About 3 weeks ago I lost my appetite. I'm an average build guy I guess and have never had any issues with eating problems before. Anyway, I eat once a day now and guess it would be around 500-600 calories, but I'm full after that. I've lost 12lbs now, which I'm happy about but I'm not sure that it is healthy. The part that bothers me about this whole ordeal is that I went to a Christmas party and ate which I enjoyed, but was sick for the next two days. I go back to eating one meal and then tonight I went to McDonald's and ordered a chicken sandwich with fries. I ate like 10 fries and a quarter of the sandwich and was full. Now I feel extremely sick again with headache and nausea. I know McDonald's is not healthy and don't eat it very often, but I've never been sick from it. Any ideas what may be causing this? I'm a healthy 6'0" at 170 lbs so I'm not worried about withering away to nothing anytime soon, but I'm concerned since I've never experienced this before. On a side note, I'm not depressed at all right now just so we can rule that out. Also I love good food so I'm a little lost. Do you think this will pass on its own? More importantly what would cause me to have headaches and nausea from eating foods that I have eaten for years? Let me know what you think?
It sounds like flu to me. I had the flu last Christmas and lost about ten pounds because I completely lost my appetite like that, along with the accompanying headaches and nausea. Even walking into a house and smelling food cooking on the stove would make me sick as a dog. I would go to the doctor if I were you to be certain though. Also, an infection in the sinuses can cause that group of symptoms too. Another reason to get checked, because your sinuses are really close to your brain and you don't want anything gross near there. (*hug*)
3 weeks is pretty lengthy for not having an appetite. A few days, maybe a week at best would lead me to think its just being sick. That being said, 12 pounds in the first 3 weeks of a diet + exercise isn't bad. The problem I see is that you've lost 12 pounds from just not eating your normal diet alone. Have you had any other symptoms? Fever, aches/pains, chills? Anything else that isn't normal? You should definitely get this checked out. Call and make an appointment with your family doctor. If they aren't open because of the holidays you can also go to your local emergency room. Most hospitals are doing rapid Influenza testing this time of year should it be the flu (my ER always seems to be the last one, which we just started this week, YAY!) It involves a nasal swab which takes about 30 minutes to process. If it happens to be something else they can point you in the direction of a specialist if not diagnose you there. I am definitely one to error on the side of caution. But I do think you need to follow up with your family doctor.
I don't mean to scare you, but cachexia shares the same symptoms you are having. Cachexia, if you didn't know already, is the metabolic abnormality that accompanies cancer. Loss of appetite, unintended weight loss, and a general "sick" feeling...all for more than a week and a half. This is why it's imperative that you see a doctor about this immediately, so that whatever it may be, you can catch and treat it as early as possible. Odds are in your favor greatly that it's nothing serious, but you don't dick with unintended weight loss. Get it checked immediately.
Have you been feeling sick at all? Or been feeling down? If this keeps up you should see a doctor this could be a sign of something more serious
Thanks for the responses everyone. I'm not having any other symptoms at the moment. Strangely no real loss of energy either. I will see how it plays out through the holidays and if there is no improvement then I will find a doctor to see.
Since this has been going on for 3 weeks and is not showing signs of improvement, you should see your doctor. He will probably need to run some tests for things like diabetes, thyroid disease, etc.
i used to go through phases of not being able to hardly eat, then being ableto eat. The cycles would last months. Be careful cuz it can lead to eating disorders in some cases.
