Steroids and antibiotics hunger/ nausea

ByteLily

Hi all

I have just started , and now I have an ear infection in both ears. I was rxed augmentin which is HORRIBLE on my stomach. I have to eat a fairly carby and full meal and my stomachs still upset.

I've taken this many times and it always kills my stomach. Secondly the steroids make me very hungry. I'm struggling with how to stick to my calories on a good day ( 1200 sedentary woman but starting light exercise. ) I'm finding this impossible on these medication.

Should I just wait till I'm done, eat what I need to and start again when I'm better ? And if anyone knows what to eat so that augmentin doesn't hurt my stomach so badly I'd love to know. I am eating yogurt. When I take the augmentin I am eating toast and an egg and an orange. Thank you.

AnnPT77

An intermediate option between temporarily giving up, and just toughing it out, might be to set your goal to maintenance calories and make the food choices you need to, to get through this. If you need to eat more than maintenance calories, consider logging what you do eat: You can still be accumulating the data you need to make experience-based estimates of your calorie needs, learning about appetite triggers under stressed circumstances, and other useful stuff.

(Background: The calculators spit out population averages. We individuals, and some of us are further from average than others. We frequently recommend that people stick with some tracked routine for 4-6 weeks, then use their own weight and calorie intake numbers to estimate their personalized calorie needs. You can still do that, even with some over-maintenance days in there; it just maybe makes the math a little more detailed but not really more difficult.)

It can be a good idea when sick or injured to eat at/near maintenance anyway, to put a priority on healing/recovery. Adequate calories can help optimize the healing/recovery process. Good overall nutrition may also be a help (enough protein, fats, fruits/veggies especially), but I get that that could be out of reach for you with the meds limiting your food choices.

Note that I'm not saying you'd ideally be eating only 'good foods" by any particular definition: I'm not a fan of thinking of individual foods in that way. Your toast/egg/orange are perfectly reasonable things to eat, that make useful contributions to well-rounded nutrition. Yogurt isn't abstractly "better", though I understand that it may better help you meet your quite-low 1200 calorie goal while maintaining your overall nutrition.

For now, if I were you, I'd flex the calorie goal upward if needed, get overall good nutrition if possible, keep tracking if you feel well enough to do it, and return to a more substantial calorie deficit after you're recovered. Just my opinion, though.

ByteLily

That's a wonderful suggestion thank you. ( I'm eating yogurt only for the probiotics to help my baceria during antibiotics therapy. It's plain unsweetened Bulgarian yogurt with a little homemade jam ).

Maintenance is a good idea. I'm struggling with good overall nutrition as it is there aren't many calories to go around and still get enough protein and fiber. I basically cannot afford carbs at all. My calories seem to be all taken up with just eating to survive. I've been tracking for a few weeks now just to learn what I am eating and what a portion is, and what foods are high in calories and just not worth it ( mayonnaise) etc and more filling / nutrient dense foods.

For breakfast I have a bowl of Mesa sunrise cereal ( it's a low sugar cereal with lots of fiber and flax etc ) with 1/2 rice milk and a tbs pumpkin seeds. This cost me 263 calories. Or I have the toase and egg and orange . Leaving me with 937 calories for two more meals and one snack. It's so discouraging. I was not loosing weight before on my higher calorie limit but then I realized I had set my activity to lightly active and if I'm honest, which I was, I changed it to sedentary. Which put me at 1200 cals. Trying to figure that out while sick and upset stomach was going to be daunting. I'll go to maintaience. Thanks for explaining all the rest as well.

PapillonNoire

Personally, I wouldn't worry about dieting or losing weight until after you're better.

A few years ago I was prescribed Augmentin and Prednisone at the same (I had a rough bout of pneumonia). Augmentin was an absolute nightmare on my digestive system; I don't think my body absorbed one bit of the food I ate- it just ran right through (apologies if that's TMI!). I wish had advice to offer on foods that might help; everything went poorly for me, although some things worse than others. I think I mostly stuck to toast and oatmeal. Steroids can definitely add an extra challenge too- they really screw with hunger/appetite levels.

Hope you feel better soon!

claireychn074

You might also want to consider your rate of loss - if you set it at .5 pound per week - what calorie allowance will it give you? Steroids will stress your body and I know it’s worrying to not be in control of your appetite, but eating at maintenance will help your body to recover and reduce the physical stressors. I have only ever had prednisolone bit i was always careful to take it as early as possible so that I didn’t get digestive issues at night. Good luck and hope you feel better soon!

