A Burnham-On-Sea woman who is battling an eating disorder has issued a plea for more specialist support in Somerset for fellow sufferers and improved recognition of trauma in childhood.
Vanessa Holbrow – known to many local people as Ness – made the headlines earlier this year when she won at Crufts with her border terrier Sir Jack.
Now, five months after her Crufts win, she says her eating disorder has taken a turn for the worse.
In an emotional interview with ITV News to highlight the lack of support available for eating disorder sufferers and raise awareness of how poorly people need to be to get treatment, she says: “I’m frightened.”
“There’s a part of me that is frightened for my life. I’m shocked at how far you have to get in terms of your physical state before you are able to get help.”
“If I lived in an area that happened to have a unit specialising in treatment for those with eating disorders it would be far easier.”
“I think there is a postcode lottery that exists across the board in mental health.”
“Eating disorders have the highest mortaility rate. I have had it for 35 years, and there are many others out there who have had it that long.”
Ness believes she was misdiagnosed 25 years ago and should have been helped with trauma. With the right diagnosis and treatment then, she believes that she may not be suffering now.
“I feel particularly let down by the system. One of the first modes of treatment was Electroconvulsive Therapy. Now while I respect they were trying to save my life – and they did – it was traumatising for someone to go through.”
She adds: “The psychiatric system didn’t recognise complex trauma then when I entered the system 25 years ago – the system in effect became my sole carer, and decided my future. To my horror, the case is the still the same today – but there are changes to recognition slowly happening within NICE – the National Institute of Clinical Excellence.”
The Somerset Clinical Commissioning Group says it won’t discuss specific patients, but it is committing extra funding to supporting the community eating disorders service and young people who need help.
A CCG spokesman says: “Whilst this may be of little comfort to people who have lived with an eating disorder through their adult life, the emphasis for local services has been upon raising awareness and early intervention. The age of those most frequently seeking help are 14 to 24 year-olds.”
Ness says that at age 47 she wants to get people of all ages the treatment and support when they need it, for the root causes of eating disorders.
She adds: “To be frank, it would be no surprise if someone happened to me overnight if you know what I mean, but I want someone to learn from my story.”
“If I fall of my perch next week or next month, hopefully I will have sown some sort of seed into looking into this in more depth.”
Anyone suffering with eating disorders should contact the ‘Beat Eating Disorders helpline’ on 0808 801 0677 or by clicking here. For trauma issues, click here.
