Young woman who battled bulimia for 8 years slams 'dire experience with public health system'

• Author: Trevor Quinn
• Published date: 06 March 2021
• Publication title: DublinLive (Ireland)

Sinead Fagan, who had anxiety and body image issues, began suffering from the illness at 17 and she stressed she felt abandoned by her 12-month HSE treatment.

The 26 year-old had multiple HSE counsellors before she was moved to HSE psychiatric services, which led to a rapid deterioration in her health and wellbeing.

Sinead spoke to Dublin Live on Eating Disorders Awareness Week, which is a worldwide event from 1st-7th of March, this is a way of promoting awareness for those who suffer from the mental health illness.

Sinead, who has opened up for the first time, also claimed the HSE diagnosed her with borderline personality disorder but never told her she had the condition.

She said: "When I was in the HSE system there was no focus on eating disorder treatment specifically.

"There were no dieticians, no specialist counsellors and no focus groups. My condition had been pretty bad beforehand, but I felt it actually made it worse because I just didn't understand what was going on," she said.

"It created a belief that I was alone and no one understood and that there was something really wrong with me. However, when I look back I needed help and there was something really wrong with the system.

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