Thank to everybody at Mando in Huddinge and Danderyd who helping getting my life back, my joy and strength. Thanks for standing by, patiently. /A happy, healthy girl
I have been well for five years now. I study, I sleep, I meet with friends and I eat! /Former patient at the Mandometer Clinic Danderyd’s Hospital
They understand it takes a while to recover. They know it is not just a matter of starting to eat. The staff work together with you and takes the time needed when you feel panicky or anxious. They took all the time I needed to recover. /Fomer patient at the Mandometer Clinic Alingsås
The three best things with this place are: They give you no sedatives, if you are on drugs, they remove them gradually. You can choose your own food, and they encourage you to show your personality. /Patient at the Mandometer Clinic at the Karolinska University Hospital in Huddinge
When I look back at everything from my new point of view, years later, I can see the whole picture. All the things that they told me at the clinic make sense.
I decided to follow every single thing the clinic told me to do – eat all of my meals, talk to my case manager about my feelings, work on my eating habits. I was amazed how everything changed for the better. All of a sudden, I was doing things and feeling things I hadn’t felt for years. My chats with my case manager slowly turned into laughter and plans about life and adventures.
When I look back at everything from my new point of view, years later, I can see the whole picture. All the things that they told me at the clinic make sense.
I hear so many sad stories from other girls and boys from different clinics who have been treated by doctors and nurses not educated enough which can be disastrous for patients. Mandometer gave me the tools to live the most fantastic ‘free from ED life.’ Because of that I can conquer the world today. I will be forever grateful for everything they taught me.
It is possible to live 100 per cent free. It takes time and it is hard work but it is possible.
Sophia, aged 24, Queensland
I would like any other sufferers to know that with the right help, there is a cure.
When I was admitted to the Mandometer clinic, I was 20. I had been suffering with anorexia for four years and I was very sick.
It was very hard but it was such a relief finally to put my problem into the hands of someone else. My caseworker was in control. All I had to do was follow the rules. I had to be in a wheel chair, they weaned me slowly off anti-depressants over three months and I gradually learned how to eat again.
Anorexia is not a mental health issue. It doesn’t start from there. The mental health issues come once you are in the thick of the disease. I was a perfectly normal healthy high school student. I lost weight over the school holidays and felt good about it. I wanted to lose more weight. When you lose more weight, you are not functioning properly. You are too hungry to think normally. It becomes gripping. All of the health issues I had surrounding the disease did not exist before nor after I was cured.
I truly believe that if I had not undergone the Mandometer program, I would not be here to tell my story and I would like any other sufferers to know that with the right help, there is a cure. There is hope. You can go on to live a normal life.
Ineke, aged 31, Melbourne
I now trust myself, my body, and my ability to take decisions on what to eat
I was slave to the claws of anorexia for eight years, but now, eventually, I am back to normal and I feel free. Eventually, I went to the Mandometer Clinic in Alingsås, it was nothing like what I had experienced before. You made me feel secure and let go all of my self-control. I now trust myself, my body, and my ability to take decisions on what to eat. The Mandometer method helped me find my way back to a normal life, in balance, my quality of life has increased a great deal.
Hanna
I started to look forward to the future that lay ahead of me
In January 2008 my Dad and I moved back to Sweden, from Australia, to seek treatment at the Mandometer clinic. I was 18 years old and had suffered from anorexia nervosa for 4 years; after over a dozen admissions to hospitals and locked psychiatric wards in Australia I was still severely unwell and deteriorating.
After contacting Mandometer in Stockholm I was admitted almost immediately to the program and was hospitalised within a few days due to my poor state of health. During my time at the clinic, with support from staff, I began to voluntarily drink the nutritional supplements that were provided.
In May I was transferred to the Mandometer clinic in San Diego as I was an English speaker and they had places spare. This was a major turning point in my recovery. Within a few months, and again with the help of very supportive staff, I used the Mandometer to learn how to eat proper, solid food after many years of tube feedings. At the same time my mood began to steadily lift and I started to look forward to the future that lay ahead of me.
I had made massive leaps forward in my recovery and decided to return to Australia after my time in San Diego. With determination- and the help of a doctor, dietician and my parents, I further progressed to the point where I was again just a ‘normal’ healthy young woman enjoying life.
I am now living away from home and studying to be a doctor after having scored highly in the medical entrance exam. I enjoy spending my free time going out with friends, playing sport, reading and volunteering.
I can honestly say that without the help and support of the Mandometer clinic I would not be here today. They stood by me and compassionately persisted in teaching me how to eat again when others would have given up… Thank you to all the people at Mandometer for giving me the gift of a second chance at life.
