How to deal with severe loss of appetite during anxious periods

[Saiba]

Two of my biggest most prominent symptoms whenever I get anxious or have anxiety attacks, are stomach cramps/pain, and an extreme loss of appetite. This has gone full-blown ever since I started living on my own a week ago.

At most all, I can stomach in the morning is a cup of tea and a piece of vegemite toast. Most of the time I have to eat the toast with the tea because the anxiety also makes me thirsty.

During the day is a real struggle, I try to take a simple lunch of a sandwich, apple, celery sticks, a muesli bar. At most I can eat 3/4 of the sandwich, the apple, half the celery sticks, and the muesli bar.

When I get home, I still need to wait a while but I eventually get around to cooking dinner. I can't look at anything with sauce, cheese, cream, or fried foods, without feeling nauseous. At most I prefer simple foods like beef stir fry and rice. Or a frozen fish fillet and veggies. I can't bring myself to have the dinners I've enjoyed in the past.

I am worried that the lack of food will cause me to have a sudden health scare like passing out/fainting, or a long-term worry like lack of strength, decreasing my muscle and mass, or cause even more constant pain in my stomach that I'm already getting from my attacks.

Has anyone had to deal with a sever loss of appetite during anxiety/depression? How did you work around it and what is some advice that you can share with me?

[Bob_22]

Hi Saiba,

Welcome to the forums. Thank you so much for sharing. I have lived experience of major depressive disorder with mixed anxiety and definitely have experience of low appetite. It felt like sometimes I could go for days without eating but out of nowhere, crave something sweet and eat a lot of food. Not sure if this is similar to your situation. I had a chat with my doctor about it but they were more concerned about my mental health. However they gave me a meal plan to try and stick to which helped a little bit. Being able to have a routine as opposed to snacking whenever I felt seemed to help my appetite a bit. Hope that helps.

Bob

[sbella02]

Hey Saiba,

Thank you so much for sharing your story with us, we appreciate having you here on the forums. I can understand your concerns here. Loss of appetite, particularly if you've previously had quite a good relationship with food, can sometimes be distressing.

I'm glad to hear that you are eating, that's a great start. I can't really stomach much in the mornings either, so I can see where you're coming from. There is a biological basis to hunger - people will experience hunger and feel the need to eat at different times of the day, and that's okay. If your biological routine is causing you distress, however, is where it may require special attention. 

Have you had a chat to your GP or a psychologist about your concerns with eating/your health? They may be able to offer you some professional advice to manage the distress you're feeling, or perhaps your GP may be able to refer you onto somebody who can help you work through a diet plan, if that's something you would be interested in.

I'm wishing you all the best, and would like to let you know that we're here to chat with you some more if you wish to talk some more. 

Take care, SB