I am not hungry

[Tessa]

I am usually not very hungry, but the last days, it has become worse. I am not hungry. And when if I feel a little hungry, I start eating... and Ooops, I feel bloated or the food tastes strange...

My weight is going down again

And besides, now I am starting a GF diet.

What can I do? Any suggestion?

Thank you.
Love,
Tessa.

[kate_ce1995]

I don't know if this lack of hunger is something serious or not, but I know I've had docs tell me in the past that we don't need to eat nearly as often as we need to drink. Now, we all know NOT eating can also cause D. So I suggest eating very small bits throughout the day. Keep the gut working and hopefully bit by bit you'll feel better.

But a call to the doc to make sure there is nothing serious there is probably not a bad idea.

Katy

[harvest_table]

Tessa,

I stuggle with appetite loss too and it concerns me. I can't figure it out since it comes, and goes. I find it best to eat my biggest meal of the day in the mornings or closer to noon. Then lighter snacking throughout the remainder of the day.

Katy has a good point- not eating can cause D, which in turn causes other symptoms like lack of appetite. It's a viscous cycle.

I'll bet you start feeling better soon on the GF diet and your appetite will return.

Love,
Joanna

[Carrie]

Oh Tessa I am so sorry to hear about your appetite and weight loss. Around four months after my LC began, food started to taste strange to me. In particular the texture of food bothered me. And my mouth felt dry. It got worse over the next two months. It got so bad I couldn't even look at food and kept losing weight.

All though this bad time I was taking only one medicine - Questran (cholesteramine). My doctor said maybe I was having a rare side effect - anorexia - and told me to stop taking it. He was very concerned with my weight loss and said that if it didn't improve in seven days I should go to the Mayo Clinic. I went home and just stayed in bed that week - total bed rest - and started to eat Cream of Rice cereal (to take the place of the soluble fiber I'd been getting from Questran). Alhough I wasn't keen on the Cream of Rice, I found it tolerable with some butter and brown sugar. And it was easy to digest and I knew I had to try to do something. At the same time I also started to take vitamins (A&D, C, B-12, B-6, and Folic Acid).

I don't know why, but my LC started to get better. The diarrhea went away and gradually my appetite came back. That was in January and now I have my good appetite again and have gained back the 25 pounds I lost.

Tessa, maybe your loss of appetite is a sign your illness has about run its course. Sometimes things seem to get worse just before they get better. I hope so for you.

Su amiga a través del Atlántico,
Carrie

[Tessa]

Thank you for your answers.

Katy, when it started (even though my husband was a bit worried) I did not pay much attention to it. I just avoided eating this and that, but nowadays it has become worse and I want to avoid it becomes something serious. On sunday for lunch, I was not able to have an appropiated meal. Just a "tortilla" (only 1 egg with no potato). In fact, it seams similar to your experience, Carrie. Food tastes strange to me (not all, but most). My mouth feels dry very often, so does my throat (specially when I wake up). I am more thirsty than hungry.

The only difference is that I am taking iron pills... Do you think that is the reason?

When answering Dr. Fine´s questionnaire, they ask "have you lost more than 10 lbs. the last six months?" ... The answer is yes, and even more than that in less time.

By the way, what do you mean when you say "D"?

I have always been a person who likes (and needs) eating small amounts of food throughout the day, but I used to eat also at lunch and in the evenings... Now, I feel annoyed when it is time to lunch or to eat at night... I would rather go on without it.

I have to see the doctor on the 5th of July... Of course, I will tell him. I think it is time to solve this.

I hope it is the start of getting better too, Carrie. Thank you for worrying.

Su amiga a través del Atlántico,
Love,
Tessa.

[Carrie]

Hi Tessa. I don't think the iron pills are causing your loss of appetite or weight loss. If anything they might cause constipation (estreñimiento) but not D (diarrea).

I also lost more than 10 lbs. in less than six months. At first I lost 8 lbs in 6 weeks, then stabilized but slowly lost another 7 over several months, and at the end lost 10 more in 6 weeks. For a while the only food that I could stand was milk with Hershey chocolate-flavored syrup. That kept me going - sort of - when all other foods repulsed me.

I am glad you are going to your doctor on July 5th. Are you having D along with the weight loss?

Su amiga a través del Atlántico,
Carrie

[Tessa]

Hi, Carrie...

