I'm never hungry & seeing/smelling food makes me sick

[TheCheeseLady]

I used to always love food. I never had a problem with it. I'll admit that I was and still am a picky eater, but for the past 6-7 years, I've never really been hungry. I seemed to have forgotten what hunger feels like.

I have no problem with my wieght or with the way I look. I'm active because I play sports year round. I'm currently 17 years old and this never being hungry thing tends to get in the way of many activities. Being that most people my age enjoy going out to eat or pigging out at a friends house, it poses many problems for me.

I can't eat big meals at one sitting, and I must force myself to eat small snacky stuff. Some times throughout the day, if I see or smell food, it can make me sick to my stomach. I've been to the doctor concerning the stomach issues, but the only thing they came up with was that I had a little more acid in my stomach than normal. That wasn't what was making me not hungry though.

I went to a psychologist just to see if it was something to do with, well...me. But nothing came out of it. It is quite frustrating to deal with and nobody seems to understand. Some people even take it as rude when I don't eat. I guess I could live with the eating snacky stuff throughout the day thing, but my biggest concern is me being sick to my stomach most of the time.

I feel sick every morning. The sickness usually tapers off by the afternoon. Some people I've talked to said to try to eat breakfast, since I never do/can. I've tried to force myself, but it jsut seems to make matters worse. Are there any people out there with some of the same symptoms? Are there anyways to stop myself from feeling nauseous?

[Kmb19]

I had this exact problem for years! From age 12-21 I had an awful relationship with food. I couldnteat very much and I never had an appetite, I had to force myself to eat so I wouldnt get sick (I wasnt super thin, average weight). I would be especially sick in the morning a lot of times even if I didnt eat anything. I wasnt losing any weight though. After years of this I found out I have hypothyroidism and stomach ulcers!! I honestly believe that it was stomach ulcers that made me so sick, they put me on a medicine that decreases the acid in your stomach and a liquid coating medicine that helped heal the ulcers. It took weeks of this medicine to help, then some came back and I went on it again. But it has changed my life, I finally am hungry again and enjoy food! I dont hate food anymore because it used to make me so sick. I hope this helps someone! All you have to do it go to your PCP and tell them you think you have stomach ulcers and go from there! There is a light at the end of the tunnel.

[Mimi102201]

I need help with this too. Im 15 and for the last few months I've barely eaten. I can only stomach certain foods. I can eat dips and crackers, guacamole, and candy/anything that's like a sweet. I've talked about it in therapy but she couldn't figure out. I don't think its an eating disorder but it does stress me out. Not eating causes your metabolism to slow which makes you gain more weight every time you eat. I went from getting down to a 213 to going up to a 241. Thats the worst part to me

[Qveen_Kennah]

I do have problems like this I'm 13 being around food makes me sick I'm usually not hungry like ever. I'm losing weight randomly. I'm pretty active and sporty but I'm never hungry. I have trouble sleeping as well. I'm a picky eater as well but I just haven't really been hungry and up for eating. My mom said I've had a weird appetite since I was born. At one point in time I stopped eating all together but I started back but it was rare I did. Now it's far if I do eat at all I'm a  vegetarian and I'm the only one in my house. I used to excercjse a lot but I sorta laid off when I have busy with other things.

[hafsaxx]

Im 17 yrs old and I've been having the same problem lately but with headaches and fatigue.when I went to the doctors they all said that nothing is wrong with me except having iron defiency. Just the thought of food makes me sick. When I finally decided to just get though with it, I got as far as making it and losing my appetite at the sight of it no matter how delicious it looked. No one understands what it's like. Hopefully we'll all find an answer to our problems one of these days

[KsimoneC]

I'm 23 suffering from no appetite & when I do get hungry the food makes me nauseous & I'm totally turned off to eating. I'd  seriously much rather starve than eat b/c when I attempt to force myself to eat, it won't stay down.  Or if by chance it does stay down. I'll be full off 3 bites literally. This is terrible

[BonzieBonez]

Marijuana may be a blanket solution. But I would not advise an ambitious 17 year old kid to start smoking up every day just to eat. There are numerous studies that support the idea that it is best to hold off on smoking cannabis until you are in your twenties. I am a 21 year old male, and I have experienced the symptoms you are describing off and on over the past few years. I noticed mainly when I tried to quit using cannabis ironically enough. However, with some discipline, making sure I am drinking lots of water and getting physical exercise, and forcing myself to eat atleast something at structured times (breakfast lunch and dinner) I found myself able to re-habituate my body back into a healthy eating routine. What was suggested to me was that I carry around a bag of almonds with me during the day so that when hunger pains arise you can satisfy them immediately. (ignoring it seems to make it worse in my experience and sometimes we just get too busy to eat a meal). Perhaps try some lighter foods such as a whey protein shake with yogurt and fruits. (i am sure you have had shakes before seeing that you are an athlete.) The shakes can be a great way to start re-igniting your appetite. You can also increase the amount of calories you consume by including peanut butter or oatmeal. Try investigating some appetite stimulator. They say cinnamon is a good choice to get your appetite stimulated. I personally found water with lemon was very effective.

If cannabis is your solution then so be it. I have smoked cannabis since I was 13 years old and my testimony is that I would advise younger people to wait until they are in their 20's purely for the effects it CAN have on a developing emotional and psychological intelligence.. Not to mention its denominational side-effects.

Good luck man, I hope you find a solution that works for you!

[BonzieBonez]

Denominational, not denominational in the context of cannabis symptoms.

[BonzieBonez]

Demotivational*** (dear lord auto-correct)

[Hazeleyes0117]

I'm turning 21 in June and I just quit smoking because I was finding myself only eating or even sleeping only when I would smoke. The withdrawal (depending on how frequently cannabis was used; for me it was everyday) it was and still is a rough couple of weeks readjusting to "normal" habits. Everything described in the post above are symptoms I've found in myself and it sucks to go through. After reading your post though it makes me stay positive, last year I had taken a tolerance break and went through these same feelings. At that point in time as well I had caused myself to get a stomach ulcers which made it worse for me when my appetite faded. I wasn't used to snacking all the time and keeping up with what my body needed. Going through this the second time and reading your comment defiantly makes me feel a lot better and I just wanted to say Thank you for sharing! The almonds is a great idea and I totally agree with your advice that smoking marijuana isn't the best solution when wanting to cure the feeling of nonhungry. It adds to a cycle and puts you in a position where you might make yourself even more uncomfortable because you then become reliant on not just you having to eat but you having to spend more money so you can smoke before everytime you eat. Best advice would defiantly be your comment! I wish you all the best!