{"id":410877,"date":"2026-02-06T08:55:22","date_gmt":"2026-02-06T08:55:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/410877\/"},"modified":"2026-02-06T08:55:22","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T08:55:22","slug":"inappropriate-prescribing-and-poor-support-trigger-anorexia-in-healthy-patients","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/410877\/","title":{"rendered":"Inappropriate prescribing and poor support trigger anorexia in healthy patients"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Henrietta<\/p>\n

February 4, 2026 \u2014 11:30am<\/p>\n

Save<\/p>\n

You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n

Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n

Save this article for later<\/p>\n

Add articles to your saved list and come back to them anytime.<\/p>\n

Got it<\/p>\n

AAA<\/p>\n

When Kacey Martin started taking weight-loss medication in June in consultation with her health providers, she experienced immediate relief.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt reduced the food noise,\u201d said Martin, who has previously experienced bulimia along with binge and restrictive eating. \u201cI wasn\u2019t so preoccupied in my head with food, which gave my brain space for all of the other things that happen in life.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"KaceyKacey Martin has a history of eating disorders and has started using GLP-1s.<\/p>\n

But before long, the 33-year-old Sydney woman noticed the return of problematic behaviours such as purging.<\/p>\n

\u201cI did feel this strong urge to go back to body-checking and weight-checking … weighing myself almost daily, or multiple times a day,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat psychological preoccupation with my weight has come back for me and gotten worse.\u201d<\/p>\n

As GLP-1 drugs become more widely available in Australia, experts are calling for stricter prescribing rules, eating disorder screenings and additional medical support for patients due to concerns they are triggering new eating disorders in some patients, while sending those with a history of anorexia into relapses that require hospital care.<\/p>\n

Dr Terri-Lynne South from the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners is concerned about patients developing what\u2019s known as atypical anorexia while using weight-loss medication.<\/p>\n

Atypical anorexia involves someone who has a history of living in a larger body becoming preoccupied with weight and engaging in excessive dieting and exercising.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to be very mindful of whether we are setting people up to have an unhealthy relationship with food,\u201d said South, who specialises in obesity management.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Pharmaceutical<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThe medications can be prescribed appropriately and in doing so, actually cause someone to have disordered eating or an eating disorder.\u201d<\/p>\n

South also warned that inappropriate prescribing (particularly through telehealth) and a lack of support could also cause patients to shift from experiencing one type of eating disorder to another.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to watch this space \u2013 that we\u2019re not taking someone from a binge-eating disorder to atypical anorexia.\u201d<\/p>\n

She\u2019d like to see patients have a face-to-face consultation with a doctor before being prescribed the medication as well as improving access to dietitians, psychologists and exercise physiologists.<\/p>\n

\"JosephineJosephine Money is a dietitian who specialises in eating disorders.Alex Coppel<\/p>\n

The Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) has taken regulatory action against doctors, pharmacists and nurses who have inappropriately prescribed or supplied prescriptions to patients with eating disorders.<\/p>\n

In some instances, the inappropriate prescribing of GLP-1 medicines \u2013 which has been primarily linked to telehealth providers \u2013 has suppressed the hunger of patients with anorexia, resulting in emergency hospitalisations.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have seen examples of patients admitted to hospital due to inappropriate prescribing of weight-loss medication when a thorough consultation would have identified that the prescribing [was] risky for that patient,\u201d an AHPRA spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

They said practitioners were required to undertake a comprehensive assessment of patients before prescribing weight-loss medication, which considers their vulnerabilities such as disorder eating or body image concerns.<\/p>\n

Kacey Martin, who is completing a PhD at the University of NSW into eating disorders among Maori people in Australia, said she\u2019d love to be able to afford a therapist to work through some of the return thoughts she has experienced since taking weight-loss medication.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople often jump between eating disorders,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe shouldn\u2019t just assume there\u2019s no risk for restrictive eating problems in people with binge-eating or bulimia.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dietitians Australia spokeswoman Josephine Money also said GLP-1 medications could make it difficult for many people to eat adequately.<\/p>\n

\u201cA starved brain has increased thoughts about food, increased anxiety, fear and drive for control; this can be the basis of typical anorexia cognitions,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Money, who runs a multidisciplinary clinic in Melbourne\u2019s north that specialises in eating disorders, said current evidence in GLP-1 use with binge-eating was positive but that more extensive research was needed.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Clinical<\/a><\/p>\n

She said the medication could be useful in some people with binge-eating disorder if they were paired with \u201cwraparound\u201d support.<\/p>\n

This might involve assistance from dietitians and mental health clinicians to minimise the risk of malnutrition and developing restrictive eating disorders such as anorexia.<\/p>\n

In the short term, malnutrition can affect hormones and cognitions, while it can impact bone density in the long term.<\/p>\n

Money estimates that about 40 per cent of her clients are either taking GLP-1s, considering taking them or curious.<\/p>\n

Eating disorder groups say it\u2019s too easy for patients with disordered eating to deliberately overestimate their body mass index in online questionnaires to gain access to the medication through telehealth.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Hundreds<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cAnecdotally, we have heard reports of people exaggerating their weight when seeking these medications via telehealth, and that makes it difficult for providers to know if the medication is warranted, particularly if there is no face-to-face contact with the patient,\u201d said Butterfly Foundation spokeswoman Melissa Wilton.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have also heard of cases where potential patients aren\u2019t even screened by a doctor, but are \u2018pre-approved\u2019 and prescribed medications based on just a phone call with a purported nurse.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Butterfly Foundation\u2019s telephone hotline has received a steady stream of calls from people using weight-loss medications who have an eating disorder, as well as from carers who are concerned about the mental and physical health of their loved ones who have been prescribed the medication.<\/p>\n

For confidential & free support for eating disorders call the Butterfly National Helpline on 1800 ED HOPE (1800 33 4673) or visit www.butterfly.org.au to chat online or email.<\/p>\n

Make the most of your health, relationships, fitness and nutrition with our Live Well newsletter. Get it in your inbox<\/a> every Monday.<\/p>\n

Save<\/p>\n

You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n

Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n

\"HenriettaHenrietta Cook<\/a> is a senior reporter covering health for The Age. Henrietta joined The Age in 2012 and has previously covered state politics, education and consumer affairs.Connect via X<\/a>, Facebook<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"February 4, 2026 \u2014 11:30am Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":410878,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[102,6591,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-410877","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-medication","tag-health","tag-medication","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410877","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=410877"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410877\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/410878"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=410877"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=410877"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=410877"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}