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wrote on January 2, 2017
at
7:01 pm
Hi, I'm 18 years old and I have been struggling with food issues all my life. Even when I was a baby I was picky, my mother would get in trouble with doctors because they thought she wasn't feeding me enough when in reality I just hated the texture or taste of baby foods. I have been to multiple therapists and doctors throughout my life to fix my problems with food but they have all said the same thing... 'I will grow out of it' well I'm legally an adult now and I have not 'grown out of it'. My diet consists of pizza, spaghetti (only if i make it), french fries and peanut butter, popcorn and some dairy products. Luckily my family, friends and boyfriend have been very supportive of me, but I still feel like a hassle when we go out to eat or have meals together. I'm one to forget about my own personal heath and I forget to eat or don't want to eat under stress and now since I'm in college, with stress around every corner, my health has been degrading and this is concerning me and my loved ones greatly. But after trying so many times to get help with little or no results, I have no idea where to turn. Please can you help me?
Admin Reply by: Bob
You are not alone and you have a real disorder that is really difficult to treat. As you already know it can make your life very stressful trying to deal with the opinions of other people who think you need to be fixed. For many years the general medical advice has been don't worry the child will eventually grow out of it. Most do some don't. One thing that has not been considered is those who don't go into adulthood with a secret to hid from all but the best friends. You have ARFID Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder which was added to the DSM in May of 2013. My best advice is hope to improve but you must learn to not let it rule your life and make you stressed out all the time. People you come in contact with everyday should know about your condition and then they will stop stressing you and you can then enjoy life. There are many things a person can have which is way worse than what we have. Try to start the conversation about how you found out your problems with food is a newly discovered eating disorder and let the conversation go on from there. I wish you the best and now go out and have a great life. No reason why you can't have a long healthy life.
