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Peculiar tolerance to starvation

NAS36609

I have difficulty eating and drinking at work due to comments made to me by a former employer and issues with using the toilets where I work. Whilst I do notice at times I don’t feel great due to total starvation, on the whole I manage to go for the majority of the day with no food or drink at all, and when I’m struggling mentally (as it is currently) I can go a few days without consuming anything at all. Meanwhile, I somehow still get all of my work and activities done. Yet when I raise this with doctors (as I know this isn’t healthy) they always respond with ‘well you must have consumed something otherwise you would be ill from that’. But that’s just the thing, my body appears to have a peculiar robustness when it comes to starvation.

So I’m wondering, is this an aspie thing, is it because other than this I’m really healthy, or is it just my body being an unusual one?! I know of others with autism that have eating/drinking issues but I’m not sure how they manage that or how it affects their ability to function physically/mentally. Any thoughts?

  • in reply to NAS36609

    Yes, but they can come on very suddenly and powerfully if I've been engrossed in something! Like my brain just bypasses the feelings if it's focused on something else. Stuck out tongue

  • in reply to Emma

    Our bodies must be opposites! Do you find that you experience hunger and thirst as well then?

  • I'm absolutely the opposite way! 
    While I do often forget to eat due to being absorbed in an activity I feel REALLY physically and mentally unwell when I do and often suffer bouts of hypoglycaemia, though I'm not diabetic. 

    In fact, if I don't eat enough carbohydrates I get dreadful migraines (this is something that runs in the other side of my family to the autism- hit the genetic jackpot lol!). Disappointed

  • in reply to NAS36609

    I saw your reply to Cassandro. I get that also and I am also a skinny elephant.  5ft 8inches and 8st 2 currently... and in a shrinking phase...but Im on holiday from work soon, so will gain weight again soon with that stressor removed.

  • in reply to .

    Yes, anxiety stops me eating too. In fact, I think that any strong emotional state does it for me, which correlates with your sense of needing to be calm. Guess that’s why I’ve never understood the concept of comfort eating!

    I’m also fussy e.g. I don’t like any sauces, I can’t stand the smell of certain foods, I don’t like certain foods touching etc. I was always teased for this as a young child, but I guess this and others symptoms still weren’t enough to scream ‘autism’ at anyone until later.

    On the topic of eating, elephants are welcome here as long as they don’t chew at my tree bark! Stuck out tongue winking eye 

  • in reply to NAS36609

    Hey Aspie-Tree-Person

    It is usually tiredness or anxiety that stops me eating. I need to be calm to eat and if this aspie head is still processing or over analyzing things that can be a difficult place to reach at times.

    I can be fussy about food, i like things simple and natural (was veggie for years) and don't like eating out.

    from 

    "Nasally Enhanced Friend"

  • in reply to Cassandro
    Cassandro said:
    I think we discussed it somewhere else on the forum about not feeling hunger, or not being able to distinguish between feeling hungry and feeling full. The other thing is that immersion in an activity can be so all-consuming that you forget physical needs.

    Yes I saw that discussion. It’s true that I often don’t feel hungry or thirsty, but even when I do I appear able to just ignore the signals and carry on which is kind of what I’m getting at here. You are certainly right about getting immersed in something and forgetting physical needs, but I can often be doing nothing and still ignore them!

    My BMI is fine, the lowest end of normal. I’m sporty so I guess the weight of muscle helps, but also I do try to get enough calories by having two meals in an evening (when I am eating). It’s unconventional but it appears to be sustaining me at present.

  • in reply to Disambiguating Cynosure
    Disambiguating Cynosure said:
    Aspie-Tree-Person

    I love it! Maybe not enough to change my name here though - my brain is far too content with the current combination of 3s, 6s and 9s. Sorry guys!

    Good point about the fasting. I don’t know why but I hadn’t even thought of it in that way. I guess I wondered if it was an aspie thing in relation to hyposensitivities, but I realise it’s not a diagnostic thing.

  • I would say, yes, it is an aspie thing, under the general heading of hyposensitive 'interoception', not knowing the state of your body. I get it a bit, less than I used to.

    I think we discussed it somewhere else on the forum about not feeling hunger, or not being able to distinguish between feeling hungry and feeling full. The other thing is that immersion in an activity can be so all-consuming that you forget physical needs.

    In terms of the physical effects, did your doctor check or comment on your BMI? I kind of assume three meals a day is still the recommendation, and try to focus on that, although it's pretty irregular.  I suspect the current fashion for fasting can't be that unhealthy either.

  • NAS36609 said:
    Any thoughts?
    NAS36609 said:
    So I’m wondering, is this an aspie thing,

    Greetings Aspie-Tree-Person (!)... Preferably others will give better answers than this... but NO it is not an "Aspie" thing.

    Try looking up something like "Fasting", and there will be found out that food is used in many different ways, including not used at all. (As to myself, due to very many (annoying) illnesses, my own diet is VERY restricted also.)

    Your own body is just that - your own. And so advice from others about how to manage it should be taken as from others. It is indeed a pain trying to PROVE it, though...    :-/