A teenager has told of how she went down the 'self-destruct path' while going through her anorexia ordeal.
Madason Faulker, 16, from East Belfast,said she stopped eating and only lived on mints and half a bourbon cream a day for a year after being called 'fat'.
She told Belfast Live : "I had no clue what an eating disorder was. There were a few comments made by other people like 'you're fat - you need to go and lose weight'.
"I believed that because I thought they were my friends."
Not eating enough soon took a toll on the teenager’s health.
"When I was at school I started to feel faint and started getting light heads," she explained.
"I was actually pulled out of school and my mum took me to the doctors and they kept telling me 'you’re fine'.
"Mum fought and took me to hospital and got me tested. My mum knew it was an eating disorder but the doctors were in denial."
Despite her daughter’s deteriorating condition mum Kimberly Neill said it was incredibly hard to get Madason the help she needed.
After various trips to the GP over 18 months she said their 'old school doctor' wouldn’t even consider the possibility of an eating disorder referring her for a series of brain scans instead.
"He’s just believed that was Madason’s weight because she never carried a lot of weight," explained Kimberly.
But the concerned mum said she 'had noticed her (daughter’s) packed lunches were coming back from school uneaten, her breaks were uneaten, at dinner time she was choosing to go to bedroom with her meals and her meals were in her bedroom bin'.
"I raised awareness with the doctor on numerous occasions and they ruled out epilepsy and moved on to non-epileptic seizures," she added.
"I had taken this up with the school as the school nurse had to be made aware - she was swaying more in the opinion of an eating disorder as well.
"Madason had collapsed and got sent home from school and by pure luck it was a locum doctor that day - they saw Madason and did her blood pressure , weighed her and sent us straight from the surgery to Beechcroft.
"Within a week of being at Beechcroft Madason was diagnosed after 18 months of running to a doctor.
"She was an outpatient from the January and put on a strict two-hourly feeding programme at home on complete bed rest," she continued.
"She got that weak that her liver had started to fail and her kidneys had started to fail. She was malnourished and had malnutrition.
"Madason was crying out. I knew that home treatment wasn’t working," added her worried mum.
"But because Beechcroft is such a busy place and is the only mental health unit in Northern Ireland for children we were advised to take her to A&E.
"Madason thought no one was helping her and started to go down the self destruct path and wanting to end her life. On three different occasions we had to ring police to get her from trying to kill herself.
"She became quite aggressive and eventually Beechcroft admitted her - after two weeks it was decided that Madason’s eating and mental health was worse than they thought.
"She stayed for five weeks and was discharged with home treatment and two home visits a week plus a weekly visit with Beechcroft.
"That went to monthly visits when Madason regained her weight and became stable but in the last four or five weeks Madason’s weight has dropped but her mental health, depression and mood are quite so we are back on a two-hourly feeding plan.
"Her weight is just under seven stone and she should be nine stone so we are trying to the increase it."
Kimberly said her daughter was 'quite embarrassed to speak out about having an eating disorder' and that as a parent it was 'quite hard' to deal with.
"I felt bad because my job as a parent was to feed your child, make sure they are nourished and they have got all the vitamins their body needs to grow. You feel you failed," she added.
But Madason said she wouldn't have made it without the support of her mum.
Describing the worst of it, she said: "I just got these thoughts in my head like that person said you’re fat - you shouldn't be eating that - constant guilt.
"I eventually went two weeks without food and was admitted to hospital with low potassium levels and liver failure.
"I kept it to myself for a very long time. I found it hard to speak about it.
"I tried to take my own life but now I getting back on my feet - I am back at college doing health and social care. I hope to be a support worker or a mental health nurse due to me going through what I have.
Madason and four pals have raised £920 for Beechcroft to give back to the place that has given her hope for the future.
Health chiefs are currently reviewing Northern Ireland’s eating disorder services.
A Department of Health spokesperson said: “Children with eating disorders in Northern Ireland are managed by generic CAMHS services, inpatient care in Beechcroft or medical/paediatric wards, and by four specific eating disorder teams (BHSCT provides for SEHSCT) who manage community cases and in-reach to medical wards where physical re-feeding is required.
"There is also the option for Extra Contractual Referrals to be made to specialist units in the UK, usually St Georges, London. Practitioners report increasing complexity/numbers presenting and a need for increased resource, to enhance both community and day treatment services within both adults’ and children’s services.
“A review of Northern Ireland’s eating disorder services for both children and adults is currently underway and being taken forward by the Health and Social Care Board."