Loss of Appetite

General
1

Ok, I'm not sure if I'm posting this in the right place...But, the past few days, I've been experiencing a loss of appetite.  I'm not quite sure why, but it has made me wake up to some lows the past couple of days and a low in the middle of the night.  I mean, I'm eating, just not as I usually do or should.  For example, today, I've only eaten a piece of toast and then a homemade chicken tostada.  The day before, I had eaten just a handful of edamame, a piece of toast, and half of a grapefruit.  So, I haven't even eaten a proper meal since Monday.  I can't even get myself to force food in.  I actually felt sick after eating my tostada tonight since that was the most food I've eaten in awhile.  It made me upchuck.  The thought of food kind of makes me nauseaus.  I've never had this problem before. 

So, my question is...Is this just a phase or something of Type 1 Diabetes?  I don't understand why I'm feeling like this, but I'm sure it's not a good thing.  Does anyone know how I can get my appetite back?

Thanks.

2

Hmm. Are you possibly coming down with a cold. Overeating tends to be more of a problem in us diabetics than under-eating. The only time when I'm NOT hungry is when I'm getting sick. Also a change in blood sugar is usually a sign that something is going on, though in my experience mine tend to go high, not low. Are you under alot of stress? That could deff make you lose your appetite. Well, I hope you feel better soon!

3

Interesting. I had a phase like that, could NOT eat dinner just the thought made me want to be sick. Then went to the doc and found out I had Glandular Fever, maybe get checked out you might have caught a virus.

Hope you feel better soon :)

4

I had this happen to at the ended of march. I had just got on the pump that week and i was not feeling very good at all. could not get anything down for lows only a sip of ginger ale. i gave up and brought both my parnts in the kichin and told the i dont want to do it but i cant tack the lows and not geting anything down so i told them just to be safe to take me to the hospatal. mom made phone calls and i whent got there and did some test and fiound out it was the stoumch flu. so i stad one night and two days went home and was eating like a pig. so you my want to go to the dockers and get checked 

5

Thanks guys!

Well, luckily, I did not end up with any kind of virus.  After speaking to my doctor and a thorough check up, it just came down to a subconcious kind of rebelling.  I think I was just tired of food in general...or maybe not so much the food itself, but more of the fact that I have to eat, whether I want to or not.  My doctor suggested that maybe I seek a psychologist for this kind of behavior.  I don't want to spend money on such a thing.  So, I guess I should sort of blog about these feelings when they arise instead of letting them get to me so much to the point where it ails me.

I am eating again.  So, that's good.  I kind of had to re-introduce food to myself again, little by little.  Funny that.

 

6

Scrappy,

I go through stages of "rebellious eating" myself. Do you not eat because you don't want to gain any weight? or because you are mad that you have to eat? Oh I just saw you had written that.

I have also gotten really pissed off at the fact that I couldn't just skip meals without any consquences of having a low blood sugar, it actually used to drive me insane. Not that you should skip meals but, if I didnt feel like eating I hated the fact that I had to, especially if my blood sugar is running on the lower side and if I don't I will have a low. It is a really annoying cycle.

Right now I am actually on the Jenny Craig diet because I am forcing myself how to eat better and I wasnt doing well on my own and my personal diabetes nutritionist gave me a 1600 diet but she wouldnt tell me the foods to eat. I needed a structured diet to follow that would get me on track so I can get a better a1c

I needed to add more milks, veggies etc. into my diet because I wasn't having enough and at my last doc visit they told me I was deficient in Vitamin D. The program I am on is a 1500 calorie diet. I do have to eat three of the jenny craig prepared meals for a while until i hit my goal weight, but, they make you add your own foods to it as well so this is how it goes:

breakfast: Jenny craig meal plus 1 fruit, 1 cup of non fat milk

snack: 1 milk product, 1 fruit

lunch: Jenny craig meal plus a salad

snack: 6 oz nonfat yogurt, prepacked popcorn

Dinner: Jenny craig meal, plus 1.5 cups of vegtables, 1 tsp of margarine

snack: 1 fruit, 1 cup of raw veggies

The moral of the story is that I am starting to feeling much better and have more energy and yes I feel like I am forcing food down my throat but, they are foods from all the major food groups and it is helping my blood sugars DRAMATICALLY. My blood meter has an average of 134 in 7 days, with 50 readings logged in. This is amazing! So if I have to force it down for a couple of weeks I will get into a routine and it will be like picking up the blood meter or brushing my teeth!

Your mind plays a lot of tricks on you and you can talk yourself into feeling a certain way. That happend to me. So now I am trying to focus on being healthy and eating right.

7

Has your Vitamin D level returned to normal?  I was also diagnosed with a severe Vitamin D deficiancy recently and when I asked my doctor about it he told me that he honestly didn't know why it would be so low; I find it interesting, I wonder how many type I diabetics are low on vitamin D?

8

Jana,

Not sure yet, I go for my blood test in July.

9

Hey Scrappy,

I experience phases of not being hungry and not enjoying food sometimes, also. Sometimes I am just tired constanty having to do math before I eat. Other times it is due to the fact that I am not home (such as visiting family or working somewhere that is not home....for example going to Europe to visit family) and the only food that is available for me to eat is either too fatty (I am somehow disgusted by very fatty food...I guess it is convenient) or it is just too complicated to eat (such as I don't feel like counting carbs).

2 years ago, I got braces, and that definitely caused me to not want to eat so my blood sugars were always dropping and I was always drinking OJ...so annoying.

So basically, I usually loose my appetite because I am feeling down about being a diabetic. It's nice to know that I am not the only one who experiences this. Good luck and I hope you enjoy eating soon!

Paula

10

Wow.  I'm usually pretty good with my diet and balancing out all my nutrients.  My doctor didn't think to check for Vitamin D deficiency, but maybe he's waiting for my next test to check it.  But, after speaking with him, I felt the aggravation in myself as I mentioned to him that the thought of not being able to skip meals, having to count carbs, portioning, etc. made me enervated.  So, he thought it was an act of depression.  This is totally a new one for me. 

Thanks everyone for all of your input.  I love this site!