Your life sounds like that of a lot of our members. We have found some articles which link super senses with giftedness. Here is a link to one: http://giftedkids.about.com/od/gifted101/a/overexcite.htm. Almost everyone in our group can attest to the fact that we all seem to be extrodinarily gifted in one capacity or another. Many have great musical abilities, are extremely intelligent, and have successful careers. If it weren’t for the darned eating thing, life would seem great for most of us.
Unfortunately, I cannot really give you a name or cause of our condition. What I can tell you is this…our condition seems almost absolutely to be genetic. There have been studies done on twins in the UK who were separated at birth and both ended up with the PE issue. Some people, like myself, have tons of PEs in their family up one side. Some, on the other hand, cannot find a single one with the condition besides themselves. But in both cases, genes are likely the main culprit.
Some eating disorder specialists are now starting to note this as a type of eating disorder, though psychological treatments have never seemed particularly helpful.
There is a well known and documented condition that all humans have in their tasting ability. About 50% of people are normal tasters…but 25% each are either non-tasters or supertasters. Most people in our support group seem to be supertasters, meaning that we have a higher concentration of taste buds and a better ability to taste things. It is also well documented that supertasters in general are very sensitive to bitter foods and things that might taste sweet to others, can taste bitter to us. Where that is especially important with us seems to be with veggies. Many veggies have a substance in them which is known to taste bitter and which has been documented in tests to be especially offensive to supertasters, whereas non-tasters and normal tasters don’t notice it at all.
There is also a medical condition called Sensory Integration Disfunction. You might Google it and see if it sounds at all familiar to you. But people with SID have a problem where their brain processes the senses incorrectly, either too much or too little. So someone with with hyper senses would be extremely sensitive to touch and taste (and the other senses). And our condition seems to deal as much with the texture of foods as it does the taste. The only people who can diagnose and treat this condition are Occupational Therapists, but their studies have shown that the most help that can be obtained needs to happen before a kid reaches 5. Many of us don’t qualify for this disorder, but have mild tendencies towards it. For instance, I am very sensitive to touch (the way clothes feel on my skin, if wrong, can drive me bonkers), light and chaos can give me headaches instantly (sight), taste is obvious, I am super super sensitive to smell and someone smelling wrong can lead to me feeling extremely ill (smell) , and I have always hated loud and/or chaotic noises (sound). Personally, I think there is a milder form of this disorder that they haven’t yet accepted or qualified, and that many of us suffer from that with all the other things mentioned.
Likewise there is definitely some psychological stuff that goes on, but I believe it is caused by, not the cause of our eating disorder.
As for dating….well I can tell you that I am now happily married to a wonderful, gifted man who couldn’t give a hoot about my eating, except that he wants me to be healthy. I certainly had my share of avoiding dinner dates, meeting the parents, and having people break up with me becuase of my eating. It sucks! But I determined eventually to just be upfront about it and avoid becoming attached before they knew about it. I told my now husband on our first date, ate like I normally do, we discussed it at length, and the rest is history. I advise everyone to be as open about it because it prevents a lot of embarrasment, etc. in the long run.
I can’t guarentee people won’t laugh at you…especially high school kids, because they are in general not mature and are so insecure with their own faults that they feel the need to laugh at other peoples faults to keep the attention from being on them. And that is what it is _________…they have faults of their own that they are worried will get out, so if they can keep the attention on you and your “faults”, then they don’t have to worry about being exposed themselves. But depend upon it, they have their own deep dark secrets that they don’t want to let anyone know about. Sadly, ours cannot be easily hidden because of its nature.
But if wanting to tell them, I would tell them that you have a genetic eating disorder and doctors are unable, as of yet, to figure out why people with this condition can’t eat many different foods. It might also help to tell them that there are thousands of documented cases of this and until the research is done that can figure it out, no one has been able to succesfully treat one of us. People in general, have a tendency to laugh less at a condition that they know can’t be helped by the individual because of medical purposes. Of course, when I was in high school, people laughed at the “retarded” kids all the time, so it might not work with all high schoolers, but at least it might help with some of the more mature individuals.
I would also recommend you join the support group online. We have a few kids about your age and perhaps one of them might have some other suggestions for surviving the tough world of high school. It has been a few years since I was in high school and I would not wish to go back….regardless of what most old people say about how they would give anything to be in high school again. Not me!
Keep your chin up. If you have any other questions for me, etc, just send me an email. I’d be glad to help.
Jessica
Twila Said:
on July 9, 2008 at 6:15 pm
I started looking at this site because of my boyfriend, who is definitely a picky eater. I thought that it was just because his mom catered to his every whim and didn’t make him eat anything he didn’t want, but I think it might be more than that.
That aside, I wanted to tell you that it’s okay – you will find a girl who will accept you! Actually, I didn’t even know the extent of my boyfriend’s pickiness until a few months in. He always dominated and choose the restaurant as long as I gave it the okay as well. (And since he likes hamburgers, it didn’t feel like we went to the same place – he just always ate only hamburgers.)
He was also very upfront and comfortable about it and treated it like it was part of who he was that he couldn’t deny. He said “I’ll eat these things, and I won’t go to these restaurants” and that was that. I never really thought twice about it.
My parents were always concerned about making him feel comfortable so even the first time he came over they asked me for the okay if he would like it or not. Since he was upfront with me about it, this was easy. We had steaks, which aren’t is favorite, but he managed and my parents made sides he would like as well. Now they make burgers, pepperoni pizza, or something else he would like and if we drop in and they’re having something he doesn’t like, they don’t feel bad if he doesn’t eat much. He even attends holiday dinners with us without too much fuss. I make him a sandwhich when get back and everything is okay.
They biggest problems arise now that we’re living together (dating for three years) and I don’t have that much I can make. Only because I feel guilty for making myself some laborious chicken dinner and he gets banana sandwhiches.
But one thing that really attracted me to him was his confidence. And I think due to his confidence I never realized his “problem” until I was too hooked to back out! Haha! =) It seems like you have plenty to be confident about, so utilize that part of yourself.
If someone loves you, truly loves you for who you are, and cares about your happiness, they won’t laugh at you. And if their family cares that you make her happy, they will be accomdating as well.