How to increase appetite?

singingflutelady

I recently had to go off of mirtazipine which I was on to increase my appetite and help with nausea. I now have no appetite and my nausea has increased a lot and I am rapidly losing weight (mostly fluid but I am massively undereating). I have lost 7.5 lbs in 10 days (I was 134.5 now 127). I am 5'8 and I am afraid I'll get back down to 118 which is what I was before taking Mirtazipine. Exercise isn't helping as I get 13 000 steps a day and I can't do anything other than walking atm because of health issues. Note: my symptoms are caused by severe gastroparesis and I also have Crohn's. My diet is low fiber and low fat because of this and about 50% of my diet, even when I have an appetite, is Ensure or Boost as liquids are much easier to digest than solids. And no I don't want to take a decongestant as I'm already on 6 prescription and 3 OTC drugs.

kimny72

I'm so sorry you're struggling. I don't have any real suggestions, I just wanted to bump your post. Most of the easy to eat, high calorie foods I think of are pretty high fat. Hang in there :flowerforyou:

fitoverfortymom

Have you considered cannabis?

singingflutelady

Yes, my pain Dr said I was a good candidate but he doesn't prescribe until you take their course which is full so I have to wait a bit.

L1zardQueen

Could you walk a little less? Walking is so good for the soul but maybe cut back just a little. That's all I got but I do like the cannabis idea.

macgurlnet

Mostly here to offer my sympathy - I see you offering great advice and I'm sorry to hear you're struggling!

What about making smoothies? Maybe some almond milk or coconut milk (itself or the yogurts) as a base?

Ginger tea/ginger ale has been good for nausea for me.

~Lyssa

corinasue1143

Eat a little sugar about 20 minutes before meals. Since you have nausea too, maybe a peppermint or a licorice candy.

As far as drinking, adding some fruit and vegetable juices will help with vitamins, unfortunately not a lot with calories.

DragonHasTheSapphire

I have a close friend that has Crohn's.. I have no idea what it feels like, but she ended up gaining weight from it. I guess it affects everyone differently?

I was going to say eat peanut butter, but the fat content might be a problem. Applesauce sadly isn't very high calorie, but it isn't a solid and may pass through. I second the smoothies. When I suffered from nausea lemon balm tea helped me. I'm currently drinking Simple Truth Digestive tea. It has fennel, peppermint, and ginger. It helped me when I had the flu, and reduced my bloating.

I'm sorry you're going through this.

jgnatca

Eat anything tasty that you like, and go ahead and have carb heavy meals. I suggest you keep portable digestibles with you all the time. There’s those single serving yogurt drinks. Try them.

Are there any flavours that you prefer?

HappyKat5

I had a total gastrectomy due to Gastroparesis and a total colectomy due to Colonic inertia so I know the struggle. I would suggest as much high fat as you can tolerate, even if it’s only a few bites. Use full fat if you can, I also used to drink my calories. Fiber is not our friend, and I just starting eating vegetables again, I only use to juice them. Try peppermint tea for your nausea, if you don’t want to take medicine for that since you take a lot of medication already. Hang in there, it just takes some time to figure out what you can tolerate. I’m celebrating my 10 year anniversary of my diagnosis. Stay strong!!

singingflutelady

HappyKat5 wrote: »

I had a total gastrectomy due to Gastroparesis and a total colectomy due to Colonic inertia so I know the struggle. I would suggest as much high fat as you can tolerate, even if it’s only a few bites. Use full fat if you can, I also used to drink my calories. Fiber is not our friend, and I just starting eating vegetables again, I only use to juice them. Try peppermint tea for your nausea, if you don’t want to take medicine for that since you take a lot of medication already. Hang in there, it just takes some time to figure out what you can tolerate. I’m celebrating my 10 year anniversary of my diagnosis. Stay strong!!

Thank you @HappyKat5 and everyone else. I also had a total proctocolectomy with end ileostomy in May because of Crohn's.I'm currently on domperidone and gravol for the gastroparesis and take gaviscon when needed. Having an ileostomy complicates things as my small intestine has normal peristalsis as far as I know so I can't take more than the minimum dose of domperidone without causing output issues and some of the anti nausea drugs are also laxatives which is a huge no no so the already limited treatment options are even smaller. My gastroparesis started completely out of the blue in September and I was diagnosed in November during a 62 day hospitalization so I am new to this. My GES results at diagnosis was 54% left at 4 hrs but at the end of February it was redone and is now 70%. My colorectal surgeon is looking out of province, probably Toronto, for a surgeon who does gastric stimulator as no one in my province does it but it is a lot of work to get my province's health care insurance to pay for it. I'm really hoping not to have any more parts removed in the near future.

