Appetite problems even when well

Hey everyone,
I was just wondering how many of you have a difficult time eating even when everything else is going relatively well. My symptoms have really started to improve in that I have some stomach upset, but there is no bleeding and rarely any cramping.
However, I can't gain weight or build up any energy and muscle through exercise because my appetite is virtually nonexistent. I think I might just drink water and juice all day if my fiance didn't encourage me to eat.
It's not from nausea either. That has disappeared since my recent procedure and reversal of condition. So, really, my symptoms now are extreme fatigue and inability to eat.

I cannot complain at this at all , but I'm just wondering if this is common when you start to feel better?? I'd much rather have no appetite and eat when I'm forced than inability to eat at all. I've had both extremes, and I prefer this. I just find it a little odd since I would dream of all the things I would start to eat while lying in the hospital bed.

I used to have real appetite problems. It's tough to eat when you're not hungry. It got better on SCD, and I've finally gained some much needed weight. The only problem is that I crave carbs way more then anything, which I prefer to limit (carbs feed too many nasties in the gut). Meat doesn't excite me much, but I eat it just because my body needs it. But what I really want is to chow down on nut butter and honey *drool*.

One thing that sure boosted my appetite was Zyrtec. I started taking it in the summer, and became an eating machine. When I looked it up, I found that increased appetite is a rare side effect. I call it prednisone-lite .

Another thing that you might like to consider is whether you're malnourished. I think we've discussed this privately, so you'll probably remember that deficiency in some nutrients can make you feel too terrible to eat, which, of course, then makes the malnutrition even worse. It's a bad an dangerous cycle, and it is important to try to break it if you can.

Are you still drinking Ensure? What if you just try to take a few sips of that every now and then, to keep your strength and nutrients up?

Well, a smaller stomach and being malnourished do make sense. People have been force feeding me small bites of their food lately so at least something is being eaten, but food is not quite so appealing as it used to be.
Yogurt is a happy medium though. It has enough calories to count as something, but it isn't so heavy that I don't even want to look at it.

To those who said it first-I don't eat much meat now either. Occasionally chicken is all right, but everything else is just way too much. As bland as chicken is it's still difficult to want to finish it. I wasted most of it last night :/ I wish I had someone to share it with. I hate wasting food...

I've been thinking that I need to come up with some dips or sauces to make meat more appealing. That might be something you could try too. For instance, I always loved ranch dressing with chicken and mayo with turkey. Maybe there's a condiment that appeals to you that you could dip your meat in?

Hmmm. Would tofu work for you, LMills? That might sit a bit better on the stomach than "real" meat, and it'd be pretty easy for you to marinate / stir fry it with whatever condiment you wanted. Or what about eggs?