, it's never ok to be treated badly. But as you mentioned Ivana, perhaps some broader societal changes need to happen. This can't happen if people don't voice their concerns about the (lack of) treatment that they are receiving.

If you are unwell, it's important to seek treatment, and not hold back because you believe you won't get treated. If you feel like you don't get the treatment or the respect you deserve, remember that you have right, and you can voice your concerns through the Health Commissioner in your state.

In response to: Re: What to do when something is really wrong, and you cant get help

Re: What to do when something is really wrong, and you cant get help

Hi Pipkin,

I sent you a message in the LE forum - you might want to try calling Mental Health Advocacy Serivve on Ph: 02 92195000 or Ph: 02 97476155.

Let us all know how you are doing

Hobbit

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