Bella Mildon, 16, would only eat crisps and french fries as a toddler. Her parents repeatedly expressed concern about her diet to doctors, but were reassured that her weight was fine. However, Bella's restricted eating led to a severe nutritional deficiency, causing blindness and almost death.
A teenage girl became blind after her "picky" eating disorder left her so malnourished it almost killed her.
Bella was found to have been suffering from a little-known but potentially dangerous eating disorder called avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder, known as ARFID. Those living with the disorder, including children as well as adults, severely limit the types of food they can eat. “I repeatedly took her to the GP and was always told that because she was growing she’d be fine. We tried everything to get her to eat a balanced diet. We even bribed her with sticker charts, different plates, cutting her food into fun shapes, but nothing worked. Eventually I came across ARFID online but our GP said he’d never heard of it.”
Sufferers have been known to have sensory issues around food, which can be linked to autism, or a lack of interest in eating, which is quite common in ADHD patients, Jo said. Others develop the disorder after enduring a choking experience as a child, which causes the brain to associate certain foods with danger.
Dr Jo Cryer, who co-leads the complex feeding service at Evelina London Children’s Hospital and is a trustee of ARFID Awareness UK, says more people are being diagnosed due to increased awareness.
ARFID Eating Disorder Blindness Malnutrition Childhood
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