There was a time when it would shock people to hear that I am recovering from bulimia. Maybe that was because I didn’t look unwell; or maybe it was that they didn’t understand the condition. The most likely reason, though, is that they didn’t associate eating disorders with men.

Yet according to conservative estimates, more than one in 10 sufferers of eating disorders are male; some say the proportion is closer to a quarter. Either way, the figure is rising, but only recently have people started to realise bulimia, anorexia and other eating disorders do not discriminate on gender grounds.

I am 31 now, but my troubles with bulimia began when I was 13. Growing up in Southport, Merseyside, I attended a fairly rough, chaotic school at which I didn’t fit in at all. I was a little effeminate, I didn’t know my sexuality and I certainly didn’t care for football. That made me a target for bullies, who made my life hell. As an escape, I’d leave lessons and hide in the sanctuary of a toilet cubicle with my lunchbox. I would binge-eat my food, whatever it was, then purge (force myself to vomit) straight afterwards. I used the control as a coping mechanism, and it carried on every day for years.