My eating disorder 'blew up' during lockdown and almost put me in hospital

04.03.2022 - 23:23 / manchestereveningnews.co.uk

“The pandemic gave me a lot more thinking time, so my mind became consumed with food as it had no other occupation.”

Amy is training to be an elite gymnast. She’s also studying at college to eventually enroll on a science course at university.

But for this 17-year-old, lockdown led to a mental health spiral which saw a ‘destructive’ pattern of anorexia ‘blow up’ - draining all ‘laughter and smiles’ from her life.

Now, she’s sharing her story to help others to learn about the ‘often-misunderstood mental health condition’, and how to recognise the signs of eating disorders in their loved ones.

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“I have anorexia, which is down to a contribution of over-exercise and under-fuelling,” says Amy, from Bury, who cannot be identified further due to patient confidentiality.

“As my training and mobility, such as walking to, from and around school, was stripped from me during the pandemic, I over-trained even more in an attempt to compensate for not training ‘properly’ and I under-fuelled to a greater extent.

“The pandemic gave me a lot more thinking time, so my mind became consumed with food as it had no other occupation.”

An eating disorder, put simply, is disordered eating, explains Amy. And it doesn’t stop when mealtime ends.

“Your mind is emotionally driven, causing unhealthy and destructive habits around food.

“Eating disorders are fuelled by anxiety with the unhealthy food related habits and obsessiveness around food acting as a coping mechanism for the anxiety.

“It isn’t just something you struggle with at mealtimes, you struggle with it constantly.”

The vicious cycle led Amy and her family to a point where ‘all