I did watch the documentary, a few weeks back. He entered supported accomodation and had his own personal support worker. However, said worker had no power to control his diet. He was shown taking the guy shopping, giving him advice on healthy eating, which was largely rejected. The impression given by the documentary was that he spent his time wandering from one greasy spoon to the next. He put on weight, and eventually moved home.
The other subjects of the documentary were both children, who parents had to seek out residential programmes to try and get some sort of control.
I guess the implicit point was it’s hard enough to control their behaviour as children, but as adults we can’t, so the future looks very bleak.
I knew a guy with PWS, who would eat food out of bins if he didn’t have access to food at home. If his mother tried to restrict the his money, he’d shoplift. Incidentally, his brother, not a sufferer, was fatter.
There’s a limit to what can be done short of putting PWS sufferers into a highly restricted environment. Adults can make that decision on behalf of their kids, but an adult can do what they like, unless they are sectioned.
There is also the question of ‘dual diagnosis.’ Having Prader-Willi syndrome doesn’t preclude the possibility of him having other disorders; in fact it makes certain psychological conditions, such as depression, more likely. Also, he was admitted for evaluation, which can happen to anyone who refuses to allow him/herself to be evaluated whilenot committed.
I hope he sues, is funded by the Sun and Max Clifford, loses, is made liable for the NHS’s costs, and bankrupts his funders.
Tenar, you may have seen my other posts about my own weight loss and what has been successful for me for seven years now. I am literally half the person I used to be and it is a different life.
After I had tried everything else, I had a surgical bypass. When I began to regain very slowly, my doctor put me on a medication that inhibits compulsive behaviors. If you are a compulsive over-eater, I will be more than happy to share what I know about it.
I had no idea how much brain chemistry was affecting my relationship to food. In ignorance, I also assumed that it was a matter of will power – or, at least, that “will power” had nothing to do with parts of the brain that were beyond my control and was just a matter of discipline. I was wrong.
If you want more information, please ask a mod to forward your email address to me. It will be a week or so before I reply.
Wasn’t there a big brou-ha ha a few years ago when a 13-year-old girl in California died due to complications from obesity-and she too had Prader-willis? Her mother was charged with neglect because the girl died living in her own filth (lying naked on the floor with feces and vomit caked into her skin, bedsores, etc). And some advocate groups for the disabled made a big stink about it?
