Any suggestions to help with appetite? - Anxiety Message Board

zzffgg58 · 03-22-2009, 10:59 AM

I've posted before about my 31 year old son's anxiety/panic disorder, just diagnosed 2 weeks ago, but apparently has been having this for quite sometime. Recently got very bad and has lost weight along with appetite. Has been taking Zoloft for two weeks, along with prilosec and adivan. His appetite still has not started to come back. I don't want him losing any more weight. He eats soda crackers, soup once in a while, ensure drinks, never wants to eat hardly any meat. Says he never feels hungry. (ps his panic attacks when bad lead to vomiting, which now he is afraid of happening to him again). He also belches a lot. Any of you have that as a symptom of anxiety and does anybody have any suggestions on how/what to get him to eat? I am so worried about him and any help anybody can give me would be very much appreciated.

Lourage · 03-22-2009, 02:13 PM

I hope i lose some pounds if i decide to go on zoloft. Would be much better then upping my cardio!

as far as the meds causing his lose of appetite i don't really know. I still eat every 3 hours when on any type of med and never notice any lose of appetite.

BUT, when i'm extremely nervous i lose my appetite and just can't eat, no matter how hungry i am. This happens to me whenever i have to eat in a public situation. I don't do good at restaurants, or at any family gatherings. I'd rather eat alone.

Maybe that whats going on with your son? That or he is also extremely depressed and even something like eating doesn't interest him anymore?

light the world · 03-22-2009, 02:52 PM

I'd suggest asking him what he feels like eating or if you don't get an answer from that ask him if you could eat one of you most favourite food what would it be and maybe give that to him. Another suggestion I have is giving him a straw and telling him to just suck on it and breathe through it just taking in air. This could cause him to feel like slurping something so he might get thirsty. Thats something psychological you could do.
Make sure when he takes his zoloft that he eats something with it. This will prevent the feeling of vomiting or feeling sick. It will also make the medication work faster and reduce the amount of anxiety he has.
Is the Zoloft working for him? How long has he been on it?

zzffgg58 · 03-22-2009, 05:06 PM

Thanks for the posts. He has been on zoloft for only two weeks. Today was a good day. He ate three pieces of chicken! He belches all the time? Is that anxiety related? Or gerd related? He said he thinks the zoloft is starting to help with the anxiety as he only takes ativan once a day now, but he sad the burping is driving him crazy. Any ideas? Thanks again for your help, this board has been my salvation.

light the world · 03-22-2009, 07:29 PM

Well the good news is that if he says that the anxiety is starting to lessen in just two weeks then that means the med is working really well. It will take about a month though to get the full benefits. Sorry not sure what the burping could be from. Hope your son gets better.