HappyKat5

singingflutelady wrote: »

HappyKat5 wrote: »

I had a total gastrectomy due to Gastroparesis and a total colectomy due to Colonic inertia so I know the struggle. I would suggest as much high fat as you can tolerate, even if it’s only a few bites. Use full fat if you can, I also used to drink my calories. Fiber is not our friend, and I just starting eating vegetables again, I only use to juice them. Try peppermint tea for your nausea, if you don’t want to take medicine for that since you take a lot of medication already. Hang in there, it just takes some time to figure out what you can tolerate. I’m celebrating my 10 year anniversary of my diagnosis. Stay strong!!

Thank you @HappyKat5 and everyone else. I also had a total proctocolectomy with end ileostomy in May because of Crohn's.I'm currently on domperidone and gravol for the gastroparesis and take gaviscon when needed. Having an ileostomy complicates things as my small intestine has normal peristalsis as far as I know so I can't take more than the minimum dose of domperidone without causing output issues and some of the anti nausea drugs are also laxatives which is a huge no no so the already limited treatment options are even smaller. My gastroparesis started completely out of the blue in September and I was diagnosed in November during a 62 day hospitalization so I am new to this. My GES results at diagnosis was 54% left at 4 hrs but at the end of February it was redone and is now 70%. My colorectal surgeon is looking out of province, probably Toronto, for a surgeon who does gastric stimulator as no one in my province does it but it is a lot of work to get my province's health care insurance to pay for it. I'm really hoping not to have any more parts removed in the near future.

I wasn’t eligible for the stimulator due to only emptying 7% after 4 hour GES test (it was my third one, so it was confirmed.). My diagnosis came out of the blue, but within 6 months, my gallbladder, appendix, stomach had to come out. 7 months later, my colon stopped working. Can you say stunned! I was on TPN for a year, I had my ileostomy for 9 months before my colectomy and I was reversed. I’m now connected from my esophagus to a small bit of small intestines that I have left. I’m only saying that NOT to scare you, but because the body can do tremendous things and it will fight to stay alive if you help it along. There are many days, I don’t want to even see or think about food, but I push myself because I feel like I’m still here for a purpose. I’m here if you need me!

singingflutelady

HappyKat5 wrote: »

singingflutelady wrote: »

HappyKat5 wrote: »

I had a total gastrectomy due to Gastroparesis and a total colectomy due to Colonic inertia so I know the struggle. I would suggest as much high fat as you can tolerate, even if it’s only a few bites. Use full fat if you can, I also used to drink my calories. Fiber is not our friend, and I just starting eating vegetables again, I only use to juice them. Try peppermint tea for your nausea, if you don’t want to take medicine for that since you take a lot of medication already. Hang in there, it just takes some time to figure out what you can tolerate. I’m celebrating my 10 year anniversary of my diagnosis. Stay strong!!

Thank you @HappyKat5 and everyone else. I also had a total proctocolectomy with end ileostomy in May because of Crohn's.I'm currently on domperidone and gravol for the gastroparesis and take gaviscon when needed. Having an ileostomy complicates things as my small intestine has normal peristalsis as far as I know so I can't take more than the minimum dose of domperidone without causing output issues and some of the anti nausea drugs are also laxatives which is a huge no no so the already limited treatment options are even smaller. My gastroparesis started completely out of the blue in September and I was diagnosed in November during a 62 day hospitalization so I am new to this. My GES results at diagnosis was 54% left at 4 hrs but at the end of February it was redone and is now 70%. My colorectal surgeon is looking out of province, probably Toronto, for a surgeon who does gastric stimulator as no one in my province does it but it is a lot of work to get my province's health care insurance to pay for it. I'm really hoping not to have any more parts removed in the near future.

I wasn’t eligible for the stimulator due to only emptying 7% after 4 hour GES test (it was my third one, so it was confirmed.). My diagnosis came out of the blue, but within 6 months, my gallbladder, appendix, stomach had to come out. 7 months later, my colon stopped working. Can you say stunned! I was on TPN for a year, I had my ileostomy for 9 months before my colectomy and I was reversed. I’m now connected from my esophagus to a small bit of small intestines that I have left. I’m only saying that NOT to scare you, but because the body can do tremendous things and it will fight to stay alive if you help it along. There are many days, I don’t want to even see or think about food, but I push myself because I feel like I’m still here for a purpose. I’m here if you need me!

