Ok let’s start with a health ramble

[sparkindarkness]

Plus point: the coughing has GOOOOONE. Yes, I am 99% cured (of course, every natural cough is a matter of huge paranoia since I‘ve had to deal with 8 freaking MONTHS of this damned illness), my lung capacity is restored. I can breathe again. I can exercise again. I can feel less worn and broken and start getting on with things and being generally competent in a slightly irritating fashion :)

Badness? Well, I’m not sure of the cause but there is badness. The problem with this prolonged illness is I have gone from being robustly healthy and never been ill at all, to having a relatively weakened immune system (oh, and can we have a brief slapping for those concerned friends and family members who have, upon hearing me complain of this, gasped dramatically and ask in horror about AIDS. No, just no, ok? It is actually possible for a gay man to be ill WITHOUT it being linked to HIV, ok? Yes, yes I know they‘re speaking because they care and they‘re worried, but one of my pet hates is constantly being linked to that damn disease.) and being susceptible to any bug that happens to be going ‘round.

What’s wrong? Well, it looks like a stomach bug - nausea, diarrhoea (icky tmi) and complete loss of appetite. But here’s the thing - the first 2 symptoms have largely gone over the last week. But I don’t want to eat. I seem to have lost any sense of hunger and eating as much as I used to makes me feel bloated and icky. I’m only eating at all because Beloved put his foot down and said that not eating for 4 days was wrong, unnatural and frightening and I had to eat. I eat... but only because it is the correct time to eat and one should eat at these times. And I don’t enjoy food. Which In hate utterly because food is one of the great voluptuous pleasures of life that I utterly relish in. And I haven’t drank alcohol for over a month (which is just WRONG for me. I’m a big drinker, freely admitted. I love mah booze.)

But I don’t feel ill per se (beyond a slight weakness that could be down to poor diet as anything), not nauseous or anything. Doctor says it’s just a stomach bug (I say for the first week maybe, but 2? C‘mon, stomach bugs don‘t last that long AND they make you feel like crap) and NOT a side effect of the Lansoprazole (30g three times a day, hated things) tablets I’m taking. My aunt, the nurse, says the doctor is either lying or ignorant, to throw the pills away and take Gaviscon instead. I am confused and unsure here as to what’s the best to do.

I am stifling a treacherous mental pathway that thinks that this will be a great help for getting back into shape (not being able to exercise much and feeling like crap? Sparky is not in the best condition) but I (and a rather... vehement Belolved) feel that insecurity and low body image issues are soooo not what I need right now (and, damn it, I’m UNDERWEIGHT not overweight for my height! Remember this, stupid brain! And I’m cute too, thank you very much. The pretty blond one says so) and if I did, thinking that being able to skip meals for several days is a GOOD thing is NOT the way to achieve any kind of peak health and cuteness.

The plus side is that while my weird-brain may be inclined towards insane and stupid issues my main brain is painfully sensible and will not tolerate such silliness.

Comments

[lilisonna.livejournal.com]

I suspect that if Beloved keeps nagging you to eat, you'll eventually find food appealing again. It may just take a little bit of build up to get there.

Listen to the cute blond one and the main brain. They are wise.

I am glad you're feeling better.

[sparkindarkness.livejournal.com]

Evetnually I think

Wise? now that's a new descriptor for him!

Thanks :)

[cazmanian-minx.livejournal.com]

Glad you're feeling better :o) Don't push it with the eating, if you went without food for 4 days then your system is going to go 'Ye Gods, WTF is this?' when you start feeding it again and won't be able to cope with too much at a time. Stick to as much unprocessed stuff as you can - fruit, vegetable soup, steamed chicken breast, rice - little and often. Eat when you're peckish and stop eating once the peckish feeling passes, NOT when you're full, full is the signal that you've eaten a little bit too much.

