Glamour model mother ended up in hospital.............

 A glamour model and mother obsessed with achieving the figure of her celebrity idol Cat Deeley was left perilously close to death after taking a lethal concoction of diet pills and appetite suppressants.

Helen Hine, 30, from Bridgewater, was so desperate to achieve the perfect body she took the deadly mix of pills for seven years.

The mother-of-one, who has modelled since the age of 23 under the name Helen Best, was rushed to hospital 10 times with panic attacks, breathing problems and kidney stones.

And despite being repeatedly warned by doctors to stop taking them, Helen continued to take pills including NO Explode, Lipo 6, Liptex, and a range of thermogenic fat strippers until her 5ft 4in figure shrunk down to a size 6.
Speaking about why she wanted to emulate her idol Deeley, Helen -who used to be a mental healthy care worker but aspires to be a TV presenter - said: 'When I first saw Cat Deeley presenting on TV, I thought she was perfect. She's so successful and she looked amazing - everything I wanted to be.

'I knew that to get there, I had to lose weight and look amazing.

'That's when a friend, a bodybuilder, suggested I take diet pills to help me lose those few inches. He was talking about Ephedrine. It sounded like the extra edge I was looking for, and so I bought 100 pills for £10.'

The exercise fanatic said pressure to be thin as a model lead to her becoming extremely body-conscious, despite being a size eight when she entered in the industry.
Idol: 'When I first saw Cat Deeley presenting on TV, I thought she was perfect. She's so successful and she looked amazing - everything I wanted to be'

Idol: 'When I first saw Cat Deeley presenting on TV, I thought she was perfect. She's so successful and she looked amazing - everything I wanted to be'

She said: 'When I began modelling I was already a size 8, but I felt pressurised to look thinner in order to get work.

'I was always looking in the mirror and wishing I could strip fat from one part of my body or tone up in another area. Competition is fierce and I wanted so badly to look the part.'

After trying diet pills for the first time in 2006, she felt the effects almost immediately, and with the help of a vigorous exercise routine, started to lose inches and gain muscle.

She said: 'I felt so much stronger - I picked up the hoover one day and it felt so light. I was on top of the world. I felt skinny, toned, and amazing.

'But the euphoria didn't last. A few weeks later, I was driving when I started feeling strange. Suddenly I was hot and sweating - and I couldn't breathe.

'I gasped out in shock, my heart rate rocketed and I was rushed to A&E.

'Doctors told me I had a resting heart rate of 280 and warned me to get off the diet pills. They told me that they could kill me.

'I did feel scared, but a few months later I was convinced I had put on weight after coming off the pills, and my confidence took a blow again.'

But the side-effects were becoming dangerous. Helen suffered panic attacks so extreme she thought she would die, and was rushed into hospital with kidney stones.
'While on a holiday in Egypt I fell out of my bed with vertigo. I was completely fatigued and my health rapidly declined'


'It was horrendous,' said Helen. 'I realise now that I was addicted to the buzz of seeing my figure change in front of my eyes. I wanted so desperately to achieve my dream I put my health at risk.'

Her son Lewis was born in October 2009 and she took a break from diet pills, but by September the following year she was back on the slimming aids and exercising intensely.

'While on a holiday in Egypt I fell out of my bed with vertigo. I was completely fatigued and my health rapidly declined,' she said

A visit to A&E earlier this year proved to be the final straw.

She said: 'After going to the hospital for what felt like the 100th time, I finally thought enough was enough.

'I decided to get rid of my obsession with being as thin as a celebrity.

'I know I'll never touch diet pills again - being a healthy mum is more important to me, and I'm determined to keep my figure trim in a sensible way.'