Looking a lot younger?

[Ereth]

As the OP said, youthful appearance is apparently an autistic trait. I don't know why, but I'm not complaining.

(My diminutive stature only adds to the effect. I'm sure I'd get carded if I drank alcohol!)

 

[Blade_Runner]

Yes, I look about 7 years younger than 20 years and it doesn't help being rather short either...almost every single time I buy alcohol I get IDed. Just the other day I was in the library and this girl comes up to me and asks if I can fill in a survey. I say sure I can and then she asks how old I am and I say 20, she laughs slightly embarrassed and explains the survey can only be completed by people over 16! oh man... :giggle2:

 

[IbiPatria]

Yes, indeed. And with the cigarette smoking, years of anorexia (now finished, thankfully) and the chronic insomnia you'd think it would have changed by now. Instead, I'm 28 and still can ask for a high schooler's discount (most recently at a book store in the airport) and have no questions asked and whenever a package came for my parents back in the States whoever was delivering it would ask if a parent/a family member over 18 was around.
Only give away, and sorry for oversharing maybe, is that (thanks to the eating disorder and now the gastroparesis) I have lost half my teeth.

 

[Warwick C]

Congratulation on getting over the anorexia IbiPatria, I understand it can be quite differcult.

 

[IbiPatria]

Thank you so much. I always say I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. I'm happy to hear someone grasping the reality of it and not some fetishized version as a lot of media portrays it.

 

[Divrom]

Back on topic, we've got smooth skin (in some cases augmented by reduced light exposure), larger eye size, atypical style of dress, and behavioral mannerisms as potential contributing factors to a perceived youthful appearance. Seems legit to me. Any one of these things by themselves could potentially qualify a person for a youth-like appearance... and several people here seem to have more than one such trait.

I really don't like being in the Sun. It feels almost oppressive to me.

I also get lots of comments about my eyes. I'm not sure they're particularly large; maybe they're just to die for!

However, I seem to buck the trend here. Since the age of 17, people have thought I looked about 40. However, now that I'm one year off, people put me about 5 years younger.

Can't say it bothers me, because I can never guess anyone's age.

 

[garnetflower13]

This is certainly interesting! When I was in my mid to late teens, people mistook me for a twelve or thirteen year old. When I reached age 39, people were mistaking me for my fifteen year old daughter's older sister. Her schoolmates would inform her that her "sister' was "hot." Of course this annoyed her. I also had a co-worker tell me that I must have made a pact with the devil because I looked so young at forty years of age. I have always looked about fifteen years younger than my actual age. Now that I have let my hair stay gray at the temples, people still look amazed that I have gray hair and think it is some kind of genetic defect.

 

[MoCoffee]

I'll let you judge how old I look. My profile picture was taken in November, so it shows the real me.

 

[Soup]

Thank you so much. I always say I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. I'm happy to hear someone grasping the reality of it and not some fetishized version as a lot of media portrays it.

THe media rendered Anorexia chic the way they made cocaine & then heroin chic (especially for vulnerable young women). I've seen some horrible cases of near fatal Anorexia (Bulimia too) here. In one such case, the woman's legs were so terribly thin that it was a miracle they could hold her up. Shortly after, she was hospitalized. Her eating disorder was triggered by a sexual assault she endured but received little family support for. She got the idea to live off of a few crackers & diet ginger ale (!). Since she was very thin to begin with, the effects of Anorexia began showing right away: there was no period where people were complimenting her on how fit & trim she appeared. She became a skeleton in short order & the ginger ale began causing calcium leakage from her bones leaving her with Osteoporosis! After several relapses & lots of therapy, she recovered reasonably well but was left with permanent physical consequences.

 

[IbiPatria]

Yes. The aftermath...it's tough, too. I sympathise with her. Ihave osteoporosis (mild) in some area and have most of my GI system shutting down, paralysing to be exact and my kidneys and heart are just rebelling, too. And abuse is such a major trigger =\

Anorexia is not something you can easily get rid of once you are fully in it. Relapses are almost a given for anyone trying to recover. EDs are truly monstrous. They even skew brain chemistry/personality to the point various full on narcissistic personality traits come up.... *sigh*

 

[MoCoffee]

Anorexia does not make you attractive. I just got out of my latest treatment July 1st, and I have to fight hard every day to eat what I am supposed to. When I was at my lowest weight I looked like I was in my 80's. I've lost wonderful people to this disorder and can't stand the thought of how worried my children were. I wouldn't wish an eating disorder on my worst enemy.

 

[Warwick C]

I would like to thank you IbiPetria for being so open about your anorexia, I hope it is also helping you to be able to talk about it.

 

[IbiPatria]

Oh, thank YOU for giving me the chance to. I am not bothered talking about it, I worry about maybe triggering someone maybe, that's all. But I speak out about it, in the nitty gritty details, so that maybe...MAYBE I can help some more people. That would make me happy. So again, thank you.

 

[Warwick C]

IbiPatria I think you being so open about the side effect is just as important, because no hears about that.
you may also stop some one as well. how much is it to do with self confidence?

Is there a thread on eating dis orders? would it be worth starting one. To educate and inform members.

For me it is more to do with understanding it, as to respect those who have recovered.

 

[IbiPatria]

I think there is a thread on anorexia and aspergers in the female pop. but it had maybe 3 posts?

There was not ED/Anorexia-ONLY thread.

 

[Warwick C]

IbiPatria Would you like to start one on this forum, then the members who have had experience of it can inform those of limited experience of it.

I appreciate you honest comments to anorexia. It may be an opportunity to stop someone else and others to provide the support
before they start thinking that way ( getting into a negtive thought process).

I am not sure how to word it, you might be able to word it, to help those that need it.

 

[IbiPatria]

Thank you Warwick, You can call me Maria if you want. Either one is fine (whatever you are comfy with.) And I'll do it. I'll have to do it tomorrow because after 28+ hs up I'm getting foggy (cognitively.) And I hope we can manage that! And Yeah, the wording will have to be just so. I don't want to mention a triggering thing but I am confident enough in my knowledge OF triggers that I don't use them.

Great idea you had! Hopefully it'll help out some!

 

[Warwick C]

only to happy to help you Maria, it is easier for me to spell maria. I think you are in a position to make informed comments

 

[Franco]

Hi compatriot. I actually registered here because, while having a look at the forum, I saw that I could provide potentially very useful info for you on this problem:

my kidneys and heart are just rebelling

The info is that coenzyme Q10, aka ubiquinone, a nutritional supplement usually taken at a dosage of 100 mg/day, with a meal, could provide great benefit to your kidneys and heart. Of course, you should perform due diligence on this tip, searching in scholar.google.com with the arguments "ubiquinone heart" and "ubiquinone kidney".

The best way to acquire it would be having your relatives in the US buyi a good brand and send it to you. If that's not possible, in mercadolibre.com.ar there is at least one supplier in Buenos Aires.

 

[BlackRainbow]

EVERYONE tells me I look like I'm 16-17. It does get annoying because I just have to fake laugh and say "yeah I don't look 24". I know I'll love it when I'm older though...