Stomach hell for several years

[Lincoln-Imp]

I don't think it even matters what I eat anymore, I'm constantly bloated, stomach is always uncomfortable. Not only digestion problems but my weight is shocking as well, I look extremely underweight & ill. Another thing a lot of people have been telling me lately is that I look orange, I make light of it & say it's all the papaya I eat, I don't believe that to be true though.

I eat papaya, eggs, the green can gelatin, coffee, seafood. Lately I've eaten lots of rubbish because it's difficult to keep eating healthy when I feel just as bad. Is there anything I can try to help? I've seen niacinamide mentioned on these forums, would that help with my problems? Or can anybody think of any other supplements?

Thank you

 

[narouz]

post 116601 I don't think it even matters what I eat anymore, I'm constantly bloated, stomach is always uncomfortable. Not only digestion problems but my weight is shocking as well, I look extremely underweight & ill. Another thing a lot of people have been telling me lately is that I look orange, I make light of it & say it's all the papaya I eat, I don't believe that to be true though.

I eat papaya, eggs, the green can gelatin, coffee, seafood. Lately I've eaten lots of rubbish because it's difficult to keep eating healthy when I feel just as bad. Is there anything I can try to help? I've seen niacinamide mentioned on these forums, would that help with my problems? Or can anybody think of any other supplements?

Thank you

You might check out a thread by "thebigpeatowski" called something like "the best of times and the worst of times"
Do you still have your appendix?

 

[tara]

Hi Lincoln,
I just skimmed some of your first thread, but have not reread later ones.
Seems there were several good suggestions to try - I guess you've given some of them a go.

If you are orange, it could be that you are eating more carotene than your system can cope with for now. Hypothyroid states typically have a harder time converting carotene into usable vit-A, and the unused carotene is an unsaturated molecule and can cause some trouble on excess. Adequate thyroid function and vit -B12 can help use it better. But in the meantime, it might be worth considering if you can lower your intake of carotene. I think both papaya and carrots may contribute. I love papaya too, so I could understand if you don't want to eat less of it, esp. if you are having trouble finding other foods you can eat easily. I have to rinse my grated carrot to be able to tolerate it, and I limit the amount of sweet potatoes, yams, pumpkin I eat for similar reasons - I get averse to too much, and I'm guessing it's the carotene. You could try supplementing a little B12, and see if that makes a difference. Are you eating a little liver regularly? It has some B-vits and vit A, and other goodies.

Have you measured your waking temperature a few times recently? Or other times of day? resting pulse? Any thyroid lab results?

The impression I have is that you may have been undereating for a long time, possibly mainly due to gut distress. Does that seem right to you? Can you estimate your daily calories? Have you run your average daily diet through cronometer or similar to see if you are obvously missing key nutrients? (Ignore their calorie recommandations, usually too low.)

Do you have any clues about when/what caused your gut distress? How long have you had the trouble?

If I'm off the mark and you've been eating more than 2500-3000 cals regularly, then I'll be glad. :) Otherwise, the following may be relevant.
Amongst the common effects of long-term under-eating are:
- Gastroparesis and slowed intestinal transit - the body deliberately slows down the food so it can extract more from it to meet its needs.
- Reduced production of digestive enzymes, because of energy and ossibly other nutrient deficiencies.
- Potentially depleted digestive tract - agin from undernutrition.
- Reduced thyroid function - the body deliberately slows metabolism and lowers body temperature, presumably to make the scarce resources go further under famine conditions.
- Fatigue, worry, and other symptoms of general energy deficiency.

Once undereating has been going for long enough to undermine digestion, it can be hard to eat and digest enough to rebuild - tricky situation. I am not aware of any way to restore digestive function without restoring the energy supply. Even if it feels uncomfortable, and seems to trigger some other unpleasant symptoms (eg acne), I don't know another way around it. I think you just have to eat food that you like the taste of and choose easier-to-digest foods when you can, but just require yourself to eat enough anyway.
If you've had very low calories, it may be safer to increase gradually - eg by 200 cals every couple of days till you get up to reasonable amounts, and to have a dr who is familiar with recovery from undereating - there are some specific hazards with refeeding that warrant medical oversight - refeeding syndrome can be dangerous if not treated.

I'm not sure what you mean by eating rubbish, but I'm glad if you have eaten food in preference to further energy deficit. I think it is probably worth doing what you can to limit PUFA consumption, but other than that, getting in calories any way you can may be one of the most important things. You may have seen my thread on this subject:
viewtopic.php?f=11&t=4028