EATING disorders can consume the lives of sufferers and their loved ones. As Eating Disorder Awareness Week gets underway Lancashire Telegraph reporter Harriet Whitehead has spoken to a teenager about her battle and why she now wants to raise awareness among others.

SACHA Justine Cuddy was hospitalised after developing Anorexia Nervosa when she was around 16. She was in such a poor physical condition that her hair started to fall out and she had to have weekly blood tests and heart scans.

Now she is starting the recovery process and wants to help raise awareness about a condition which she said nearly killed her.

It comes as research by eating disorder charity BEAT found three out of 10 eating disorder sufferers are not being referred for necessary treatment.

The 18-year-old from Darwen said she started to become body conscious at the age of 11.

Sacha said: "I did not like the way I looked compared to the other girls.

"I felt like I was larger and I looked in the mirror and did not like it.

"Just before I turned 16 I started to diet. I started to cut out junk food and then I became obsessive really quickly.

"Usually Anorexia does not start by wanting to diet.

"There are a lot of other things like past trauma, stress and wanting to have control over something.

"It is a way of controlling something if you feel you can't control other things in your life.

"I developed it as a shield to deal with all the other problems in my life such as depression, anxiety, self harm and death in the family."

The former Darwen Aldridge Academy student was in denial after her family raised concerns.

It was a few months later she realised it was a problem and was taken to a mental health unit in Lancashire.

"After two months I discharged myself. Because it was a mixed hospital they had very little knowledge on the nature of this illness so I had them wrapped around my finger. I skipped meals," she said.

"I was home for another six months and lost more weight. I was obsessed.

"My muscles fed off themselves because they had nowhere else to get energy, my hair fell out in clumps, my heart was straining and my immune system was beginning to stop working.

"With Anorexia, the fear is not just food, it is a lot of things.

"I was afraid of the smell, touching it, even seeing food because I thought it would somehow make its way into my system and make me 'greedy' and a 'binge eater'.

"I had no option but to agree to go to a specialist unit because it was either go voluntarily or get put under a section and go in by force."

Sacha was admitted to a specialist unit at the Priory Hospital in May where she was treated for severe Anorexia, OCD, depression and anxiety. At the beginning of December she was discharged.

"The support was amazing. An eating disorder does not just go away with psychiatric hospitalisation. It is much more complex than that. It will always be in my mind but learning to deal with it is the key," she said.

"I thought Anorexia was a diet but it isn't. It's life destroying, horrific, scary and not at all fun or a cute 'quirk' like some people make it out to be.

"To this day, although I was discharged in December I am fighting the voice in my head telling me to hide and throw food away, exercise to burn off all the calories or just stop eating altogether.

"I wish I got help sooner and accepted the help I needed.

"It can effect anyone of any gender and I want to get across that it is a mental illness and not about the way you look. Losing weight is a side-effect of what is a mental illness."

Sacha is still having supervision with meals but is looking to the future with plans to return to college to complete the GCSEs she couldn't take because she was so ill. She has ambitions to become a journalist.

"There is not a quick fix.

"It will stick with you for a long time if not forever. It is learning how to cope with it. Your eating disorder is not your friend. In the long term it will ruin your life. It is not worth it," she said.

As part of Eating Disorder Awareness week, charity Beat is launching a campaign to ensure GPs and family members are better equipped to spot the tell-tale signs such as changes in behaviour, becoming obsessive about food and starting to exercise excessively.

The charity, which carried out research into GP responses, is also calling for more funds to be made available so that everyone can get the treatment they need once they have been referred to mental health services.

Andrew Radford, Beat Chief Executive, said early intervention and speed in referring people is critical if they are to make the best possible recovery.

He said: "It takes great courage for sufferers of eating disorders to come forward and often the first person they talk to is their GP.

"Unfortunately many of our respondents identified poor care from their doctor with many GPs not knowing what the real signs and symptoms are.

"We are calling for increased eating disorder training for medical students specialising in general practice so that all GPs are equipped to support eating disorder sufferers."

For more information about the signs visit www.b-eat.co.uk/spotting-signs-eating-disorder or call the Beat helpline on 0808 80 0677.