AnnPT77

ByteLily wrote: »

That's a wonderful suggestion thank you. ( I'm eating yogurt only for the probiotics to help my baceria during antibiotics therapy. It's plain unsweetened Bulgarian yogurt with a little homemade jam ).

Maintenance is a good idea. I'm struggling with good overall nutrition as it is there aren't many calories to go around and still get enough protein and fiber. I basically cannot afford carbs at all. My calories seem to be all taken up with just eating to survive. I've been tracking for a few weeks now just to learn what I am eating and what a portion is, and what foods are high in calories and just not worth it ( mayonnaise) etc and more filling / nutrient dense foods.

For breakfast I have a bowl of Mesa sunrise cereal ( it's a low sugar cereal with lots of fiber and flax etc ) with 1/2 rice milk and a tbs pumpkin seeds. This cost me 263 calories. Or I have the toase and egg and orange . Leaving me with 937 calories for two more meals and one snack. It's so discouraging. I was not loosing weight before on my higher calorie limit but then I realized I had set my activity to lightly active and if I'm honest, which I was, I changed it to sedentary. Which put me at 1200 cals. Trying to figure that out while sick and upset stomach was going to be daunting. I'll go to maintaience. Thanks for explaining all the rest as well.

So how fast have you been losing at 1200, and how long have you been sticking to that 1200? How tall/what weight/how old are you now?

I still would advocate for maintenance until you're well, but like some above, I'm wondering if you've asked for a 2 pound a week weight loss rate or something like that.

I do realize that some quite-petite women do need to eat as low as 1200 to lose weight at even a quite-moderate rate, but I hope you'll forgive the questions: We do see quite a few folks (usually women, frankly) who arrive at MFP thinking that even 2 pounds a week is very slow loss, suitable for anyone/everyone. (I suspect sometimes weight loss advertising and reality TV mislead a few of those about what a realistic loss rate is for people leading normal, healthy lives; and some is influenced by a tradition of some doctors advising people toward 1200 calorie diets with the assumption that they'll not track accurately so actually will be eating more.)

In reality, for a wide range of folks, IMO, 2 pounds a week is too aggressive (and hard to sustain long enough to lose a meaningful total amount of weight, frankly.) That's maybe not your scenario, but the frequency of seeing unnecessarily aggressive goals here does motivate me to ask the questions.

MFP gave me 1200 at first, to lose, as a then-midsized woman who was older and sedentary outside of exercise. (I was 5'5", then mid-150s pounds, age 59.) I ate that plus all my exercise calories, and lost too fast, which is maybe statistically unusual for a woman that age, but it was real, and it had negative consequences (fairly minor ones, thankfully, because I know it can be worse). (As an aside, I'm 66 now, and in maintenance, still requiring substantially more calories than MFP estimates. 🤷‍♀️)

If you're finding the yogurt not able to keep you from nausea or other negative symptoms temporarily, that might be a reason to consider non-dairy probiotic foods (like miso, raw saurkraut, etc.) or even a probiotic supplement temporarily.

On the calorie-efficient protein front, have you seen the thread below? Many people find it helpful. I sure did at first when reducing calories, even as a vegetarian:

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10247171/carbs-and-fats-are-cheap-heres-a-guide-to-getting-your-proteins-worth-fiber-also

Best wishes for speedy recovery!

JBanx256

Whenever I have been on prednisone, I have put on a TON of water weight. I swell up like a balloon (thankfully, once I'm off of it, the water weight goes away even faster than it came on). So try not to get too frustrated when you weigh yourself while you're on the meds, as the readings may be quite a bit inflated. I realize prednisone doesn't do that to everyone, just something to maybe be mindful of so you don't get (more) aggravated

rosebarnalice

Ugh- steroid hunger is the WORST. I like to sip on decaf herb tea and veggie broth.The warm liquid helps with the hunger pangs, and hydration is always a good idea when feeling puny.

nooshi713

You could eat at maintenance for now. Instead of Augmentin, your doctor could prescribe Cefdinir or another alternative which has less GI side effects. Just don’t get suckered into taking a z-pack as that antibiotic is not as effective against strep bacteria which is the most common offender in the ear.

Beautyofdreams

I am a double transplant recipient who takes prednisone every day. Prednisone affects appetite and is speculated to also affect water balance. If you are weighing and logging food the weight gain is most likely water weight plus reduced activity and stress caused by your illness.

Agree with others that you eat at maintenance until recovered.