'Hypnosis cured my eating disorder' Anorexia sufferer ends six-year battle

Ellie (not pictured) used hypnotherapy to help her beat anorexia

HYPNOSIS has cured a horrifying eating disorder by unearthing the moment in the sufferer's teens that triggered her six-year battle with the illness.

 

Ellie Phipps' weight plummeted to a mere 5st 13lb and she was warned that she would die from organ failure if she carried on losing weight. 

Because her condition had become so severe, Ellie was putting herself at risk of infertility and bone fractures. Her frail state also meant that she had began losing her hair. 

The teaching assistant had to give up work and couldn’t even get car insurance, just in case she passed out behind the wheel.

As the condition reached its most severe point, Ellie’s mum, in sheer desperation, sent her to a hypnotist specialising in eating disorders. 

Trying to find the root cause of Ellie’s illness, rather than addressing the symptoms, the hypnotist accessed her unconscious memories.

 

When Ellie (not pictured) was 14, a gymnastics class weigh in triggered an eating disorder

After just five sessions with hypnotist Nicky Maidment, who calls herself a "neuro linguistic master practitioner", had discovered the moment that triggered Ellie’s terrifying eating disorder - the time she was weighed in gym class, aged just 14.

Fearing she wouldn’t make the cut for her gymnastics team, because of her weight and appearance, the young teenager was left with a hidden phobia of food. 

Ellie said: "I remembered waiting in a queue at gym class to be weighed.

"Then my friends either side started to panic that they would be overweight.

"I said 'it will be ok,' but inside I started to worry that I'd be the fat one. This stuck with me and I also wanted to be the perfect girl.”

 



Ellie said she lived on fruit and toast



Thanks to the help of her hypnotist, Ellie has since beat her anorexia and has turned her life completely around, and now weighs eight stone. 

Ellie is now coaching gymnastics and says she feels much happier after her months of battling back to fitness. She’s since developed a healthier and happier approach when it comes to food, following a balanced diet.

She knew she had to change after seeing a holiday photo of herself looking emaciated.

Ellie said: "I didn't like having my photo taken because deep down I knew how poorly I looked.

"It was a horrible photo and I wondered what I had done to myself.

"I was obsessed with calories and lived off tiny portions of toast and fruit.

"But it was barely enough to survive on and in time it affected me both physically and mentally."

 

Aside from numerous health problems, Ellie, from Gloucestershire, said the illness caused strained relationships with her family and boyfriend.

She added: "I used to be very active, but I then started to sleep a lot and had no energy.

"I stopped going to my boyfriend's house because I couldn't drive. He still visited me and was supportive throughout.”

"I ached all over and just walking would cause my heart to pound.”

"I had gone from a bubbly, independent, happy person, to someone who struggled to speak to people."

She added: "People wondered why I would starve myself when I had so much going for me, but it wasn't a rational choice. I knew I had a problem, but felt helpless to change it.

"I now feel a lot happier and am almost back to my old self. I feel confident, am working and enjoying spending time with loved ones."

 

Ellie (not pictured) said she found socialising difficult