appetite stimulants?

Hey there.....this sounds ALOT like my son who had a bowel perforation surgery which led to a temporary ostomy Nov. 10th. He came home from hospital Dec.12th and hasn't gained a single pound!! I am very worried about what the dr. is going to say when they see him. He is getting 2 extra calorie boost per day but just isn't interested in eating.

I would love to find out what the exact product is that your daughter took so I can ask our doctor about getting this to try.

I know you said 1st tier antihistimine but could you tell me exactly what it was?

Thanks so much.!!!

Hi there, Mollyseven - lucky I peeked in here today because I rarely do these days. Rachel was put on Cyproheptadine which is also commonly called Periactin. It is given to children with cystic fibrosis and other ailments to stimulate appetite. Even though Rachel is 19 it worked for her -perhaps because she is small. You might look into that - it really helped.

Also Benecalorie ended up being unpalatable to Rachel so we got Carnation VHC (very high calorie) - it can be gotten on Amazon. Each 8 oz can is 560 calories and 26g of protein. Rachel didn't like the taste but it was better than Benecalorie so she would have a few sips with three meals for a total of one can a day. It definitely helped put pounds on her. Good luck!

Each Benecalorie came in kind of a small yogurt container and was a thick white substance. Rachel said she could definitely taste it (bad) and it was somewhat gritty. She just couldn't tolerate it and it was impossible to hide in her food! Maybe someone else has used it with luck? If so, let us know!

Oh - so sorry I didnt' see this until now. She also took it three times a day. Is down to twice a day now. Try the Carnation VHC - that really worked for Rachel. She put on weight when she added that to her diet when her appetite was at it's lowest. Hope things are better now for him and sorry again for not seeing this until now.

That was it exactly - she was taking in so little nutrition initially that her abdominal incision came wide open - we packed that thing for 6 months until it finally healed up (with a little extra surgical intervention) - that really slowed down her healing. Nutrition and protein especially are so important to the healing process. Her diagnosis a week after the second of the three surgeries was "failure to thrive" and that was very scary. Thank goodness her PCP knew about periactin and got her on it. Antidepressants helped, too.

Rachel is back to college now as of two weeks ago - 15 month medical leave. She's been doing well and is back up to her regular weight. Unfortunately since getting back to school she has developed an RV fistula. We're none too happy about that. She's working with her GI in her college town to diagnose the location and he will work with her Cleveland Clinic surgeon to figure out the best strategy to deal with it.

I'm so glad to hear that you're appetite has picked up! What a difference it makes to get proper nutrition in. I hope you heal quickly and regain your strength with each passing day.