Anyone else forget to eat and drink?

Drinking is so important and as you obviously already know you can be so ill if you get dehydrated. In the past I’ve been dehydrated enough that it’s affected my kidneys, you defo don’t want this, so it’s a good idea to try your best to keep your fluid intake up.

Some tips I would suggest to anyone who struggles with this problem.

The following all helped me. I know #1 hasn’t been useful for you but posting just in case it helps someone else.

• Get a reminder app on your phone – there are specific ones for drinking and eating, I have one on my phone that reminds me regularly
• Buy yourself a water bottle and ALWAYS keep it on you/in front of you. That way it’s a constant reminder to drink
• Get a water bottle/cup with a straw. I find I drink more when I drink through a straw, you naturally take in more with a straw
• Get a FUN water bottle or cup, something you will like that’s going to make you notice it and enjoy using it. It’s surprising how much this can remind you to drink

I hope this helps you. Take care of yourself.

I struggle with this as well. I get so preoccupied with what I'm doing or with stress and forget to drink, sometimes to a lesser extent I forget to eat. What I've done is got a drinking reminder app on my phone... it reminds me regularly to have a drink, if I ignore it I can set it almost like an alarm snooze so it reminds me again 5 mins later.
Another thing I did was buy myself a water bottle (with a straw), I've noticed I drink more when I use a straw and have found this more helpful than I originally thought it would be. Choosing a fun water bottle rather than a plain one made it more enjoyable for me. My water bottle is sky blue and has bees on it

I've struggled a lot with this in the past personally, and setting reminders doesn't work for me either. Personally I keep a stash of snacks at various locations around the house, and try to make something tasty to drink while I'm working, so it's more like a reward or a bonus rather than a chore. That way it takes less effort to get around to eating and drinking, and even if I forget about entire meals, I'm not putting myself at any bodily risk by the time my husband comes home.

Hey!

*waves*

I'm glad you have found it helpful. Honestly,it's saved me a lot of hassle, (and hospital visits), more so than I thought at first it would. I'm glad it's been of help to you too, these little things can be true life savers can't they.

Rayann said:

You can also pick yourself up a water bottle that has markings on it telling you how much you should drink throughout the day. Carrying a snack with you can be a helpful reminder to eat as well.

This works for me too.

If I don't do this; after a while, I can misinterpret hungry / thirsty for cross / bored (much later on realising: just run out of energy).

Hi Marsi. 

I'm sorry you go through this. The same thing happens to me too, causing dehydration and low blood sugars. It's especially bad in the summer if it happens to be hot. Something that helps me that you may like to try is using your phone to set alarm reminders to remind you when to eat and drink. I have done this since 2021, when dehydration last landed me in A&E and though I still forget if I ignore the reminder (not recommended) it does help as I drink at a more regular rate now.

It's not easy though because I almost never actually feel hungry or thirsty so when it comes to eating and drinking I've got to practically force myself to have something and that's not easy. lol.

You can also pick yourself up a water bottle that has markings on it telling you how much you should drink throughout the day. Carrying a snack with you can be a helpful reminder to eat as well. When I go out I keep a bag of sweets on me and this is a helpful reminder to eat little and often during the day. Especially useufl when I am working.

I hope some of this can help you with this situation. Dehydration isn't fun and it can be really harmful if it's a regular thing, my kidneys aren't 100% anymore so I try to be extra mindful of this.

Hi Marsi

I find myself in a similar position. I rarely feel thirsty or hungry. I recently went to my GP for a well person check up and that flagged up a potential issue with my kidneys which resulted in a follow up blood test to be sure my kidneys are stable. I have health anxiety issues so I spent a very traumatic  week imagining all sorts of dreadful things as I thought my kidneys were most likely packing in :(   Fortunately my second test came back satisfactory with a recommendation from my GP to drink between 2-3 ltrs of (water)  a day as I'm very dehydrated.

This seemed like a huge amount but so far so good. I fill a 2ltr jug in the morning then set a reminder called Drink on my Alexa device. When the reminder goes off I take 4 gulps of water then snooze the reminder for 30 minutes and this continues until I've finished the jug of water. 

I've used Alexa to remind me to do other tasks too - but after a few days I've ignored them but I think this one is working for me (so far) because I was so scared when I was sent for that second blood test. 

I follow a general routine, three meals/drinks a day,  four hours apart.

I think as an adult there is not always someone there to remind you to do these things, you’re kind of told when to eat and drink as a child and reminded to use the bathroom.

Luckily for the most part I’m ok with those things but if I’m wrapped up in something that interests me I am definitely affected by them. I very often remember to do those things but keep putting it off until I’m at a stage where panic sets in because I desperately need the toilet or my body is crying out for food or liquid. 

I find it very hard to leave off from something I’m focused on, I can even work for long hours at a good pace as I don’t always know when my body is tired. Then it hits me once I stop and I feel awful as well as not having taken fluid or food. 

Im sorry I can’t offer any advice as it’s something I do repeatedly and as you said the alarms and reminders haven’t been particularly beneficial for me.

