Depression and lack of appetite

  • I have borderline personality disorder, so whenever something small happens, it can trigger a major depressive episode.

    Lately, I fell into one Usually people cope with depression by eating a lot or being lazy, but I have been walking a few miles a day and doing some intense workout videos to keep my mind off of my troubles.

    However, I can't eat. No matter how hard I try. It's really hard to choke down ANYTHING for breakfast, I very rarely snack, and I can eat a couple bites of dinner at the most. The smell of food makes me nauseous, and just the sight of food on a commercial makes my stomach turn.

    How can I possibly counter this?
  • Sorry to hear your dealing with this I have an aunt who has a very similar situation to yours and she'll exercise like crazy (and eat almost nothing) when she has a depressive episode. Her husband will gently pressure her to eat very small meals throughout the day but overall it is difficult to get her to eat properly.
    If food makes you nauseous, would you be able to drink protein drinks or meal replacers?
  • I try the protein drinks, and I try chugging some slim fast when I need to eat, but sometimes it's hard to even get that down :/

    I know I should be thinking of it as a blessing in disguise but it's so hard lol I OBSESS over food, and I still can't eat! lol
  • I just wanted to let you know that I am in the same boat as you right now. I haven't been formally diagnosed with anything but I am seeing a p-doc soon to figure it all out.

    I am in a major depressive and anxious state and have been for the last 3 months. This last month I lost 15 lbs without effort because I don't EAT. It's a huge struggle to keep food down. It's so difficult to wrap my head around the fact that this is an unhealthy way to lose weight because my end goal is lose another 20-30 lbs still.

    I just wanted to let you know, you're not alone. Have you spoken to your p-doc about it? There are some anti-depressants (Remeron is one) that help stimulate appetite. I tried it and went from not eating to binge eating in the span of a week and took myself off it. I would rather not eat than overeat at this point in my life but you might be able to find a happy medium.

    Calming techniques might work before a meal. Try to relax and make small snacks you can just nibble on. Go for crackers, grapes, little bits of peanut butter and apples. Then you get a bit in but it's not a super overload of food to make you nauseas. My go to is just nibbling the corners of saltine crackers to try and stimulate my appetite and get my saliva going.

    It's a difficult problem to have when you're actually trying to lose weight just not quite in this way.