No, I have no constipation nor diarrea. I have LC and my symptoms are (among others) bloating, gasousness, abdominal pain, fatigue, mouth ulcers, weight loss, headaches, nauseas with and without vomiting, etc., etc.

But what is diarrhea exactly?

Love,
Tessa.

[Wendy]

Hello Tessa,

I can relate to appetite loss. For the last 6-9 months my appetite has been up and down. I will make myself something and then can't eat a bite of it. It just turns my stomach. And with there only being me here, I have food going bad all the time. Even when I go grocery shopping I go to buy something and my brain tells me "yuck" you are never going to eat that. So I have gone to buying foods that I know I will eat, and its not very well rounded. So I do take supplements.

On the other hand, I am not having the problems I had when I first got CC. I will tell you at that time I was very sick, I was going about 40 times a day. It was really bad, nothing stayed in me for long. I did not have a doctor at the time, so I didn't see any doctor except my GI, and that was only twice during the 6 mths my regular doctor was off on maternity leave. And it took about 9 mths before I got a diagnosis, and then had no other information since the GI was so overworked he couldn't see me again. When I was at my worst, I was going so much, I was losing fats through my stools, had a very high fat content in my 3 day stool test. Since I had extra fat on my body, that was a good thing, but not the fact of how quickly I lost it. I lost close to 40 lbs in under 2 months. I was very weak, and I didn't have the people on this board to guide me along at the time. So I was drinking boost, or drinks they give to older people to help them get nutrition. I was also eating baby food. It seemed there was nothing I could eat that didn't go right through me within a few hours. But my appetite at the time was just horrible, and I did throw up at times too. I remember being so weak. Now I know that I should have been drinking gatorade or something like that, but at the time I was even having trouble keeping the booster drinks down. I was just trying to keep something in me, and with no help from a doctor, I was just doing my best, and what I thought might help.
Since then I have been in remission twice, I go in and out without knowing why. The doctor that I have here in Toronto, Ontario doesn't believe CC is anything more then IBS, but he did relent and give me asacol, and that is what I take now. I am just so sick of seeing doctors and getting negative feedback, that I have been trying to do this on my own. So far so good, but I am going to have to give in and make an appointment with my regular doctor and have some blood work done. I don't think loss of appetite is good under any circumstanses. And only being able to eat a limited amount of food, is not good for me either.

Anyhow, that is how things have been with me.



Wendy

[mle_ii]

I have found my appetite to be pretty low as well. Except when I exercise. In fact there are some days where I calculate what I eat and I think I'm only eating around 1000 cals, supposedly way too low for my metabolism. But I'm just not hungry that often. And when I get sick I tend to not eat much at all.

[Tessa]

That sounds really terrible, Wendy ... I am not so weak, but I do not feel very well... And it is true, that when I am more sick I tend to eat less... Maybe this lack of hunger is because I am not well...

I just hope things will get better soon...
Thank you for sharing your experiences.
Love,
Tessa.

[Mars]

Tessa,

I sure hope you begin to feel better soon! It is no fun when you feel bad and then don't eat to replace the vitamins, minerals and such needed things to help you feel better.

I just wanted to send you a hug and tell you I am thinking of you and wishing you good vibes to help you feel better!

Love and hugs!

[starfire]

I'm hoping you'll soon be feeling lots better too, Tessa. I hope the diet will be just what you need to feel like your old self again.

Shirley

[Mars]

Tessa -

I notice that if I don't eat the minute I get hungry, I am unable to eat. Does that happen to you or are you just not hungry?

Wonder what causes that feeling?

[harvest_table]

Hi Tessa,

Hope your having a better day today. Lot's of folks caring about you- isn't that a great feeling?

Mars,

You mentioned if you don't eat when your hungry, then your not able to eat. That happens to me and I call it "hitting the wall".

It's such a helpless feeling to prepare a meal when I'm at that point because I know I have to eat but also know that I probably just won't get it in my body. I've sat and stared at quite a few plates of food that normally I would devour with avengence and feel hardly able to take more than a few bites. I've noticed that I have this problem most often with an evening meal if I haven't snacked during the day and satisfied a urge to eat.

What I have found helps is to ALWAYS eat when I'm hungry so when I'm away from home I pack safe foods so when I'm feeling hungry I eat so I don't get to the point where I "hit that wall". I have no idea why this happens, but it does to me too. I'll bet it happens to others as well.

Love,
Joanna