Help/Support from other parents of a child with anorexia

[QTsMom]

My daughter has been battling an eating disorder for about a year now. She's been seeing a dr. regularly but is not getting any better so is waitlisted for an eating disorder clinic. I know there's nothing I can do really and that SHE has to WANT to get better but how the heck do I sit back and watch her starve herself? She's a very active girl and does a lot of sports, I worry that she will just up and collapse! (She saw her dr. today and he has nixed all physical activity for a while but I doubt she'll listen). I'm just not sure how I'm supposed to deal with all of this , what more I can do to help and HOW I'm supposed to approach HER - her mood swings are so hard to deal with! Any advice?

[qat]

I battled my ED for over 2 years and finally had enough. I went to a treatment center and then started attending (and still do) support groups for ED. I tried one on one counseling forever but it never worked. I really like the group setting because I connect with everyone. They know and feel what I am going through. See if your daughter will attend one of these. At first I was really nervous and you do not need to talk at first. Just let them know that you are new and it will be okay. After a while I felt more comfortable and not as nervous and it really helped to say what was going on in my mind.

I hope the best for you and your daughter.

Take care.

[ally1969]

Hi!
We have something in common. I too , have a daughter fighting an eating disorder. She is 15 and I know for sure it has been going on for over a year, probably longer. She is also very active in sports and has been in a partial hospitalization program twice now. (she is there right now)
If you would like to PM me and exchange e-mails I would love to talk to you more on this. I have also been looking for a support group, or just someone else who knows what I am going through. It is so frustrating and I feel so helpless and hopeless. I live in a small town , and it has been so hard to even find any resources on this. Everyone I call for counseling says that "eating disorders are very complex and we don't really deal with them".
Anyway, if you would like to talk further, I would love to hear from you, as well as any other parents out there on how they dealt with their daughter's eating disorder. I would also really love to hear some success stories, as I am getting very discouraged as this goes on.
Thanks!