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tw// ED
hi, i'd like to raise some awareness on an ARFID ED/phobia called phagophobia. i've seen people pick fun at the ED and laugh about it and i get it because it's obscure but it's a real and terrifying issue for some people and i feel like it's not talked about enough.
hi, i'd like to raise some awareness on an ARFID ED/phobia called phagophobia. i've seen people pick fun at the ED and laugh about it and i get it because it's obscure but it's a real and terrifying issue for some people and i feel like it's not talked about enough.
i developed phagophobia in april of 2019 and it developed overnight. it's an avoidant restrictive food intake disorder that frequently stems from a build up of anxiety and subconscious fear of food / eating / swallowing / choking.
it makes it impossible to do something as simple as swallow even a spoonful of food and in severe cases, even saliva and water are a struggle.
each experience is different but for me it surrounded the fear of swallowing literally anything. i lost 14kg in a little over 2 weeks but because i didn't 'look' like inhad an eating disorder, it wasn't taken seriously.
i began to have hypoglycemic episodes, nocturnal panic attacks and unsettling tachycardia. and despite asking for help constantly, i wasn't taken seriously because the disorder is so rare.
i went to the emergency department 24 times in the space of 2 months due to dehydration and tachycardia but they would tell me to "just eat", as if i was doing it on purpose? i felt stupid and invalid because the very people who were meant to help me were turning me away.
my brother would argue with doctors for not taking my health seriously and one even told him i would die if i wasn't admitted. but still, nothing was done. so, despite my family not being well off, we had to pay £395 for two private sessions with a therapist
only for them to be too short to make any difference. i remember at one point, even though i had hypoglycemia and was dehydrated, i didn't want to go to A&E because i felt so embarrassed and stupid and was scared that they'd turn me away again.
i then went back to my home country to get cheap therapy sessions which helped and now over a year later, i am where i am today! i'm completely recovered (for the most part), although the thoughts do occasionally come back, i am able to push through them :)
i'm lucky i recovered. and i'm so thankful. i'm making this thread because i've spoken to people who have had it for years and feel hopeless, i've also seen people make jokes saying it's a disorder "made up by women" or that it's stupid and doesn't make any sense.
and i get it? because it doesn't make sense to us who have it either. but i hope that one day it becomes recognised enough for people go be able to get help when they ask for it. instead of being turned away by those who are supposed to help you.
if you made it this far down the thread, i'm sorry if i bored you but i'm so thankful that you took the time to read!! it means a whole lot to me :)
