Convincing yourself to eat.

[sibelius]

One of my symptoms has been decreased appetite -- which actually gets worse as I continue to lose weight (and vice-versa).

I barely ate today, though I knew all along that I should have eaten much more. For example, tonight at about 9:00, I finally convinced myself to eat dinner, so I had one English muffin with butter, and a mug of hot chocolate. Not much of a dinner!

I just didn't feel like eating... after I'd eaten the muffin, I was a little more hungry than before, and could have eaten another, but I was feeling too tired to get up for more.

How do you convince yourself to eat, when you just don't feel like eating? Or do you simply not eat?

 

[Methofelis]

I've had this problem so many times that I'm surprised I even weigh anything. I've gone for a week here or there without ingesting more than, say, coffee or some other beverage. By the end of that I'm listless and can pass out when I stand up, but for some reason I keep doing it anyway. It's absurd.

Sadly, I haven't found a perfect solution. I usually start eating at the urging of others, such as the time I walk out of the shower and my poor boyfriend at the time nearly broke down crying at the sight of how emaciated I had become. When I start to scare others, I try to eat just to assuage their fears. A shame that it only occurs for the benefit of others, but whatever works, I suppose.

I'll also try and find something that is filling but small, with plenty of calories so that I can get through the eating process quickly and get the most benefit. Some of those power bars used by bodybuilders and the like can be useful for quick-shot meals, as well as the liquid ones. (If you have restrictions, I believe they make them every way from diabetic friendly to kosher.)

Wish I could be of more help, but sometimes it is just too much to even bother eating. If you find a more decent solution, please let me know.

 

[AbstractDonut]

Um... you might try changing what you eat. I'd try yogurt, cheddar cheese, chicken, peanuts (if you can handle them).

Things with sugar or milk or gluten irritate many.

 

[sibelius]

It's not that I was worried about reacting to the food I'd eat -- I simply wasn't hungry. I've been eating leftover pizza all week, and so that didn't appeal to me tonight. I have some leftover pasta, which I ate earlier in the week with much delight, but for some reason tonight that didn't appeal to me, either, nor did anything else. That English muffin was really good, though.

It's a strange feeling for me -- simply not wanting to eat. It's not even just not being hungry -- it's a feeling that anything you could possibly offer would not appeal to me. When I was younger, I'd go to the sub shop and eat 2 foot-long subs, a bag of chips, with several refills of pop, and still be hungry for more (and somehow, still manage to be borderline underweight). Oh, those were the days!

 

[amor151]

i find this one of the most difficult to cope with aspects of crohns. i still feel hungry but when i think about what i want to eat everything just seems so sickly. i find hot food quite unappealing at the moment and am pretty much living off easter eggs, crisps and pasta.

the thing that helped me, though really tough, was forcing myself to eat. i found that when i wasnt feeling hungry and i forced something down i actually felt quite good and ate more after that. gradually my appetite became more and more "normal" and yesterday i had my first roast dinner in a long time

(although im ashamed of it KFC was pretty much the only hot food my body seemed ok with for a while. god bless popcorn chicken )

 

[Guest]

its rotten when you have a battle going on between your brain knowing you should eat to sustain yourself, but your body telling you it doesnt want food.

i'd try and just tempt yourself with treat-like foods.. forget the "healthy diet" until your appetite comes back. fruit is light and palatable, especially tinned fruit (which is easier to digest), jellies etc.. and chocolate. hopefully if you spend a few days just picking at things which take your fancy, your appetite will kick start. i hope so.

 

[Kev]

One thing that worked for me (WARNING: GROSS TALK FOLLOWS) was that I had a fear that if I stopped eating, my GI tract would shut down (totally foolish I know)
but I wanted to try to get something thru it every day, no matter how little it might be... AND I wanted those 'daily' passages to give me an indication of what was going on... i.e. was my stool any better OR was I loosing more/less blood. I also factored into my thinking that my meds were supposed to be with food... AND I didn't want anymore complications... PLUS I wanted to avoid any more trips to the ER... So, those were my 'self motivations' to force me to eat.

 

[GregD]

When my Crohns was really bad, the only thing that gave me any appetite was marijuana. And it actually worked really well.

Also, when I didn't feel like eating, I would try to drink an Ensure or a milkshake with peanut butter and a banana. Dairy has never really bothered my stomach.

 

[Digits]

when i dont feel like eating, i dont usually eat, but ill listen to my body, and whatever i end up even remotely craving, ill go anywhere to get it, so i could eat.

i dont worry much about the health part of the food when im not really eating, as long as i get some type of food in me.

I only had a hard time with underweight when i was first diagnosed, then i got plumped up by steroids and ensures through a G tube, and since then ive always been overweight, even when i dont eat for days at a time.

the strange thing is all the weight seems to be in my stomach and boobs, i look like a pregnant woman (im 5' 1 and 196Lbs) and ive looked pregnant for about...4 years now. ive got normal sized arms, legs, butt thighs, etc. i hate it.

 

[My Butt Hurts]

Find one thing that really tastes great, and stick with that.
I was really sick a few months ago, before I started Humira, and one thing I could always eat was chicken salad sandwich with mayo and chopped celery. Nothing else much tasted good, but that was delicious! Try some take-out food that you always like. Spending money is worth feeling good. Something that I started drinking to gain weight was Carnation instant breakfast drinks (like chocolate milk with vitamins) it doesn't taste gross like the Boost or Ensure. I add that flavored dairy cramer for coffee, and it is SO yummy!

 

[AbstractDonut]

When I lost my appetite it wasn't long before I got waves of nausea when eating. Would start to eat something and it always seemed to get cold quickly, always found myself chewing for an hour each swallow. Luckily I changed my diet not too long after this.

 

[Wiles]

This was one thing I had a lot of trouble with. At one point I had no appetite at all and even the smell of cooked meat made me nauseous.

For a while I let myself not eat much, but it just made my health worse. Also, when I didn't eat on schedule my digestive system would go into spasms when I did have something to eat. I ended up just forcing myself to eat. There was no trick to make it easier, I just had to will myself to do it.

When I absolutely could not eat anything I would have an ensure.

Now, almost a year after surgery I can't stop eating

 

[Kittee]

I am glad to hear I am not the only one with this problem.

I can start eating, eat a few bites and suddenly the food is "nauseous" to me. So I stop eating. Or worse, the smell of it hits me just right when cooking and I can't eat. My poor hubby looks at me funny when that happens.