Anorexia nervosa and AS

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Does anyone here have firsthand experience of AN with ASD? Do you think that they are related? What do you think of people saying that AN is a 'female form of Aspergers'?

I used to have suspected anorexia, and I'm a diagnosed Aspie.

There is a connection, when Aspies diet, we can become obsessed with losing weight, and with the idea that we're over-weight.
Personally, I was obsessed with calories. I ate as few as I could.

I get where they're coming from with AN being a female form of it, I think I read somewhere that 1 in 7 people with AN are thought to be on the spectrum. Adherence to change, and obsessing about things are both very common traits which in occur in people with AN, and AS. However, I most certainly do not think it's a female form of AS.

I have meet plenty of NT girls that think they weigh too much no matter their current physical status.

With AS I guess reducing weight can be another project where clever methods to achieve this goal developed. The break is to ask oneself what the consequences of the goal is.

I think that my dedication to my eating disorder could easily be linked to my AS. I mean, the routines(exercise/eating etc), the memorization of calories/fat/carbs and the highly focused interest on my ED/weight/how to lose it are very similar to other behaviours I have. What I've heard time and time again is that most anorexics are born not made, though trauma can trigger the disorder most people are born with a pretty specific mindset & personality type that sets a person up for anorexia nervosa. Maybe this has to do with ASD. That being said I've met loads of very NT women with eating disorders ( these women usually flourished in group therapy par example ) and I've met a lot of people who are probably somewhere on the spectrum. There are also probably even more women on the spectrum who don't have anorexia so I'd hardly call AN the "female aspergers"

Its sort of terrifying to wonder if the two are connected. I would like to think that I could finally fully recover from my ED but as time passes that seems to look less and less likely.

@antifeministfrills absolutely fascinating articles. thanks for the link!

I can imagine people with OCD or with the tenancies can be linked to it. Imagine learning about how too much calories makes you gain weight and you learn about the nutrients in foods and what lack of nutrients can do to you and it can make you obsess over it and fear getting fat so you eat very healthy and over do it and you exercise a lot to avoid weight gain and you also over do it.

I don't think my ED is linked to my ASD. I think it was just caused by my low self esteem about my body and being exposed to perfect bodies in magazines and seeing how people weighed less than me and I felt fat. Then I remember reading how if you have less calories than your body needs, you will lose weight and I remember when I lost five pounds over the weekend from skiing and not eating as much because there was hardly food in our condo. But I decided to keep those extra five pounds off so I ate less food. I cut out snacks, lot of junk food, I counted calories, didn't have seconds for any meals. When mom gave me a huge chocolate heart for Valentine's Day, it took me weeks to eat it all because everyday I would only break off a junk and eat it. I refused to eat more food when I was doing PE and softball. I just wanted to lose weight. It's also about control.

But I think there is a difference between people obsessing over their weight and someone with an eating disorder who is. I think a girl thinking she weighs too much doesn't always mean she has an ED. But that can be a start because that is what led me to one in the future. I may not have had one then when I thought I weighed too much but I got one eventually.

I had anorexia and bulimia all through my teens that turned into a severe food addiction(substance abuse problem-binging and pure bulimia) later on, but definitely began because of my AS and OCD, and needing to order my environment and cope with an overwhelming world.
The treatment I was forced to have was very damaging for me and gave me severe PTSD that has taken me years and years to even start to get over. But that's another story, and something I feel very angry about.

But yeah, AS and anorexia/eating disorders- definitely, definitely in the same bag for a lot of people. I think AS women can be more likely to develop these addictions because of anxiety etc.

I think bulimia can be more linked into OCD as well- it was for me.

Plus orthorexia as well; being tormented by constant intrusive thoughts about health and food and so on. Plus having an extrenely poor sense of self as goes with a lot of ASCs- that was a big player in my anorexia as if I was empty, I could sense myself in a room full of people more easily.

BIG SIGH, what a struggle it all is!!