eating disorders and asperger's / autism

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Thank you so much for sharing, LadyMacbeth, coppelia & kittenfluffies

kittenfluffies- it's making so much sense to me now. At age 12 I started obsessing about my weight & it turned into bulimia at age 15. It was on & off until about age 22 (the anorexic tendencies, even though my weight never did go much below the low end of my height & weight range, and also the bulimia), then I somewhat got a grip on it. There were a few years in my 20s when it turned into compulsive overeating, and I looking back, I do think there was a false sense of security there because it was more socially acceptable, especially here in the US where many people are overweight (though the weightism is certainly still here). I'm 35 now, and my weight has been stable for about 3 1/2 years, I've learned to mostly channel the anxiety into martial arts, yoga, walking and other kinds of physical activity, also journaling helps, but the obsessive & compulsive stuff is *still* there, just in other ways. Every now & again I still fall back on the eating disordered behaviors and thoughts, not enough to meet the diagnostic criteria anymore, but enough that I know it's a problem. Wow, I can totally, totally see now how the not being able to express yourself and the ocd can come out through disordered eating. Holy Cow.

I recommend Body Outlaws as well.

From what I have observed and experienced, I would think that EDs are definitely symptomatic of an aspie women. I am not completely sure about male aspies though. However, since many of us are under the pressure of fitting in to social norms, which include being very thin, I wouldn't be surprised if the majority of men w/ EDs also suffer from AS. I, myself, have suffered mainly from anorexia w/ bouts of bulimia. I also still suffer from BDD (Body Dismorphic Disorder). My rational mind tells me that I am not fat, since I am 5'8'' and 113 lbs. However, my irrational mind, when it looks in the mirror, just sees a big fat ugly BLOB!

Had lifelong battles with anorexia/bulimia.
I did read in Tony Atwood book that between 13 and 17% or somesuch of females with anorexia also have AS traits. It makes sense. They need to do more research on this, I feel.

I once stopped eating for 31 days. Dropped 50 pounds. You might call that an eating disorder.

Eek.

Technically, it's not an eating disorder till you're trying to maintain a body weight 15% or more below what the medical establishment calls healthy, for three months or more.

I think technically is a load of crap.

Not an eating disorder, maybe- but, well, clearly a problem.

At least that's how it seems to me.

I never had an eating disorder as an aspie but I overate for the last few years acting out because I was repressing my aspieness completely to see if I could change things in my family. It didn't work and I think it is my aspieness that instantly turned off the habits of overeating that I cultivated the last few years. Interesting. I call it aspieness but it's something inside me that can't be persuaded that puts me in the candy aisle and thinking no way. I did a lot of low class palate things in the last few years that I never did before. It was weird. Now I am back to adhering very specifically to my tastes.

I have a food addiction. I wonder if that could be another eating disorder that's related to autism?

Yes I have an eating disorder and I've had it since I was young.

I figured...my rationale was that people didn't seem to like me...so maybe if I was "thin" and pretty like the other girls they'd like me.

That...my dad ate himself to a stroke...and I didn't want it to happen to me. For as long as I can remember my mom will go almost the whole day without eating and then will binge (Binge Disorder).

For her, binging is eating a while bag of potato chips. For me the other night it was eating five pretzels and a piece of string cheese.

How do you guys deal with the ad on this page...I find it really triggering and find I can't stay here long because of it. I don't know what to do.

It's a bad rut to get out of...and I don't think you ever completely get out of it.

definitely a relationship between the two.
many women with AS have had a history of anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa.

It's also my personal experience.
we also tend to get fixated on certain foods and have rigid eating patterns or crave certain flavours or textures.

that is very much a part of my AS makeup.
i am no longer anorectic or bulimic these days - but it was a very difficulot part of my life for about 15 years and ruled my adolescence.

I am truly ashamed to admit that the "CALORIE COUNTER POCKET GUIDE" was probably a very importatn special interest throughout teen years....

I don't know if I mentioned this before, but I discovered a really awesome book about this called "Intuitive eating." I give it my highest reccomendation if you have eating problems to figure out.

Even I, as a man, struggled with anorexia in the not-too-distant past, and currently struggle with overeating.

Pica and selective eating disorder are eating disorders too aren't they. They're common in autism and AS.

Well, I think there can definitely be some parallels between these conditions.

I've always had issues with body image and weight.
I overeat as a response to stress and anxiety, and I've been overweight for most of my life.
Even when I was not actually overweight, I saw myself as being fat and felt terrible about it.
I constantly thought that others were judging and avoiding me based on my appearance.

Eating disorders run in the family, too.
My oldest brother was bulimic for a number of years, and is only now finally OK with that.
My other older brother also overeats in a manner similar to me, and is he is currently very unhealthily overweight.