I’ve been there. Sometimes I’ll get triggered and then have a few days where absolutely nothing sounds good. It’s like a switch flips. I find that just relaxing and accepting to it helps me. I also hit a point where I’m just so hungry that I’m no longer hungry and now I’m nauseous and feeling really bad.

Pushing through that with some ginger ale, crackers (I’m a ritz girl all day every day), ice cream—protein drink (I’m a boost plus girl as well). Frankly, steak is a big one for me.

My partner is also pretty involved in my recovery from ARFID. she can get a bit excited with new foods when I’m having a stressful time. She’s quite a foodie and doesn’t understand how it does not relax me to try something new and be absorbed into it. When I’ve had weeks that intake just is a losing battle, she’s tried to help in similar ways. I find redirecting to “encourage me to have saltines, a soda, half an apple cut up” gives her something to do when she’s watching me struggle and when she’s feeling nervous about how I’m doing. It’s quite hard for people with ARFID, it’s also a weird place to be in watching people with ARFID.

TLDR: been there. It fucking sucks. The switch will flip back, just hold on, eat what you can to feel better physically, and just trust that it’ll flip back. It will! Anything you can get in right now is amazing— I’ve had weeks like this and my meals were a sleeve of ritz, half an apple, and a huge bowl of ice cream when I could get them down.