Agonizing About ARFID

Hi, Lindsey here! I’m 22 years old and was diagnosed with ARFID 2 years ago. Hoping to share thoughts, comments, stories, or tips for surviving this disorder. While the diagnosis is fairly new, I’ve been living with it for 17 years. I’d love to chat (never met anyone else with ARFID before).

[morethanpicky]

Some tips for practicing increased food intake or exposures when having fear of adverse consequences type of arfid are:

- distractions. Weather this be a game, phone, tv, or a person. Distractions help the part of you that is focusing so much on the adverse consequences, and sometimes that focus can be dwelling on the parts of you that might be feeling nauseous because of anxiety or is feeling ‘off’ today

- ice packs. This one is a life saver for me and can be so easy. Get an ice pack (or anything frozen that’s really cold) and either set it on the back of your neck or on your wrists and this will help as a grounding technique and can shift your parasympathetic nervous system out of overdrive

-small bites. If you make the bites smaller you won’t be as likely to feel over full which is like a self fulfilling prophecy with this type of arfid. This can also be less likely to triggering gagging if that is something you struggle with.

-reframing. This is a helpful trick you can try to train your brain with. Instead of “ I can’t eat that it will make me sick” we could try “what if I try this and don’t get sick” or “I don’t have to eat all of it, I can always start with other types of exposures such as touch or smell”

These are just a few that have helped me! Feel free to add some if you have others that can help:)

[morethanpicky]

Some tips for practicing increased food intake specifically related to the lack of interest type of Arfid are:

- Set timers on cell phone 3x a day and make sure to eat something. A big theme for people who identify with the lack of interest in eating or food is suppressed hunger cues. This means that a persons body won’t alert them when they should be hungry. Setting reminders to try and eat something are helpful to not ‘forget’ to eat, when it would otherwise be easy to.

- Ice packs. A big issue that one could face when increasing intake is feeling full/ bloated. This can be an uncomfortable sensation but it will pass with consistency. To help distract from the uncomfy feelings of being too full, you can try to use ice packs on your abdomen, back of neck, or arms.

-Radical acceptance. This is a DBT skill and in short it is the practice of accepting what is. You don’t have to like or condone it, you can just accept it at face value. This is really helpful when you have lack of interest in food because you can fact check by knowing that you need to eat to nourish your body. You don’t have to like it, but by radically accepting that more food intake is needed you can cope with it better.

[morethanpicky]

It has been just over two years since I posted on here and believe me it was a whirlwind looking back at my old posts. In the past two years I have been to treatment, and am actively working on my recovery with ARFID. I hope to rejoin this community and help spread awareness, knowledge, and maybe even some tips that have helped me in recovery.

I’ll start with the fact that recovery is not linear. Me and my ARFID look nothing like they did two years ago, and likely look nothing like they will next year, or in the years to come. I have made life changing progress, but that is not to say that some days, weeks, and even sometimes months don’t look like old times. When I start to notice my ARFID is reminding me of my ARFID a few years ago, there’s one big thing that helps and I hope this can help others.

My ARFID lies pretty heavily in the avoidant type based on sensory aversions, as well as fear of adverse consequences. For those that struggle with similar types of ARFID something that has helped me when I notice I am not doing well is asking for accountability. In my recovery I have proved to myself I can do it, but sometimes I convince myself that I no longer can. That is when reaching out to a trusted person to help boost my accountability is a huge help.

Don’t ever be afraid to ask for help, or set up ways that you allow yourself to slip, but not slide all the way back to square one in your recovery. And remember even if you do slip back to old habits, you have not lost. You are still trying, and that’s a big win.

[morethanpicky]

ARFID starter pack:

-buying specific brands/types of food because they are not just “all the same”

-not being able to watch your food being cooked

-wearing gloves when washing dishes

-holding your breath when opening the fridge

-pulling off parts of your food that look “wrong”

-getting fast food instead to avoid social meals

-going to someone’s house and there is nothing you’ll eat there

-packing snacks in any occasion in case there’s none of your safe foods

-being called a picky eater for the 2974847482 time

[morethanpicky]

Anyone have really thick hair? It might be unrelated but I know having a lower weight causes your body to produce more hair and I’ve had such thick hair my whole life! Just wondering if it could be related???

[opalsiren]

ARFID recovery is wildly fluctuating between 'i don't actually have an eating disorder and i'm making this all up for attention' and 'this ED is severely detrimental to my health and is ruining my life'

[morethanpicky]

Dishes are a hard pass for me. Especially if they are other people’s dishes, but even if they are from my food it grosses me out when it’s mixed with water and I have to scrub it.

[morethanpicky]

Since learning that ARFID isn’t something you “recover from” (yes it can improve but it will be a lifelong journey) I struggle even more on good days. I tend to not let myself have good days because then I no longer “fit” the ARFID definition. This disorder is exhausting :/

[morethanpicky]

Me: I have ARFID which makes trying new foods almost impossible, leading to a very limited diet.

