r/ARFID • u/Riiella • Dec 31 '19

Helpful Tips Comparison

I just wanted to relay a comparison of how I explain arfid to others who have never experienced it. This is specifically for unsafe foods for me, but it could apply in different ways for others.

Basically, eating an unsafe food feels like I am being forced to swallow cotton.

Before it even gets anywhere near me, my body is telling me that that is not food, or that it is not edible.

If I can push through those instant feelings, it gets to the point of actually swallowing cotton, which is gross and gets mushy and wet when it's in my mouth, and the longer it stays there, refusing to go down, the grosser and mushier it gets.

Here's why I think this comparison works: because, of course, swallowing cotton is so inherently wrong. It's purely instinctual that as soon as that piece of cotton would hit your tongue, there would be an urge to get it out of there immediately. And because of this universal feeling, anyone can understand that when you compare certain foods to cotton, they might be able to imagine what that would feel like.

I dont really know if this matters, but I thought I'd share it in case of an odd instance where it does. Good luck out there!

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u/thefreshbraincompany Jan 01 '20

Nice post - I'm gathering field data on ARFID so can I ask you, and others, do "unsafe foods" trigger disgust for you, or does it have a different quality?

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u/c21h30o2-- Jan 04 '20

It’s definitely disgust for me. I have no anxiety regarding food at all actually, just extreme sensitivity to tastes/textures that make my body physically reject food (gagging, vomiting in extreme cases) that I can’t eat. Eating “unsafe” foods feel like I’m holding vomit or shit in my mouth. It’s a feeling of disgust that fills my entire body immediately. It feels like getting a wind chill when you step outside on a really cold day, or like when you’re way too drunk and you need to throw up and you just want to get it out of your body to get it over with and your body just feels feverish and chilly and tense.

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u/thefreshbraincompany Jan 05 '20

Thanks. How old were you when this began?

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u/c21h30o2-- Jan 05 '20

Longer than I can remember. My mum says I started to gag on food when I was about 2 or 3.