prettiekittie

Proud to be at day 6. Feeling good about my family and making calls to doctors tomorrow and going to my first SMART meeting. Still full of anxiety and that “I just want to move to a different state and start over” place, but I figure that will pass with time...I hope.

I cant figure the food stuff out at all, though. Nothing sounds good and it’s difficult to sit down to a meal. I had a nice dinner last night because a friend took me to dinner theatre but other than that I haven’t eaten much since Monday aside from the occasional pear. Everything else makes me feel bloated and crampy and I feel almost too anxious to eat (something I have *never* struggled with).

Was appetite a problem for anyone else in early recovery? When did it come back?

mikoss

I personally had a big appetite and was eating quite a bit when I quit drinking the first time around. When I was drinking and doing coke I didn't really have an appetite but when I quit for a while my appetite did come back.

And then about 2 weeks into quitting drinking the first time I got on a better and healthier diet. Not a diet but just eating healthier foods. Grass feed beef, free range chicken, wild caught fish like salmon, eggs, yogurt, cheese, butter, milk, avocados, coconuts, and lots of vegetables low on the glycemic scale and with lots of vitamins like kale, broccoli, bok choy, romaine lettuce, spinach, collard greens, and others.

I stopped all sugar intake as much as possible since the main goal of my healthy eating plan was to avoid sugar intake and eating foods that process into sugar. I stopped all sugar drinks like coca cola and fruit juice or Gatorade which have too much sugar. And I stopped eating all bread, rice, pasta, potatoes, tortillas, cereal, anything with grains, corn, carrots, fruit except for certain berries, honey, canned goods like soups or canned vegetables, shellfish, all condiments like ketchup mayonnaise and mustard, anything with polyunsaturated fats, all deserts like cookies and cake and pie, and many other things that I stopped eating.

I stuck to eating only meat, butter, eggs, cheese, yogurt, berries, nuts, and vegetables, coconut products, and granny smith apples. And only water to drink or sparkling water or loose leaf tea.

Then I relapsed and everything went downhill but I am trying to get sober again but that is a different story.

I am not a dietician so I cannot recommend what to eat or give any advice on what to eat since everybody is different but when you stop drinking and at least in my experience appetite should increase. Some days my appetite was less but I felt that I was able to eat more when I was not drinking.

HeadEast

I had the same problem almost all of last year, but mine was more related to mental health issues than to quitting alcohol. Quitting alcohol can change your appetite and increase it or decrease it.

My appetite problem was exactly as you are describing. I ate out a lot! It seemed as though I'd suddenly have an appetite when I was out. I just considered eating out a medical expense to justify spending what I was spending. I also drank nutrition drinks like Ensure to help when I didn't eat. (A pharmacist can recommend a good nutritional drink).

Talk to your doctor. Anxiety will definitely affect you appetite. And again, my lack of appetite was due to other things than alcohol withdrawal, but you described exactly what I was going through.

thomas11

Alcohol kills gut the gut biome, and it takes awhile for it to kick back in. But to answer the question, yes I absolutely struggled with appetite and its really a double edge sword because we NEED to eat to get better. My 2 cents.

mikoss

I know that from what I have learned from books on eating healthy is that we have a hormone produced by the fat cells in our bodies called leptin. Leptin is known as the "fat-burning hormone". And leptin is sent to the hypothalamus part of our brain where we have leptin receptors to regulate fat burning, hunger, cravings, and the sense of being "full". Leptin is kind of like a gas gauge for our body and determines when to eat. It also affects our metabolism and when leptin receptors in the brain are burned out from having too much leptin in our blood then the brain cannot adequately detect increased leptin in the bloodstream and it can cause our brain to feel a sense of deficiency of leptin and therefore we crave food as our brain's way of avoiding starvation. And it is this sort of broken barometer that makes a person constantly feel hungry, never burn fat as it's primary source of fuel, and seek sugar as an immediate source of fulfillment to use for energy instead of fat for energy as the body should.

I don't now how alcohol or reducing or quitting alcohol affects leptin and leptin receptors but I should research this.

Dee74

Sometimes I felt ravenous and other times not remotely hungry.

6 days (congrats!) is a fair way through withdrawal tho PK - hope your appetite returns soon

D

Anna

Congratulations on 6 days!

I hope your appetite returns. But, I think you should try to eat something nutritious each day because your body is in a healing mode and will need healthy nutrients to begin the process of repairing itself.

Winslow

Ugh days 1-4 I just can't eat but force myself to but my digestion seems very slow and a little food goes a long way, after the first week my appetite kicks up a little more but still slow digestion, I'm absolutely grossed out by how bad alcohol destroys the stomach and intestinal tract reminds me of straight up acid! Give it a few more days it'll come back💗

fishkiller

Congrats on Day6, well now 7 kittie.

Hopefully your appetite returns because as said you need to eat.
If it gets too bad hopefully your Dr. can help.

I agree with headeast, if going out gets you to eat then do it.
Eating out= blank $$$$
sober, healthy you = priceless