Someone trying but failing to relate: omg I’m super picky too, don’t feel bad.

Me: ...

[morethanpicky]

After having a disorder like ARFID for so long you forget what is ‘normal’. At work the other day someone said “oh my gosh I’m starving, I forgot to have breakfast this morning.” I had to hold in my laugh as I sympathized with her, but what I wanted to say was “that’s nothing...I forgot breakfast even existed.”

[naaaaaaaaaah-deactivated2020112]

am screaming arfid_memes on insta is healing my soul i wish i had this community when i was younger

Dont interact if ur anti recovery/harmful ED blog - I don't give a shit if ur bio says u dont promote self harm, if ur reblogging pro-anamia posts or any "encouragement/affirmations" to not eat you are promoting self harm

[morethanpicky]

Isn’t it weird how people can just share plates like “you done with that plate? I’ll take it!” Cannot relate.

[morethanpicky]

It breaks my heart when someone says “Oh you wouldn’t have survived in my house, my kids either eat what I serve or starve.” Because you want to know something? The reality is they are right, I (along with anyone else with ARFID) wouldn’t have survived. And the fact that this way of thinking is so normalized and typical for parents, shatters me. To think of the amount of shame and guilt that children with ARFID have to endure just because parents are unwilling to break from the traditional way of thinking, kills me. I hope that one day ARFID will be more well known so that no one growing up is put in that position.

[morethanpicky]

I know that ARFID is more than just picky eating, but I don’t get why anyone has an opinion on picky eating in the first place. It’s like no one gets made fun of for their favorite color, so why does it matter when it’s their favorite food?

[morethanpicky]

A little bit different of a post tonight but I felt proud and was hoping to share a success story!!!

My sister is my biggest support in my ARFID recovery process and we decided to do a weekly cook night where we cook things I’ve never tried before and then try them (even if it’s a small bite on my part). Tonight was our first try and I decided on potatoes. It seemed like a good intro food because I love fries and chips, but never potatoes. I found a bunch of recipes with ingredients I’m already comfortable with: butter, garlic, olive oil, parsley, etc. I was super nervous when it came to actually trying them, but I eventually did, and I didn’t even feel like I was going to gag. They weren’t my favorite in terms of texture, but I liked some of the flavors, and I think I would for sure try them again. What was super nice about doing it with my sister was that we made it into a fun expirience with cooking and experimenting with recipes and I felt like that relieved a lot of my anxiety around the food. An added bonus was that she ate what I couldn’t, so I didn’t have to feel guilty about wasting anything !

[thoughtbvbbles]

The thing about MY “OCD”

There is a lot to explain when it comes to me and my mental health issues.

From very young, maybe 6 years old, I have had a huge problem with my diet. Some may have said I was a picky eater, which is true, but it was bigger than that.

Honestly, for as long as I can remember, I never ate any fruits or vegetables. The last fruit that I ate was watermelon and tangerines. I just didn’t like it. That’s what it started with. So I was supposed to grow out of it apparently, but here I am, almost 18 and in an even worse condition.

So now, I hate fruits and vegetables. I’m disgusted by them. They make me uncomfortable. It sounds crazy but it’s true. I wish it wasn’t. I wish I could enjoy a meal with friends and family. I wish I could cook more foods. I wish that it didn’t get in the way of my relationships with people.

I recently got diagnosed with OCD, but... it fits but, again, I feel like it’s bigger than that. I do exhibit some compulsive behavior and I get a lot of anxiety from it. I kinda act like a germaphobe too. I’ve found some other disorders that may be it as well: ARFID fits pretty well. Sensory overload, maybe. But it just doesn’t make sense to me. Why is this happening? Why am I like this?

When I was younger, I didn’t care. I was just doing my own thing. But now? Now I realize how much this is hurting me. A couple years ago, when my brother started eating solids, he would eat bananas (aka my worst enemy). And I would avoid him for the next day or so. And it broke my heart. I didn’t want to, but I had to.

And more recently, I’ve really been wanting a relationship so bad. I have someone I like. I really want to go for it. But my disorder, whatever the hell it is, is always blocking my path. I can’t expect someone to tolerate my pathetic behavior. I wouldn’t tolerate it. I just wish somebody could understand me. And I wish this stupid mental disorder would go away like it was never there.

Sometimes I wish I was just allergic. Then my parents would stop calling me crazy and no one would blame me.

[ghostgirlash]

Hey everyone! Just a reminder that if you struggle with ARFID you’re totally valid! And also, recovery? Possible. Even if you’ve been dealing with it your whole life (like I have). During the past two years, I’ve slowly started to eat strawberry jelly/jam, soy sauce, and now I’m thinking of making my own salsa and trying that! Small victories? To another person, maybe, but not to me. Every time I add a new food to my palate, it’s like it unlocks a whole new world of food for me.