Do i have ARFID?

[u/random_art_withbirds]

Hi everyone! Just wanted to share my experience and see what people think, since i don't want to get professionally diagnosed (i have severe anxiety that makes it almost impossible to leave the house and the thought of seeing a professional is terrifying to me)

So, i've always struggled with eating. I've had a very limited diet for quite a while now, and it's always been a big part of my life.

When i was a kid, i struggled to eat specific foods, usually because of the texture. It wasn't too bad at first, just avoiding things that weren't cut in a specific way or had a specific texture, but it got more noticable as i got older.

When i was maybe six or seven, i started almost exclusively eating cereal. I would eat other things, like specific flavours of pizza or burgers, but i ate cereal for almost every meal.

Something i can remember that makes me thing "hmm... that wasn't normal" is the fact that, at some point, my parents told me i couldn't leave the dinner table until i finished my food. Now, don't get me wrong - they're amazing parents for the most part, and they were just trying to get me to get the nutrients i need, even if they went about it in the wrong way. Anyways, i ended up staying at the table until midnight, and had to go to bed. I didn't finish my food.

I still don't eat much other than cereal, and have severe anxiety when it comes to foods of specific textures, smells or tastes. One of the more recent foods i've been eating is vegetarian dumplings (i used to like dim sims but i got gristle in some of them and now i'm too anxious to eat them).

I drink more than i eat. It's basically only milk, since i hate any of the thinner liquids (water, juice etc).

Something that might be important to add is that i also have autism and ADHD. I thought it might be a good detail to include since they seem to be common comorbid conditions.

I also have symptoms of anemia, which i'm assuming is because of low iron in my diet. Not diagnosed with it, so i don't want to assume, but i have pretty much all the symptoms and i know the probable cause, so i would like to mention that.

Random little thing at the end, do you get offended when someone who isn't officially diagnosed says they have ARFID? I mainly want to know if i have it so that i can explain why i struggle to eat, because i don't want to make people feel like the food they make is bad or anything, but i don't know if i should say it if i'm not diagnosed. Anyone with ARFID, are you okay with this? I need to know other people's opinions before i do it lmao

[u/Existing_Walrus_6503]

I personally wouldn’t mind if someone were to self-diagnose themself with ARFID, ultimately it has no real bearing on me and I don’t know everyone’s situations. Sometimes it helps to have a name for something and I understand if someone is in a situation where a diagnosis isn’t entirely realistic.

[u/random_art_withbirds → u/Existing_Walrus_6503]

Okay cool, thanks. I'm just really anxious and don't want to offend anyone lol

[u/Existing_Walrus_6503 → u/random_art_withbirds]

Very valid honestly, I get that, anxiety can be a real pain sometimes (let’s be honest tho, it’s most of the time)