![For Sarah [Podcast]](https://tabithafarrar.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Sarah-C.png)
Warning: This episode may be difficult or triggering for some listeners. It involves talking about a person who recently died of anorexia.
In this podcast, Tabitha talks about a person who recently died as a result of the malnutrition associated with anorexia.
Sarah was a joyful, incredibly like-able, intelligent woman with a good sense of humour. She came to me as a client, and someone determined to recover. She was also a person who had been through 30 years of traditional treatment, but never lost hope in her ability to get well. Sarah wasn’t non- compliant, she was the opposite of difficult, and she was on her way and actively in recovery when she died. Apparently, a lifetime of malnutrition had resulted in a weak heart, and it was too little too late. Sarah was truly let down by the traditional treatment model. The tragedy is that at the time of her death, she was at the best place she had been for years. Sarah didn’t die in the way we stereotypically expect people with anorexia die in a IP bed rejecting food. Sarah was eating better, feeling better, and actively living her recovery when she died.
The effects of malnutrition are serious and can be long-lasting. Treatment has to prioritise unrestricted eating, and spreading the message that hunger and desire to eat can be trusted.
I’m so sorry for your loss and for Sarah’s families loss. It’s just so awful. I totally agree something needs to be din, what can we do to get the message out there? Start petitions, write to MP’s? You have a large following Tabitha, globally I assume. Many of us will support you and help spread the word. We have to do something but it’s knowing what. X
I have really got scared. I don’t know if I should have heard it. I am fighting for my recovery since I discovered you, I started in June with a very, very serious underweight and I was also in hospital treatment more than ten years ago where I only recovered weight but I did not reprogram my brain. That is why I now do not want to know anything about doctors despite my low weight and how difficult it is for me to fight. I’m risking a lot and now I’m more afraid than ever to die. That is good to send to hell the fear of eating, but at the same time … ufff! And if I die when I fight to live? It’s not fair. What happened to Sarah is not fair. Thanks Tabitha for everything you do for us.
Tabitha I am so sorry. And so sorry for Sarah‘s family and friends. Let this be a reminder to not flirt with disordered eating and the behaviors that go along with it. Thank you for all you do to support us!
It’s not fair! you have one life to live and you are living it with anorexia…
Unless you have the same shit in your life you can’t even imagine what she’s been dealing with. Every day you fight with yourself to stay alive, dreaming to have a normal life.. it is HARD
Rest in peace Sarah…im so sorry
My wholehearted condolences go to Sarah, Sarah’s family and friends, and to you, Tabitha. The first words that came to my mind upon hearing a few minutes of this podcast were, “absolutely tragic.” I felt a bit ill, as well, because Sarah’s story almost exactly parallels mine — decades in and out of treatment, the kinds of treatment that I know all too well. Like you said, Tabitha, some people have had good experiences in treatment, but for me, starting in 1979 and moving up through 2017, my experiences have stunk, to put it bluntly. I am so angry and sorry that Sarah cycled through the same orbits until things were simply too late. She sounds like a beautiful person, and her green eyes in the picture you posted just sparkle. An inexcusable loss. I hate to appear selfish, but her story does frighten me, because she and I seem so similar. I want to thrive, just as she did. And I want to eat tons, just as she did. And I want simply to sit down and enjoy my family and friends, just as she did. I am glad she had at least a few months of freedom and happiness after finding you. She inspires me even as I cry while hearing her story.
This is awful and there should be more help out there my daughter had anorexia from the age of 13 but she is now 19 and a healthy weight with five years of nhs treatment and the support of her family and I hope she continues to succeed.
RIP to sarah xxx
What do we do?! I’m a mom and my daughter has been in and out of treatment and is still struggling. I fear for her life. I believe treatment has kept her alive but nothing more than short term help at best. Tell me how to help and I am all in!
I am so sorry for your loss, Tabitha. Sarah was blessed to have met you as you freed her to truly live. I understand the fear, as I am in recovery. I am a therapist and wanted to let you know that there are those of us out there who teach biology and neural re-wiring along with practicing exposure response prevention. I don’t specialize in eating disorders but find that many of my clients, male and female, have them. The psychiatrists in my office ignore my diagnoses or “resolve” them, but I persist. My question is this: How is Anorexia not classified as SPMI (Severe and Persistent Mental Illness) when it has the highest rate of death of any mental illness??? It would get much more funding with that categorization.
There is in fact a diagnoses of Severe and Enduring Anorexia Nervosa (SEAN). Treatment is different for this diagnoses than regular AN. A few books have been written about it as well.
Tabitha, its a long time now, but we are still listen to you. I want to tell you and the people who follow you that you have saved our girl, litteraly .She began to recovery with you, your blog and skipe. She’s always in recovery, but return to work and fells better. Your books were there, too, (Here in France, the doctors and schrinks are a century backward, “they kill people” said The Guardian. Once gain, thank you. Your work is vital.
Dear Bruno, I am also French and quite lost. I don’t find appropriate treatments in our country. Would you mind sending me the Guardian link and exchanging a bit on your daughter’s journey ? many thanks
Victoire