A schoolboy who only ate Heinz Peppa Pig pasta shapes for 12 years has finally had a proper meal – thanks to hypnosis.
Curtis Maxwell, 14, would gag if he was forced to eat anything other than the tomato-sauce pasta.
The teen would trough up to five cans of the novelty-shaped pasta every day – costing mum Kylie more than £100-a-month in food bills.
In desperation Kylie contacted David Kilmurry, a specialist in obsessive eating conditions, who diagnosed Curtis with ARFID.
ARFID — avoidant-restrictive food intake disorder — can make sufferers oversensitive to the taste, texture, smell, look and even temperature of certain foods.
After a series of two-hour sessions, Curtis now has more than ten foods which he is willing to try.
Kylie, from Rugby, Warks., said: “His obsession with Peppa Pig pasta started as soon as we started weaning him.
“He just wouldn’t eat anything else and fruit and vegetables were a definite no go.
“He would also eat some crisps and digestive biscuits but for his main meal it was always pasta shapes.
“He was a happy healthy boy but he would scream or moan if I put anything else in front of him.
“He did eat the Heinz Minions shapes or Thomas the Tank Engine but his favourite was Peppa Pig and it just went on for years.
“The health visitor said it was food regression but the problem is he never came out of it.
“I used to buy more than 30 tins a week in bulk from Asda. It was ridiculous.
“He’s suspected of having sensory processing disorder and the ARFID coincides with that.
He has issues with texture and taste, it’s obviously very similar to children who suffer with ARFID.”
He is now able to tuck into a variety of foods, including his new favourite which is a six-inch turkey sub sandwich.
Kylie, a cleaner, added: “Things came to a head when he went to a friend’s house after school and I had to send him with tins for tea and the boy’s parents looked at me like I was mad.
“I knew we had to do something to break this cycle.
“It’s difficult for him now that he’s a teenager it’s hard for him to be able to go out and socialise with friends.
“They’ll pick up chips and pizza and he just can’t eat that.
“He was in and out of hospital having tests done because he couldn’t stop vomiting.
“He‘d had ultrasounds, blood tests, they’d done everything but they couldn’t see anything wrong.
“They said it could be his restrictive diet causing him to be sick.”
After four hypnotherapy sessions Curtis has tried passion fruit, mango, balti mix, sugar snap peas, blood oranges, lemons and peanuts.
Single-mum Kylie added: “We’ve had four sessions and we’ve been making some real progress, I don’t think I’ve seen him try as much food.
“Peanuts are a new favourite which was unfathomable before. He actually likes them.
“I think the therapy is opening up his pallet, he’s realising there’s favourite he likes.”
Hypnotherapist David Kilmurry says he is “thrilled” with Curtis’ progress since he started treating him in February this year.
He said: “Curtis has superseded my expectations and has taken to the therapy extremely well.
“Having had the food therapy myself I do understand it, I do connect quite well with fellow ARFID sufferers.
“Curtis has just jumped in feet first, he’s been for pizza with me, he’s been for Subways with me and we’ve only done three sessions. So we’re doing very, very well.
“I have absolute faith that he is fully recovered from the food phobia.”