[sparkindarkness.livejournal.com]

Thankee

I'm trying not to force it but it's frustrating hiw long it's taking

I hate processed food at the best of time, convenient yes, but if I'm going to eat anything that unhealthy I at lwast want it to taste nice

[touchstone.livejournal.com]

Being sick for so long probably made you sluggish and inactive. When you're sluggish and inactive, your appetite declines.

I was unemployed for around 3 months, several years back. No reason to leave the house meant low physical activity. Low activity led to low appetite. Low appetite led to low energy. Low energy led to even lower activity. After a month of that, eating more than a modest snack at one sitting made me nauseous. I dropped about 25, 30 pounds, none of which I could afford to lose. I think I ended that stretch at 6'2", 140 lbs. Anyway, long story short - my advice is to try to get at least SOME exercise. Don't push yourself into a danger zone, obviously, but make a point of at least walking and being active. It'll boost your appetite, and even if there are other things going on /too/, it's bound to help.

[sparkindarkness.livejournal.com]

I just need to get msyefl all working back together again, I've been all BLAH for far too damn long

[kathminchin.livejournal.com]

Go to a pharmacist about the side effects of your tablets, and recommendations for alternatives.

GPs are notoriously crap about such knowledge

(says she who works for a group defending pharmacists ...)

[sparkindarkness.livejournal.com]

Aye, I think i'll trythat. The doctor was so damn insistent about them having no such side effects that it kind of put me off - doctor tryusting habvit :)

[makarov.livejournal.com]

eat SOMETHING, even if it's just a piece of toast with peanut butter & jam

[sparkindarkness.livejournal.com]

Peanut butter is vile... adding jam? Oh no no nononono

[chesh.livejournal.com]

Going off antibiotics before the course is done is bad; switching is non-ideal but do-able. I would agree, ask a pharmacist first. I got all kinds of side effects from ciprofloxacin when I was on it; the one time I took a tablet without food, it gave me stomach pain bad enough to put me into a cold sweat and "G.I. distress" a.k.a. "you don't need all these internal organs! let's just get rid of them too!". I spent a lot of time in pain that day, and it took me three days to get back to healthy-ish.

As other have said, low activity -> low appetite -> less eating -> it feels nasty to eat -> less eating -> rinse, repeat. Force a little down at a time; if rice doesn't disgust you, yay rice. If toast and jam sounds vaguely appetizing, yay toast and jam. If nothing sounds appetizing, have a little bit of one of your favorite foods. Just eat a little, eat often, make sure to drink plenty of water.
When I'm bad about eating regularly, I stop getting hungry. I'll feel like I'm about to faint and have a terrible headache from low blood sugar, but my stomach will never grumble and I'll never have hunger pangs. Once I start eating again, my appetite will usually restart within a few days, a week at most. You've been really sick, it will take a while to get you back in fighting shape.

And finally, no losing weight without exercising. That gives you creepy scary lumpy body. Muscle tone is smexy! You want to be smexy! Beloved likes it when you are smexy! (and by smexy, I mean healthy and self-confident). If nothing else, just go on a stroll around the neighborhood and enjoy how nice things feel now that you aren't coughing constantly.

[lilisonna.livejournal.com]

Smexy. I don't think the image this is conjuring up is really the image you were going for.

[sparkindarkness.livejournal.com]

They're not anti-bis, they're these heavy duty antacidy thingies.

Aye some people are affected very differently which is why i wondered.

[amynnah.livejournal.com]

Poor Spark... :(

Never thought it was teh HIV (last time I checked, unprotected sex with someone who had teh HIV, and not teh OMGGAY, gets you teh HIV). Anyway, off that...

Basically, you're dealing with the same problems I had when I was an anorexic teenager... you have to remember to enjoy foods again. In the first couple of weeks, I'd see if the Beloved would be up for observing you eat. Start small... finger foods, fresh fruits and veggies, legumes (beans), stuff that's easy to digest, and stuff you can nibble on in small portions throughout the day... that'll help stretch your stomach, without making you sick, until you get your appetite back.

