Do You Ever Get Hungry

[gertie]

I can't remember the last time I was actually hungry & enjoyed eating. I feel nauseous most of the time & I have to make myself eat a bite or 2 every few hours to keep my blood glucose from crashing. It's been a month since my taste became distorted & eating anything is very stressful. This is the most depressing situation I can remember in awhile. I know if I don't eat I will be in a coma but if I eat I will be sick. Anyone else have this problem? I want to cancel the holidays. I can't imagine trying to cook & pretend all is well especially when just the smell of food makes me sick. Thanks.

[kayjay]

Alicia- I "eat" through the nausea- which is fattening.

I eat crackers, bananas, ginger ale- I find I am worse when I move around. I also am able to eat more mid-day.

By dinner I can't eat at all. I 'm sorry that you have this problem- If I don't eat - I will vomit... sometimes I do anyway.

I do find that eating all day helps me - or i think it does. I am more likely to be sick if I eat a full meal. I have go to the dr's tomorrow and am going to ask him about this very problem.

ALSO you should try to eat nuts- almonds walnuts macadamia nuts are very good for you and they don't bother my stomach.

[erikainorlando]

I don't suffer from nausea..thank God. However, I just wanted to add that I am NOT cooking!!No way!! Someone else will cook or we will get something from "Honey Baked Ham"....

I suggest you take it easy on yourself this holiday season...be creative and do only what you are comfortable with...you deserve to have an enjoyable holiday season..go slow..it seems to help.

Erika

[potsgirl]

Erika~

Another Honey Baked Ham woman! Although we usually go for the glazed turkey.

[gertie]

Someone on here mentioned eating popcorn to keep blood glucose up. I've been doing that for about 2 weeks now & that does seem to help. Hope everyone has a happy holiday!

[mountain girl]

I do feel nauseated frequently, but feel worse if I do not eat. It helps me some to lay down before trying to eat, as the longer I am up the nausea comes on. I like things like toast, yogurt or the individual fruit cups or applesauce, cereal. I do eat other things, but bland seems to be good for nausea for me. I thought about drinking a protein shake or carnation instant breakfast drink too when I do not feel like eating. For some reason though I haven't lost any weight, even though I don't feel like I eat much. I will be glad when the holidays are over as I think there is stress associated with them, which of course makes pots symptoms worse. I do enjoy the music and the tree. Hope you will have a day when a meal tastes good to you.

[tlserenity]

I have this problem - the nutritionist that i went to see told me to get those 'meal in a can' shakes (so that i don't advertise for anyone!!) - and drink them 4 times a day so that i can get my nutrients - turns out she didn't hear me when i told her i am flat out allergic to dairy - so had to switch to the soy version - I still can't bring myself to drink them as she says to - I really prefer not to get so sick at my stomach - but I am trying!

TL

[Kitsakatsa]

I'm with Kay. Eating through nausea is extremely fattening.

I am pretty much on an exclusive carb and salt diet thanks to pots. That means Ramen Noodles is the closest I come to meat.

I am hooked on fiber one bars and anything that is made of bread.

The best things I have found for nausea are bananas, rice pudding and mandarin oranges

The worst things I have found are meats, water, greasy foods and anything with garlic.

I have tried baby rice cereal and it seemed to work well. It wierds you out a little, but I was impressed at how well it sits.

Kits.

[Kitsakatsa]

Oh, has anyone else noticed your stomach not growling? I can be the hungriest ever. No growling. Isn't that wierd?

[potsgirl]

I tend to eat a rather bland diet of a lot of the same things. Every morning I have French toast and a scrambled egg (with Egg Beaters - 18 grams of protein, low fat); lunch is fruit/veggie and two Trader Joe's bread sticks (lots of protein, low fat); afternoon snack is bowl of high fiber cereal; dinner is usually more protein (not meat, maybe fish) and a high protein/low fat nutrition bar.

I can't tolerate dairy, and I'm on a strict list of foods I need to avoid for my interstitial cystitis. I know I need to add more fruits/veggies, so that's my goal after Christmas. I love V-8, but I can't eat any acidic foods - tomatoes included. At least with this diet I know it won't make me sick!

Best wishes for everyone to figure out how to get their calories while avoiding the foods they need to.

Cheers,

Jana

[lissy]

I have noticed I just have NO APPETITE really ever I could go days without eating I just really do it because I know its necessary to live. Its been that way for a few years. I only have nausea if I wait to long to eat which is often... I have no idea what happen to my appetite????neither does the docs.

Lissy

[poppetkazutaka]

I don't really get 'hungry' unless I go all day without eating. But that's not really 'hungry' that's hypogylcemic. XD I get the dizzy-stomach-wrapping-around-my-spine feeling and know I need to eat. Otherwise I get 'cravy'. So I say, "I want egg biscuits" or "I want chicken" or "I want milk" and I just eat as my body craves. I don't have meals or anything anymore, I just eat as I want and I do fine. Because I figure it tells me want I need when I need it. Milk? Vitamins and Calcium. Egg biscuits? Carbs and Proteins and Fat. Chicken? Proteins.