You are my hero :)getting my colon and rectum out was bad enough (it wasn't unexpected. I had nasty fistulas for 2 years and I was so ready to say goodbye to my lower GI tract) I can't imagime losing more than that.I won't be surprised if eventually I will need surgery because I have had Crohn's in my stomach too (in remission now but who knows about the future). My gp is not the typical case as I'm pain dominant with constant nausea but I don't vomit all the time. Every Dr who hears my symptoms thinks it is my gallbladder at first necause of tje location of the pain but all the gallbladder tests I have had are normal. My GI (who ignored my fistulas or 2 years so I have lost trust in)is still doubting I have gp because of that but I have the test results (also an MRE which I had before diagnosis to check up on my Crohn's which showed food in my stomach after fasting) to prove my gastric motility is slow. Do you know what the criteria for gastric stimulator is? As I said earlier 30% had left my stomach during my GES in february. I'm just hoping it doesn't get worse.

HappyKat5

singingflutelady wrote: »

HappyKat5 wrote: »

singingflutelady wrote: »

HappyKat5 wrote: »

I had a total gastrectomy due to Gastroparesis and a total colectomy due to Colonic inertia so I know the struggle. I would suggest as much high fat as you can tolerate, even if it’s only a few bites. Use full fat if you can, I also used to drink my calories. Fiber is not our friend, and I just starting eating vegetables again, I only use to juice them. Try peppermint tea for your nausea, if you don’t want to take medicine for that since you take a lot of medication already. Hang in there, it just takes some time to figure out what you can tolerate. I’m celebrating my 10 year anniversary of my diagnosis. Stay strong!!

Thank you @HappyKat5 and everyone else. I also had a total proctocolectomy with end ileostomy in May because of Crohn's.I'm currently on domperidone and gravol for the gastroparesis and take gaviscon when needed. Having an ileostomy complicates things as my small intestine has normal peristalsis as far as I know so I can't take more than the minimum dose of domperidone without causing output issues and some of the anti nausea drugs are also laxatives which is a huge no no so the already limited treatment options are even smaller. My gastroparesis started completely out of the blue in September and I was diagnosed in November during a 62 day hospitalization so I am new to this. My GES results at diagnosis was 54% left at 4 hrs but at the end of February it was redone and is now 70%. My colorectal surgeon is looking out of province, probably Toronto, for a surgeon who does gastric stimulator as no one in my province does it but it is a lot of work to get my province's health care insurance to pay for it. I'm really hoping not to have any more parts removed in the near future.

I wasn’t eligible for the stimulator due to only emptying 7% after 4 hour GES test (it was my third one, so it was confirmed.). My diagnosis came out of the blue, but within 6 months, my gallbladder, appendix, stomach had to come out. 7 months later, my colon stopped working. Can you say stunned! I was on TPN for a year, I had my ileostomy for 9 months before my colectomy and I was reversed. I’m now connected from my esophagus to a small bit of small intestines that I have left. I’m only saying that NOT to scare you, but because the body can do tremendous things and it will fight to stay alive if you help it along. There are many days, I don’t want to even see or think about food, but I push myself because I feel like I’m still here for a purpose. I’m here if you need me!

You are my hero :)getting my colon and rectum out was bad enough (it wasn't unexpected. I had nasty fistulas for 2 years and I was so ready to say goodbye to my lower GI tract) I can't imagime losing more than that.I won't be surprised if eventually I will need surgery because I have had Crohn's in my stomach too (in remission now but who knows about the future). My gp is not the typical case as I'm pain dominant with constant nausea but I don't vomit all the time. Every Dr who hears my symptoms thinks it is my gallbladder at first necause of tje location of the pain but all the gallbladder tests I have had are normal. My GI (who ignored my fistulas or 2 years so I have lost trust in)is still doubting I have gp because of that but I have the test results (also an MRE which I had before diagnosis to check up on my Crohn's which showed food in my stomach after fasting) to prove my gastric motility is slow. Do you know what the criteria for gastric stimulator is? As I said earlier 30% had left my stomach during my GES in february. I'm just hoping it doesn't get worse.

Thank you, that’s so sweet to say! I believe everyone is a hero in their own way even if they don’t know it at the time. I was told you needed to have at least 50% emptying to qualify. That was in 2008, so I’m not sure what the qualifications are now. Even though both of my ailments are caused in the digestive tract, we will never know if my stomach stopped working first or if my colon stopped working first. The whole egg before chicken or chicken before egg situation. Over the years, I have stopped saying “why?” And just accepted it. It sucks. Trust me I know. Not only is it physically draining but mentally as well. There are days I just want to have my old life back, but I actually think my illness has bettered me as a person (seriously) my priorities are more focused and it has made me very humble.

fitoverfortymom

Thinking back to nausea when I was pregnant, Dr. Pepper and Coke helped a bit. The fizzy sweetness seemed to be of benefit.

I am so sorry you are going through this. Crohn's is the absolute worst.