I know it's unappealing for now... but it'll normalize. Other people who've already commented are right. ;) I'm really happy you're feeling better! :D

[sparkindarkness.livejournal.com]

True, but so many forget that

I need to build up a healthy food relationshoip again. Normality I am coming bacck!

[thisdaydreamer.livejournal.com]

Aaaw. I'm glad you're feeling better and I hope your appetite will return to normal soon. Take care of yourself.

[sparkindarkness.livejournal.com]

Thank you

[logophilos.livejournal.com]

::rolls eyes at stupid relatives::

I think yoi'll just have to cosset yourself until your immune system recovers. Flu is a serious illness (you worked that out by now, right?) and it will just take time. The bad bout I had over New Year in 1991 still ranks as one of my wors adult illness, and I swear to god it took me nearly a year before I felt right again.

If food doesn't tempt, try little and often (which is what they tell people on chemo and stuff, when their appetite is hit.) Booze - not a good idea anyway right now. But so long as you take the calories in somehow - you could try protein supplements, sustagen, anything that you find easy and tasty - I wouldn't fret about missing meals. One thing you could try if you've been on antibiotics for a long while is Vitamin B spectrum - not a fan of vitamin supplements usually, but if your gut flora have been reduced by the drugs, they won't be making enough. Something as simply as Marmite on toast would work, or yeast pills.

Lansoprazole can cause stomach bug-like symptoms:
http://www.gicare.com/pated/lansoprazole.htm

I suggest you go back to your doctor and see if Gaviscon would be a better option. Or some other medication.

Beloved must be stressed to the max. Just take it easy, the pair of you.

And yay, no cough!

[sparkindarkness.livejournal.com]

It makes it worse that they MEAN well so you can't really go *SNARL! I SMASH STUPID PEOPLE!*

Lol, yes I worked that out. I've always been aggressively healthy, having to take care is going to take a while to get used to

Marmite. In small quanitties, I can manage that

Aha, my aunt was right!

Thank you :0

[jerril]

First off, congratulations on the improvement in your health! You're almost there!

Second, my sympathies and psychic support for your current setback. Try to imagine your monitor radiating hugs for me. :/

Getting any kind of stomach distress after having been sick for so long is an insult to your poor abused body. Especially if you're skinny to begin with - you don't exactly have a lot of reserves to fall back on, and they were probably badly depleted by the 'flu/pnumonia/toxic death plaaaague.

Definitely talk to your pharmacist about the drugs you're on, and if there's any suggestions he can offer on how to mitigate the side effects. I feel absolutely miserable if I take antibiotics on an empty stomach, for instance. He might be able to suggest a specific kind of food to eat with or before the pill for maximum benefit (starchy better than protein? or perhaps greasy vs non-fat, who knows? The pharmacist might!)

Snacking is a very good plan. If you can't face a whole bowl of soup, have a cup. If you can't face a whole cup, have a few spoonfuls, and just put the rest in a thermos. Come back in 15 minutes, have a few more spoonfuls. Perhaps a soda cracker.

Sweet sodas may be nutritionally void, but the carbonation can sometimes help a blah-feeling stomach, and the sugar isn't a terrible idea if you aren't eating at all. A better, but sometimes harder to get option, might be carbonated fruit juice. Or if you're finding all of the above too intense in flavour, try cutting them 50/50 with water.

At the moment, having to be nagged to eat is miserable, but keep doing it anyways. Your smart brain knows your body needs all the good things in food to fix you up and bring you back up to 100%. Don't listen to your silly brain, it's really silly.

[sparkindarkness.livejournal.com]

Thankee twice over

That's the feeling - it's like "not this! Not NOW! I need recovery time!"

I will have to drill him for info though i seem to coming right by myusefl.

I find carbonated drinks bad form the stomach unless they;ve been allowed to go still - then I can take them