Young anorexia survivor whose weight plummeted to almost 4st 'would have died if she didn't travel abroad for treatment'
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A young anorexia whose weight plummeted to just over four stone after consuming only 150 calories a day says she would have died if she hadn't travelled to the UK for treatment.
Chloe was at severe risk of going into a coma as her blood sugars dropped so low, prompting medics to warn her not to fall asleep.
Yet despite two years of being in and out of various Dublin hospitals and repeated tearful pleas from her family, the services and facilities available were unable to help Chloe, now 18, at the height of her condition.
Although Chloe insists the nurses, doctors and therapists in Dublin, Ireland, did their utmost, they didn't have the training required to give the suffering teen the "harsh interventions" she needed.
In 2016, Chloe, then 16, was in the throes of anorexia. She was five foot seven tall but weighed just under five stone.
(Image: Irish Mirror)
Speaking to Dublin Live , Chloe said: "It was very gradual, I can't say when it all started but when it got really, really bad I was about fourteen or fifteen.
"I was consumed with food; that's all I thought about.
"I was losing energy and I deteriorated very quickly.
"It was an addiction, no matter how much weight I lost - it wasn't enough.
"The stigma with anorexia is that you want to be the skinniest or the most beautiful, it can be different for everyone but in my experience, when people told me I didn't look attractive, in my head I was winning.
"I wanted to disappear, I didn't want attention, I just wanted to disappear."
She was living with her mum in south Dublin at the time, and her friends got her in touch with the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service.
(Image: Irish Mirror)
Chloe was then admitted to St Joseph's Adolescent inpatient unit in St Vincent's Hospital.
It's a clinic for teens with general psychiatric problems and has the capacity for twelve beds.
Chloe recalled: "The staff were so, so lovely. They did their absolute best for me and I loved my counsellor.
"She made me realise a lot of things about my past that I didn't think bothered me.
"She made me see what was wrong and how certain things might have influenced my eating disorder.
"I was diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder because I started to remember things from my childhood that I'd repressed; a specific incident that happened when I was seven.
"When all this came to the surface, I stopped eating completely in St Joseph's, I started associating eating with remembering what happened to me as a child."
(Image: Irish Mirror)
Chloe could just about manage a high calorie protein drink called Fresubin but couldn't manage food as the sensation of fullness triggered memories of her childhood trauma.
When she was offered two-week leave from the clinic, her condition deteriorated again.
Life became a vicious cycle of hospital admissions followed by stints at home where Chloe would only drink diet coke.
It got to the point where she would have 300 calories at most over a two-day period, a max of 1,000 calories a week.
Chloe said: "I ended up weighing below five stone. I was a healthy eight and a half stone and then it just went down to just above four stone."
"I moved in with my granny and grandad because my mum had work, they'd just cry and beg me to eat but I just couldn't do it for anyone. I couldn't do it for them or me, the fear was just too much.
"My granny brought me to hospital because I started turning purple and blue from the poor circulation.
"The results of the tests they did scared them a bit.
(Image: Irish Mirror)
"I was sent back to St Joseph's but they were too scared to keep me in because they couldn't attend to me medically.
"Apparently my blood pressure and my stats were very dangerous and they sent me back to the main hospital in St Vincent's, two nurses brought me there and I thought I'd only be there for a few days.
"There I was given adult psychiatric treatment. I was being treated as an adult rather than a child.
"I probably would have got more intervention if I was placed in a children's hospital but I didn't, I was in St Vincent's for a while and in the ICU occasionally."
While undergoing treatment, Chloe was fitted with a nasogastric tube which would allow the staff to feed her the Frezubin protein drinks.
But as she was in adult facility, she could refuse these feedings.
Chloe said: "I realised they weren't going to force feed me.
(Image: Irish Mirror)
"The nurses would come in and say 'Chloe do you want a feed now' and I'd be like 'no' and they'd be like 'ok' and just wrote 'refused' on the sheet. There was no intervention.
"My blood sugar went below one some nights and I was in severe risk of going into coma.
The only advice they gave me was 'don't fall asleep' - a healthcare assistant would stand over me and say 'Chloe stay awake, Chloe stay awake, Chloe stay awake'.
Chloe was told she was going to die if the situation remained the same and her family were told that staff were surprised she was still able to function the way she was.
Her relatives in the UK suggested they raise funding so that she could go to a dedicated eating disorder clinic there and professionals in Ireland agreed this was the best option as they had 'ticked all the boxes' the Irish healthcare system could offer.
Funding was also provided by Ireland's treatment abroad scheme which took a number of weeks.
She was eventually taken to the Springfield University Hospital in Tooting, South London where staff were shocked by her condition and that she was allowed to fly without medical support.
Chloe said: "I think they were quite shocked to see me the way I was, I don't think they were expecting what they saw."
After a total of 52 weeks and two days on the in Springfield Hospital, Chloe had made leaps and bounds in her recover, although it was a difficult road.
For a lengthy period she had to be force fed three times daily.
Chloe also recalls being fearful of showers as she thought the water would enter her body, making her gain weight.
But the brave 18-year-old said this aggressive intervention was exactly what she needed in the beginning: "I fully believe that without the teamn the UK, I would be dead by now."
"Trusting others and letting people help me is a big thing that aided me getting to where I am. I think that's the best thing I could have done. That wasn’t easy to begin with but once I pealed the plaster off it got easier with time.
"Realising that the people helping me had years of experience and qualifications made it easier to trust and value their judgment that they didn't just walk off the street as silly as that sounds.
"Also having people going through similar but all the same much different problems was definitely comforting. We got each other through it and I have made friends for life from it. I wouldn't wish this illness or any other mental illness on my worst enemy."
Anorexia Nervosa has the highest mortality rate of all psychiatric conditions, but all eating disorders are associated with high levels of both mental and physical complications such as heart and endocrine problems.
On Wednesday January 24, the HSE announced a move that will see a new model of care for those with eating disorders in Ireland.
According to the health care provider, the aim is to improve quality and safety, access to services for all ages and provide value for money in how these services are delivered.
The HSE’s partners in developing this model were Bodywhys and the College of Psychiatrists of Ireland. A four year implementation plan has been approved to allow for phased recruitment and training.
The benefits of this new model of care for people with eating disorders include faster access to assessment and early intervention, more access to clinicians with specialist training in eating disorders care across the system, dedicated physician/ paediatrician time and access to dieticians, and support for families and carers through the partnership with Bodywhys.
Hearing the news that things would change for eating disorder sufferers in Ireland was an emotional moment for Chloe.
She said: "I cried, there was tears going down my eyes. I just thought people are finally going to get help and get the right help.
"People aren't going to have to get like this; like the way I did. People are going to get early interventions and they're not going to have to leave the country like I did.
"I literally went up to the counter and ordered myself a blueberry muffin, I was so happy and I ate it all. There was no regret".
Chloe now lives with relatives in Kent and although she misses her family and friends in Ireland, she has to stay for the considerably superior level of care she's receiving there.
Thankfully, Chloe now has a new lease of life.
"I’m so lucky that I have reached a stage that I can do normal tasks and I can experience normal teenage things like walking around the shops, spending time with family and friends and being a bit silly", she said.
"I wish for nothing more then to continue down this paths and for other sufferers to join me; life truly can be beautiful. For me things truly did have to hit rock bottom for me to see that.
"I still have a way to go and I still have the bad days but I can function and I have learnt ways to manage. It pulls me down but I get up again, ten times stronger."