Leaving home with an eating disorder ‘exhausting and isolating’

Unpacking, making new friends and getting lost on your way to class are all part of starting college — but Flora Gosling spent most of her freshman week staring at groceries on supermarket shelves, terrified that she wouldn’t be able to eat any of it.

Flora can eat plain pasta, bread, and butter, but they are among the only foods her mind registers as edible. Anything else can cause her to choke, choke, or vomit.

When she tries to eat something that isn’t on her “safe foods” list, “I have this immediate need, both mentally and physically, to get it out of my mouth.”

The 23-year-old from Aberdeenshire has Avoidant/Restrictive Feeding Disorder (ARFID), an eating disorder that can cause extreme anxiety about food.

Flora initially left home to spend a gap year in New Zealand, which meant she no longer had any help from her parents to ensure she could get the right food.

Now entering her final year studying English and Theater at the University of Glasgow, she says having an eating disorder at university can be “tiring and isolating”.

There has been a sharp increase in the number of people requiring hospital treatment during the pandemic because lockdowns have had a devastating impact on the mental health of vulnerable young people. More under-19s than ever have been treated for an eating disorder in recent years, according to NHS England.

In the last three months of available data, from April to June this year, 2,862 children and young people started NHS treatment for an eating disorder, of whom 1,721 were on a waiting list. That waiting list has more than tripled compared to the same period three years ago.

But eating disorder charity Beat says information is lacking on how many young adults need support for an eating disorder because the process of moving from child to adult support services is complicated.

The charity’s head of protection and quality assurance, Kerri Fleming, told the BBC that the “lack of” information means universities “are unable to prepare as well as they should” to support affected students.

The first time Flora went to a supermarket alone was during her time in New Zealand.

“I remember standing in front of a fridge full of different types of butter I wasn’t familiar with and crying because I couldn’t decide whether to go a whole year without butter or try something new that made me feel really anxious and uncomfortable,” she says.

This year Flora also found it excruciating to cook in front of people she didn’t know very well.

“It’s a real humiliation to cook and eat in public because you have to face your own fear and explain it to the people around you at the same time,” she says.

Learning from her gap year experience, Flora decided to avoid the busy communal kitchens in college dorms when she started college, opting instead to share an apartment with just one other person.

But she still struggled to form healthy habits, prioritizing 12-hour visits to the library over regular meals.

“I remember going home one day and realizing I couldn’t think of anything to eat. I just broke down crying and couldn’t explain to anyone why I was so upset,” she says.

Learn more about ARFID here.

After spending hours looking for a meal, Flora finally settled on a panini. The ordeal meant she lost a day of study time and left feeling “tired, hungry and embarrassed”.

Tom Quinn, Beat’s director of external affairs, says university can be “a challenging time” for people with eating disorders for many reasons, such as: B. moving away from home, changing their routine and the stress of meeting new people and studying for long hours.

Stress can “make eating disorder behaviors worse and make recovery more difficult,” he says.

Flora says finding the right support can be difficult and has sometimes had to deal with it on my own.

The University of Glasgow said it has services available to offer advice and support to students dealing with an eating disorder and can help them access specialist support from GPs and other NHS services.

A spokesman told BBC News the university has programs such as a monthly eating disorder and a compulsive exercise support group that provide a “safe place” for students and others in the area.

Flora has now learned to deal with her eating disorder during her studies. She has a “perfect map” in mind of the cafes, restaurants and supermarkets in Glasgow’s West End that sell food she can eat and only goes to those places.

“It can really prevent me from feeling comfortable at social events, and I often worry about how my relationship with food is going to affect me, but it’s something I’ve gotten so used to,” she says adds that she has accepted that feeling overwhelmed and anxious is part of having ARFID at the university.

“It can be exhausting and isolating, but it’s also manageable, you just have to develop your own coping mechanisms and routines.”

Beat says there is a lack of data on how many people in the UK have an eating disorder, but based on figures from other countries it is estimated it could be 1.25 million.

The charity’s Kerri Fleming says new university students with eating disorders should speak to the university’s health team, register with a local GP practice and not “deny” that they need help.

In addition to recommending a visit to a family doctor, some universities also refer students to charities that run recovery workshops and hotlines, as well as mental wellbeing apps.

“Don’t try to pretend everything’s fine. People will immediately say that they can do it, that it’s just a slip, and they try to carry on as usual,” she adds.

“Ask for that support, don’t be ashamed of it.”

If you or someone you know is affected by eating disorders, these organizations can maybe help.