I'm protein deficient hypogylcemic, which means I need to eat enough protein and sugar to make sure I have enough protein to make the sugar last. I have problems with both holding. So I can't just grab a candy bar, I have to have nuts and meat a lot, too. :3

But I don't get hungry so I don't trigger, and that's why I gained a lot of weight and had a lot of dizzies there for a while. I had to train myself to remember to eat at least three meals if not constant snackies. I eat like a toddler. If I don't want a meal, I have to at least nibble some cheese or a biscuit or a cracker package or something. I watch my weight to make sure I don't start gaining and if I do I evaluate if I ate too much or not enough and then make sure to watch it.

Usually it's not enough so I put more food in and sure enough I lose the weight.

tl;dr version: No I don't get hungry, I just crave things as I need them. :3q

[potsgirl]

Does anyone else here have problems with meat? I can't stand to be around or to smell/look at raw meat in particular. It really turns my stomach. So, I'm mainly a veggie with occasional fish, but I can't cook that myself, either. Weird.

[poppetkazutaka]

Does anyone else here have problems with meat? I can't stand to be around or to smell/look at raw meat in particular. It really turns my stomach. So, I'm mainly a veggie with occasional fish, but I can't cook that myself, either. Weird.

Weirdest thing about me is if it's not bad or turned or old, I LIKE the smell of blood. So that would be a good thing. I don't like to eat it though. I have to have meat WELLLLLLLL done.

[janiedelite]

I have worse nausea in the morning. It gets worse if I'm upright much, so I usually eat lying down. And I don't feel hungry anymore either. I find that I do best with a rice cereal in the morning, something easy to digest. Soup like chicken noodle or tomato for lunch. I have my least amount of symptoms in the late afternoon/evening so I eat a real meal then, although I've been advised by my gastro enterologist to follow a gastroparesis diet so I try to do that (low fat, low fiber, small portions). I used to enjoy eating so much prior to POTS. I still enjoy eating, but like most everything else in my life, eating is a different experience now.

If I'm preoccupied, I also can go all day and forget to eat. It's the symptoms of hypoglycemia that usually remind me to eat, not the hunger pain.

[Guest tearose]

To answer your question about getting hungry...

If I have been grazing I don't develop a real sense of being hungry. I tend to have smaller more frequent meals throughout the day to help with energy, and digestion.

I also find this helps with my nausea. Nausea can become such a constant nagging, gnawing feeling and can dull or magnify stomach feelings. Do you have any nausea?

Like others, I have found some foods that just are always good/safe/go down well.. My list includes butternut squash, sweet potato, rice cereal, soup.

Maybe you can figure out what really deeply appeals to you and try to have a small portion of this.

tearose

[prettyinpink]

My appettie has completly changed the past few months. I've become a very very picky eater. Nothing really sounds good and the thought of most food makes me nauseous. I was started on zofran for nausea but i'm still throwing up daily. I have found bananas, rice, tortilla chips, layz stacks and lunch meat to taste good to me usually. I try to eat some of whatever my family is eating and sometimes once I start eating(even if i'm nauseous) I'm able to eat a decent meal.

Why does eating when your nauseous make you fat? Wouldn't not eating all day because your nauseous make you lose weight so eating some will keep your weight the same? I don't think I"m ever hungry but my head feels awful when I haven't gotten enough calories in.

[prettyinpink]

I am going to have a gastric emptying study done to make sure that gastroparesis isn't causing the nausea and vomitting. I would suggest letting a dr know about any stomach issues just in case its not just pots related nausea.

[Kitsakatsa]

Why does eating when your nauseous make you fat? Wouldn't not eating all day because your nauseous make you lose weight so eating some will keep your weight the same? I don't think I"m ever hungry but my head feels awful when I haven't gotten enough calories in.

I think this comes down to three factors: 1. tend to eat starches and carbs, 2. gastroparesis causes some nausea and patients tend to begin eating foods that will not ferment (BRAT food diet). 3. Body absorbs more from food in patients who have periodic starvation, and absorbs sooner (esophogus) in patients who tend to vomit their food.

I learned this from a nutrition class I had to take. I wish I could find a nutritionist who specializes in chronic nausea. I tried to consult a regular nutritionist to see if I could improve my intake and they had no idea of how to deal with long term nausea.

Kits

[kayjay]

Eating ALL day can make you gain weight and I think I am looking for that one food that will make me feel better.

I am sort of like the old lady that swallowed the fly- I eat the crackers, then the banana, then the cheese ( I eat a lot of cheese). I am home most of the time and when My stomach hurts it feels like hunger pains.

When I was first sick for years I was terribly under weight. Now i am in the normal range in terms of my BMI but would feel more comfortable 15lbs lighter.