My meds are stopping me from eating. I haven't been hungry in two weeks, any advice?

Hi litlmommag. Funny someone should mention prednisone. Some people eat and some don't. Doctors are pretty careful with it so am hoping that by now you are doing so much better.

Some thoughts for you. One is to treat food like medicine. Whatever you are taking it must be at certain times. schedule food that way. I find I fall back on something I enjoyed as a kid. Yes we bought coco krispies and corn pops. May not be good all the time,but on bad days a small bowl can be pretty fun. right proporton (i have diabetes from prednisone) can get you through to other things like fruit. lactose intolerance has so many solutions these days...

second thought is that when the taste buds are affected by meds, i go for things with lots of garlic, ginger, etc. remember to salt the food as others are saying. salt gets you going with wanting to eat. once you are at a good weight you can regain control.

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third, you may be experiencing some level of depression. that would be natural when you deal with major illness. be sure your doc knows your feelings as well as your appetite. sometimes we need a boost while our body catches up.

last, remember how fortunate you are that your family is pitching in to help you. this is a great opportunity for kids to learn strength through action and example. hope you are doing better now.

SEE A NUTRITIONIST/physical trainer... M.S. a tricky disease that I dont know too much about (immune cells aren't supposed to be in the brain --see blood brain barrier-- and in M.S. they are somehow trapped in the brain and attack the mylin sheath of the neurons) I'm sure they have great tips and tricks for behavior modification (i hope... )

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Exercise regulates serotonin/norepinephrine/dopamine levels and also immune system cytotoxin release is altered somehow (didn't get through the study all the way but i had to do with a U shaped curve in inflammation as a result of the type of cytotoxin released... ) i would talk to a Dr. because i have no idea how this would effect immune response in the brain fun note... 90+% of serotonin relates to digestion in the periphery.
-a recent study a teacher mentioned stated that "runners high" has recently been shown to be mostly due to CB receptors (mentioned below too)
- neurotransmitters are very important things to know the function of but keep in mind that each neurotransmitter has multiple types of receptors. serotonin (5-HT) can bind to various forms of 5-HT receptors, most of them are G protein coupled (metabotropic) and cause long term changes to gene expression. a couple 5-HT receptors are ionotropic causing quick synaptic communication.

up above somewhere someone mentioned a stimulant if someone is not eating than their body will go into "starvation mode" (carb cravings are probably because your brain uses almost exclusively glucose -carbs being chains of sugars- and most of your O2 --oxygen--) which causes a persons body to hold onto calories as best it can and will start to burn protein and fat in a more equivalent fashion (protein is what homo habilis would want us to eat! sugars/fats/salts were very valuable/uncommon to him so he ate as much as he could when ever he could. That's why (terrible thing to say... "that's why") we enjoy sugar/salt/fats today! go evolution... what biology is based on)

taking an energy booster is just going to increase the energy your body will use but if you haven't been hungry (there for functionally starving your self im sure) in THAT long of a time than you need a drug change (maybe) AND (/or) start scheduling your day so you have a regular caloric intake schedule and chances are a more balanced diet. Someone mentioned fruit and vegi smoothies... fantastic suggestion but still disease(s) is(are) always important when creating your diet so professional advise is needed here.

someone mentioned CB-1 and i guess they are referring to cannabinioid receptor (where endocannabinoids and exogenous cannabinoids bind to a cell membrane... PRE-synaptic surprisingly) which sounds like a very interesting idea. I have read somewhere that (i may miss quote... its been a while) CB_1(?) receptors are implicated in immune response in mouse spleen macrophages.

drugs are complex and an individual will react differently to the same drug another individual tolerates fine.

keep in mind that as convenient as these forums are... there are not enough people on them that know the scientific studies that are out there (!!! including me!!! ) or how to properly read the statistical data. Yet the same can be said about some M.D. but they still know more than most people in the WORLD about their specialized subject (yes "most" if they stay up to date on their current research studies). Neural plasticity isn't only for children any more (aka everyone has the ability to learn... also for a long time adults were thought to be lacking neural plasticity... now we know adults still have some)... I could keep going but this is already too much information and it's fairly random but all interconnected.

-if you read this and think something seems interesting (if you can discredit something i mentioned that's even better!) ... LOOK IT UP... then look up all the stuff you don't know within that literature, preferably using scientific literature/books on the subject matter/classes/professional advise and make sure they are peer reviewed sources if possible. (again statistical data means nothing if you cant read it... the "media" doesn't display study findings very well in many cases)

Google scholar (pay close attention to dates) and Wikipedia are great for this and give related information to the subject. Biology is supposed to be hard so taking simple "just do this" advise may help some, could cure an ailment, do nothing, cause minor damage or it could kill you. Make sure your doing the right thing before taking peoples advise (especially ones that have been passed down over time... chances are there are better things you could do/that information has been dis proven)