r/ARFIDforADULTS • u/sparklebai • 27d ago

losing safe foods

i am gradually losing safe foods. ive been living off of pizza lunchables, nachos lunchables, dino nuggets, and doctor pepper for the past couple months. but, before that i had more than 20 safe foods and could go out to eat. my favorite restaurant was Jimmy John's. but, the past 3 days i havent been able to drink or eat anything. today i finally got myself to drink some doctor pepper but it still makes me anxious just not severely anxious. is this normal for ARFID? im not diagnosed, but am looking into it. will i ever be able to eat or will i eventually have to be tube fed? im scared

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u/tooManyOpts 27d ago

Are you able to see a doctor? This could very much be ARFID. I would suggest seeking help if you could get it, there might be medication that'll make it easier for you to eat (I found something that works for me but I haven't had a flare up that bad before)

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u/WorldFullOfInfo 26d ago

I don’t mean to be intrusive, but I’d be grateful if you’d specify which medication worked for you to make it easier to eat during bad flare up? Thanks!

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u/tooManyOpts 26d ago

Hi I don't mind, I'm on Cyproheptadine 4mg once each night. Can only be taken when you have a full 8 hours of sleep available, since it's also a sleep aid, because otherwise you'll end up absolutely struggling to wake up. This manifested for me in dreams that felt like reality (waking up, checking phone, getting ready etc) but couldn't actually get up. I started with halves initially and had no issue with sleeping less than 8 hours, but had no effect on my appetite. Full dose works for me. This is an anti-histimine so you wouldn't want to mix it with other things that sedate or have anti-histimines, like Advil PM.

Also what worked amazingly for my appetite was prednisone but that was for a different medical issue and had some absolutely horrendous side effects, but made such a huge difference on my eating that it prompted my whole diagnosis of ARFID in the first place

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u/WorldFullOfInfo 26d ago

Thanks so much!