Good luck 

When I was young I tended not to think about drinking or going to the toilet, but I always ate breakfast and lunch and would have a drink with those meals, and I had been trained as a child to use the toilet before going anywhere. As a young woman I started suffering from urinary tract infections, and a doctor told me I must drink more and go to the loo at least every 3 hours, so I then started making sure I did that.

The only thing I can suggest is scheduling and an adjustment to how you use alarms, as follows:

Write out a schedule of what you have to do at what times each day, and include meals, drinks and bathroom breaks. I suggest writing this because it's engaging visual and kinaesthetic learning (looking at and physically doing something) which helps the brain retain the information.

The first thing you should schedule each day is using the toilet and having a drink - don't start any other tasks until you've had at least one cup or glass of fluids. 

Also schedule in at least one meal during the day (as I assume you have an evening meal with your partner when they get home) - if you keep forgetting lunch then have breakfast with your first morning drink. If you can't eat first thing in the morning, then schedule a time when you must stop everything and eat lunch. Remember that liquids include milk and the juice in fruit, so you could include foods such as cereal with milk, rice pudding and tinned fruit in your meals.

Keep a drink next to you and set alarms to remind you to drink, use the bathroom, and have lunch (if you want to eat mid day). But don't just dismiss them if you haven't done the task - if you're in the middle of something, snooze the alarm so it reminds you again and don't turn it off until the task is completed.

I know it can be difficult to learn new habits, but I hope this helps a bit and I wish you well.

From an autism perspective, all of the issues that you've described are associated with interoception; this is our internal sensory system, which is one of our less-well-known senses.

Just as autism can cause us to be under-sensitive (or over-sensitive) to other sensory inputs (eg having a very poor sense of smell, or preferring very spicy foods due to an under-sensitive sense of taste), so we can also have unusually low (or high) levels of accuracy with our interoception, causing us to not notice our internal body signals - including our hunger, thirst and toileting needs.

I have similar issues to you at the moment, but I find that my (autistic) reliance on routines is a big help. Perhaps you could try to develop some yourself. Annoyingly, our autism can also make it difficult to do this, but - for me - persistence with developing new routines works eventually, although it can take some time. 

I also use a smart water bottle and app.

Developing consistent routines is actually one of the strategies suggested by Reframing Autism for supporting ourselves with these kinds of difficulties. You might find their advice helpful. It includes:

• Engaging in Interoceptive Awareness Training
• Involving Visual Supports and Communication Tools
• Providing Consistent Routines
• Modifying our Environment
• Making Space for Stimming
• Upskilling your knowledge of interoception (ie learning more about interoception, then sharing that knowledge with those who support us, including our family members)

All of these are explained in more detail here:

Reframing Autism - Interoception: Knowing Yourself Inside and Out > Strategies to Support Autistic Individuals with Interoception Difficulties

Given the extent of your struggles, and that you're not getting on well with using aids like alarms, I also suggest talking to your GP, who should be able to provide support. 

You could try setting 2 alarms at 1 minute intervals, followed by a third alarm set at the highest volume with the ghastliest sound available. You might need a spare old phone for the third alarm and you could leave it beyond where your drink is. The rule is that you mustn’t turn the third alarm off until you have drunk the required amount. Eventually you could adjust the timing of the final alarm and you might manage to finish your drink before the alarm goes off.  

I hope this doesn’t sound like aversive therapy - its the only plan I could think of. 

I had this habit of only eating one meal a day (evenings) and found I wasn't particularly thirsty the rest of it anyway.   Other than taking meds & such (which I normally remembered), I'd go hours with no liquids even until I actually connected the feelings of light-headedness I'd been getting with the lack of fluids.

I mean it does sound stupid now, more so writing it down...  but it didn't occur THEN.  I likely googled the light-headedness and convinced myself I had various other things before realising there was a simple solution.

Eat another meal - you tend to be more thirsty I find, then not so dehydrated.  Food & drink go hand in hand I guess.   I now try to eat twice a day instead.  It isn't perfect.  I eat randomly & consume too much junk, but its a work in progress I guess. 

I can, I eat on a schedule. If I'm busy it'll slip my mind and I'll get jittery. Bathroom breaks are an odd thing, it tends to be that there's very little indication until I really need to go.

I always have a snack bar close by just in case.

Yes in terms of eating and the bathroom!

Before I was diagnosed I didn't realise that's why I was forever going for a 'just in case' wee, before I did anything and carried around a snack bar in case I suddenly got hungry.  

Er and you've just reminded me that I've not looked at my alarms today.... so I better look now......

Sorry I'm probably no help!

Some things I do try and do is have stuff in that is quick and easy to cook or eat and I am thinking about batch cooking so there is stuff in the freezer I can microwave that might be more healthy than some of the snacks I do at the minute (like the pot noodle I just had tonight when I realised it was 8 or 9 hrs since I ate something).
The other thing I guess is the 'just in case' thing - for me now it's just what I do, before a meeting I grab a pee and a drink, before going out or getting on transport I have a wee and always tend to carry a drink and a snack.