eating disorders in young women on the spectrum

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I was wondering how common it is for women with aspergers/hf autism to have eating disorders growing up?

You can choose 3 options, please put one describing your eating disorder and the second what age you were and the third if you had been diagnosed with being on the spectrum at the time of getting your eating disorder. If you have any comments or thoughts I would love to hear them. Thank you

I usually either eat too much or too little but I've never been officially diagnosed with anything.

Thank you for your answer

I'm surprised that there are no more answers, I was told that it's more common for young girls to first have contact with doctors because of eating disorders. Or is this not true? Or maybe it is too personal of a question?

It wasn't first contact. But as a child I was picky and the doctors told my parents to feed me whatever they made and that I would eat when I was hungry but I never did. My mom had to let me have my safe foods because I would have starved if she hadn't. Certain thinks just made me queasy and I couldn't even look at them, especially things like steak.

I don't have eating disorder and I never had.

Well, I was a picky eater but not to the degree of starving. I just insisted on some foods and refused to eat some other but it was never like I ate nothing during dinner time. And I could eat pretty much everything if they feed me when I was playing. As long as you ignore the fact that I was keeping the food in my mouth for hours if they didn't remind me that I am supposed to swallow. I was too busy playing to know there is something in my mouth. LOL

However my mom (NT with special interests) is obsessed with weight and had anorexia as a teenager. She was even trying to keep her weight down by eating very little when she was pregnant with me because she was terrified of how much weight she is gaining...

Last edited by Kiriae on 15 Apr 2015, 10:19 am, edited 1 time in total.

Thank you for your answer Kiriae.
That's interesting that you would get so distaracted as to not swallow:) How old were you then?

That's sad, sorry to hear that.

About 5. But I recall doing it even when I was 12, except that I was self aware enough to realize "Oh, looks like I took a bite but forgot to swallow again" by myself (and I was taking the bite by myself too, it was taking me about 3h to eat 2 sandwiches that way but at least I was properly eating my breakfast and supper without being feed ) so it wasn't so much of a problem.

It's interesting for me to hear I have never had that, if I have something in my mouth I'm extremely aware of it. It has been so as far as I can remember. I can forget to eat completely, but not like that.

Have had an eating disorder since the sixth grade and probably will until the day I die at this rate. It has nothing to do with body image for me. Originally it developed as a coping mechanism for ever-growing levels of anxiety and then it became a sensory issue as time went on as I really hate feeling full or like I have anything in my stomach.

Thank you Logston, I understand your struggles. I know that horrible feeling of feeling full, my problems also started in sixth grade, but in my mid twenties it started getting better for me. I hope you will also get better.

I had an eating disorder as a teenager (restricted eating to gain a sense of control over my body) but I was diagnosed as being on the spectrum while in my mid 20s.

Hi Agemaki,

I was wondering if you believe that you were predisposed for an eating disorder because of being on the spectrum?
I believe sometimes when I think back that it started as a teenage "want to fit in" thing, but quickly became my special interest, and it was something I could control and focus on. I felt better after a while, since it made me feel stronger because it gave me control and also helped me distance myself from my emotions.

I checked "no eating disorder" because my issues with eating are not on the list.

I don't think I ever really learned how to properly recognize & respond to the hungry/full mechanism (or perhaps my body's mechanism doesn't work properly.)

When I was a kid, and sometimes even now, I would get so hungry I would feel sick. Sometimes it would be 1/2 hour before dinner time and I'd complain to my mom that I was so hungry I was going to be sick if I didn't eat RIGHT AWAY. She would always make me wait (dinner wasn't ready), but often she would give me a carrot to eat, and that would be enough in my stomach to keep me from getting sick without spoiling my appetite.

When I was a kid, I could only have one type of food on my plate at a time. Then I "graduated" to being able to have different foods sharing the plate, but I would only eat one at a time (ie. I'd eat all the turkey, then all the potatoes, then all the peas, etc.) It took me into adulthood before I could eat a little of this and a little of that and go back and forth between tastes and textures. I think this screwed with my ability to know when I was full because I was probably full before I had tasted everything on my plate, but knowing I had to eat some of everything made me keep eating.

I also have always eaten way too fast. I also have always had way too much liquid when eating. I would drink probably a quart of liquid at a meal, at least. I have since learned not to do this. Too much liquid probably also messed with my ability to know when I was full.

I also stress-eat, which is pretty common even with NTs.

Another thing is feeling like I have to eat to meet some kind of expectation. This is hard to explain, but I have felt pressure to eat (real & imagined) and I would eat to please someone instead of knowing how to politely refrain. Or, I would eat more than I should because I thought I had to. Thankfully, this has gotten better but I still have to watch myself at social gatherings.

When I was younger and at a social gathering, all I would do is eat. Looking back, I know it was very much due to social anxiety. I knew how to eat whereas I didn't know how to socialize.

None of these things really fall under an official "eating disorder", but it surely is disordered eating.

Hi nerdygirl,
Thanks for sharing your story, I'm sorry I did not have an alternative for you, in all honesty I don't know much about your type of eating disorder, but I agree with you that it is a form of one. Life is most definitely not easy when you have any kind of a problem with food, since you need to deal with it every day for as long as you live.

I think it is possible that my desire to control my body (lowering calorie intake to suppress menstruation) had some relation to my generalized anxiety disorder (diagnosed as an adult) that can be a co-morbid symptom of being on the spectrum. Having control over myself and my environment seems to lessen the anxiety. In my later teens I manged to transition the harsh dieting and need to exert control into a preoccupation with just eating healthy food.