THE Express & Echo asked me to share my story of my daughter's addictions in order to provide encouragement for others with a loved one fighting similar mental health issues, writes Ruth Wadey, of Yew Tree Close, Pennsylvania, Exeter.

I was in the middle of ironing when my daughter, Lara, told me out of the blue that she had decided to live with her boyfriend, Gavin and his family. I was devastated, the thought of her leaving home had never crossed my mind.

Ross, who adored his elder sister, was confused, and my husband, Gordon, kept his emotions intact as he knew that anything he would say would have been in vain.

Although my voice sounded calm when I wished her well, inside I was screaming. I concluded that it was probably part of growing up — after all, she was 17.

It wasn't long before Gavin's mother phoned me as she was becoming increasingly concerned about Lara's eating habits, although Lara had continually denied there was any problem. The issue was laid to rest.

A few years later Lara and Gavin's relationship ended and she moved into her own flat. When I visited I couldn't help but notice a distinct lack of food in her kitchen, which caused me to worry that there may still be an issue with her eating.

As a result of this lack of food, coupled with her resultant weight loss, she started experiencing terrible stomach pains. When I took her to the hospital they could not find any reason for her pain. It was only when her job contract was not renewed as the result of her bulimia that I realised this was a major concern that needed to be addressed.

At the time it was clear to me that she was still in denial, but frustratingly there was nothing I could do.

She then moved to Cardiff to go to university but soon had to withdraw as she couldn't cope due to her eating habits. While she easily found employment thanks to her outgoing personality and tenacious spirit, she joined a leisure centre as another method in her quest to obtain her ideal body weight.

A few months later she told me that she had been banned from the gym because she was over-exercising. Feeling totally helpless I prayed she would come out of her denial and accept that she had an eating problem.

To my delight, she started communicating with Gordon and I through emails and text messaging.

One day in an email she said that she thought she was addicted to the internet. We laughed, not realising at the time, how poignant this statement was.

But one morning a text message came through that scared me. On her way to work she had a compelling urge to swerve into the oncoming traffic. It was the cry for help that I had been waiting for. A few minutes later Gordon and I found ourselves driving to Cardiff to bring her home.

It was lovely to have my daughter back home, but it felt strange as she wasn't the same girl that had left. She told me something that seemed totally crazy. She said that a voice in her head was telling her what to do, and that the old Lara had gone. I turned to books and specialist websites to find an explanation for this and to my surprise found it was exactly how anorexics describe their feelings.

It dawned on me why she had felt the need to leave home three years earlier. It was because of the shame associated with bulimia.

One of her boyfriends told me years later how disgusted he was when he would watch her eat food from rubbish bins late at night in order to bring it up later, but he was under strict instructions to keep this fact from us. I couldn't believe my daughter could do such a thing.

Each day her preoccupation with food and its contents became wearisome, and I dreaded her joining me to food shop as every label on every item had to be checked for its ingredients. And if I heard her say one more time "Is my bum bigger than that girl's bum?" I would want to scream!

We looked into how to obtain the medical help she needed, especially as I soon found out that she was taking excessive amounts of laxatives and other tablets.

We finally managed to obtain an appointment for Lara to be assessed at The Priory in Bristol. After her assessment we were invited into the room and I saw Lara squatting in the corner, absolutely terrified and looking more like a child than a 21-year-old. My heart went out to her and I longed to give her a hug, but restrained myself knowing that she would push me away.

To my relief they agreed to admit her immediately but as there was no available place in the eating disorder unit they would treat her drug and alcohol addiction instead. I could not believe my ears. I knew she drank, but had no idea she had a drug problem.

She told me later that she had been living on nothing but boiled sweets, ephedrine and alcohol ever since she went to live in Cardiff. The consultant told us it was important to visit her regularly but I found these times incredibly distressing. As she would not allow me to hug her, I usually left in uncontrollable tears.

When we were informed that Lara would probably never have children because of the way she had abused her body, I was stunned.

Children have always loved being with her and I found it hard to accept the fact that she would never be a mother. I cried for her, and then for me.

Then, to my despair, she was transferred to The Priory in Southampton because of the disruptive influence she was having on both staff and patients and visa versa.

After only one week she discharged herself to live with Sam, her new boyfriend, whom she had met at The Priory — a recovering heroin addict. During one of Lara's rare home visits I found a syringe in her bedroom. My heart almost stopped as I tried not to put into words what my mind was telling me.

When I challenged her, she admitted she was using heroin and crack cocaine. I felt as if something had hit my chest and could hardly breathe. I wondered how much more I could take.

Then a number of other emotions hit me: fear of what this would do to her, hatred toward Sam, and uneasiness as to how this would affect our family life.

TOMORROW: RUTH TALKS ABOUT HOW LARA'S CONTINUING ADDICTION PUSHED HER FAMILY TO THE LIMIT