I started to notice a change in my eating pattern in 2018. I just thought I had more of an appetite or was being extra greedy but by the end of 2018 I was eating until the point where I felt sick. I didn’t really understand why I was doing this but it continued to happen on a daily basis. At that point in time my mental health was really poor.

At the start of 2019 the binging developed into purging. This is known as Bulimia. For some reason I seemed to think that it was normal I was making myself sick. This progressively got worse but I kept it to myself. The first time I came to realise there was a problem was when I was on a girls holiday. After dinner before we would go out, I’d sometimes be sick. The girls would be like ‘omg are you okay!!’ and I’d just brush it off and say it was because I had ate too much.

After the girls holiday in summer 2019 I was at my worst. I was binging and being sick every day. I would even binge at work sometimes - that’s how bad it got.

In September 2019 I finally reached out and told my mum ‘I think I have an eating disorder’. I spoke to the doctors straight away and was referred to the Cullen Centre which is a hospital that helps those with eating disorders. I started to receive the treatment in January. I would meet with a psychiatrist every 2 weeks to discuss my eating patterns, my mood, my weight etc which I found really difficult. My treatment at the Cullen centre finished in March but I then had to be re-referred before my 2 month review in May.

Since my 2nd time of receiving help form the Cullen centre my eating has been a lot better. There is still a lot of progress to be made but I’m well and truly on the road to recovery!

The reason I want to help raise funds for BEAT is to raise awareness for eating disorders. People don’t realise just how big an impact it can actually have on someone. From my point of view - it completely took over my life.

BEAT have continued to support me and my family through this tough period 💜

A smile really can hide a lot. #eatingdisorderawareness