Anyone experienced ARFID (Avoidance/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder)

[Memimck1]

If you don't know what Avoidance/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder is I feel these websites sum it up well and quickly:

nationaleatingdisorders.org...

eatingdisorder.org/blog/cat...

Ive always hated food and had no interest in it my whole life.... i have no issues with weight gain... I want to gain weight... yet i just can't eat I feel sick all the time I'm extremely underweight and stick to about 5 foods - bread, cereal, biscuits, potato and yogurt everyday.

Recently I've found that more and more ARFID is being recognised as a eating condition and from looking into it I feel this is me... no interest in food, fear of vomiting, limited diet and dislike of smells and textures of certain foods

I'm wondering if anyone else experiences this condition?

Has anyone ever been to the doctors and gotten help for it?

I'm worried if I do I will put in an eating disorder clinic and treated anorexic and made to eat large quantities of food I can't stomach as I actually have ARFID.

Any help and advice would be greatly appreciated

[Will2015abc]

Hi Memimck1. Now THIS is interesting as Ive previously been diagnosed firstly with Anorexia and then with EDNOS. But this seems to fit whats going on with me - although I do suffer from anxiety disorder/PTSD too. Ive never had issues with body image (well I do now as Im so bloody skinny and I hate it!!) and Ive never made myself sick (im terrified of being sick). I also struggle with :consistency of foods etc and fear of contamination so its a restriction pattern. Im also a guy so again these articles you posted (thanks for that) were interesting.

Is there more research on it do you know or is it being recognised at "grass-roots" level by therapists/docs etc I wonder?

Thanks for posting and yeah I think this may be applicable to me.

W

[Memimck1 in reply to Will2015abc]

Hi the is or the reply... I was previously diagnosed with a food phobia when i was 10 after first being suspected of early anorexia but now looking at this I do feel I really fit this criteria...

I'm like you never worried about how I looked even being a gymnast most of my life and never forceably been sick.... (I mean I'm scared to vomit) I have an issue now always wanting to weigh myself etc. But that's because im super underweight and hate it too. My diet is so limited and I I eat so little a day... what do you eat? I don't know whether to get help or not I don't want to be treated as anorexic because I certainly am not.

If you look into the condition a bit more on other websites (I'm in the UK bit it's recognised a lot more in america) it does say tht anxiety and ptsd is very closley associated too... i have anxiety to a very high extreme.

It was introduced into the dsm5 (a document talking about different mental health conditions) in 2013 so very new to the medical community... I've been searching a lot of different things about it and found some stuff:

aboutkidshealth.ca/En/Healt...

the-heath.co.uk/treatment/s...

tabithafarrar.com/2017/09/i...

eatingdisorderhope.com/blog...

beateatingdisorders.org.uk/...

But this is about it.. I also found a good pdf file used when training people to help ARFID - if you type in Rachel Bryant-Waugh ARFID into Google one of the first options should be that off file.

If you find out anymore let me know. Good luck to you

[Smarsh]

I read this and thought "this sounds very similar to the eating issues lots of people with autism have" - turns out they often co-occur.

eatingdisorderhope.com/blog...

[Hidden]

Hi, I am new here so I am a little late to this post but I am experiencing the same thing and was wondering if you found treatment/any advice?

A little background: I have been diagnosed with anxiety and over the past couple months even with medication it's progressively getting worse which has left me with physical symptoms such as extreme nausea, headaches, sweating, hands trembling, light-headed, and the worst of all food aversions - I went to the doctor thinking I was sick and he said it's most likely anxiety induced.

The food aversions started becoming very severe - at first it was just no meat as the thought made me sick, now I am repulsed at the smell and sight of almost all food minus a few things I regularly eat. The things I regularly eat don't tend to be anything of substance more of junk food snacks and also a small amount because everything else grosses me out. I can be starving but unable to eat, especially when I smell others food I get extremely nauseous. I have an immense fear of throwing up so it tends to stop me from even wanting to smell these foods due to the nausea. I have lost 15lbs in only a few months... I am 5'6 and currently weigh 112lbs. I also think some of my symptoms may be a result of not consuming enough protein daily, I am light headed every time I stand up and bruise easily.

I feel like I am going crazy, any suggestions will help!!