Malnutrition depression?

[Nikia]

I have had no appetite for about a month now. The first two weeks, I had severe diarrhea. I am still irregular and have stomach cramps. I have lost about 10% of my body weight. Over the past two weeks, I have gotten rather depressed, more so than when I was diagnosed with depression when I was a teenager. I don't feel like doing anything and feel rather hopeless and unhappy. During this past month, over 80% of the days I've eaten under 800 calories with most of those from being from simple sugars. I am hoping that I will be able to eat soon and that will help. It will help, won't it? I am afraid that I will be non functional soon. It was difficult to get out of bed this morning. Are there foods that are good at lifting one's mood when one has been deficient for a while that are non irritating to the stomach? I take a light multi viatamin. Are there particuliar vitamins that I really need that I might not be getting. I will see a doctor soon, but not soon enough.

[demnan]

1. For God's sake

Go to the Doctor!

[molly]

2. Stop those simple sugars immediately!!!

this could be a major reason for depression. I would start on a vitamin program with large doses of the B's and Vitamin C. Get yourself to a doctor.

[Skittles]

3. GET YOUR ASS TO A DOCTOR IMMEDIATELY

you are seriously depressed and are not making decisions in your best interest. You need to see a doctor now, not "soon". Get some protein drinks to beef up your calorie count - <800 calories is NOT enough to sustain you.

[DemExpat]

4. Malnutrition depression probable....

simple sugars alone will do it IMO.

Try fresh fruit instead, and a protein shake (like for sick or elderly) to get some nourishment!

DemEx

[DemExpat]

6. BTW, the best mood-lifting foods for me are fish and greens.

Get a good check-up first......
DemEx

[buddhamama]

5. if you're not eating

and feeling sick you must go the doctors.

the weight loss is probably in the form of water loss, made worst by the stomach/digestion problems.

if all your eating is simple sugars, you are lacking critical nutrients.

definitely increase your intake of B vitamins. they are essential and affect our overall mental health.

[XanaDUer]

7. Please go to the doctor.

and as the above poster stated-stop the simple sugars and start eating some fresh fruit.

Take a multivitamin and mineral supplement.

Tell the doctor about your teenage depression.

Good luck and keep us posted.

[Raven]

8. Everybody here is right! Go to the Doc!

In the meantime, try simple broth...chicken, vegie... stay away from the sugars. The absence of some B vits. can cause real problems and can actually be life threatening. Not to panic you, but see somebody to at least rule out some things and then take it easy...eat what you can but not only sugars...the depression will probably abate when your body feels better.

[tweekinnow]

9. No Doctor?

Go to an emergency room as soon as you can get there...Take it from someone that has been really sick before,go now...

[GoddessOfGuinness]

10. In case you didn't hear anybody else...

Go to the doctor immediately.

I won't elaborate what everyone else has so clearly stated; but please keep us updated, and know there are people here who care...

~healing hugggggs~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[SnowGoose]

11. turkey, fish oil caps, multi-vitamin and a DOCTOR.

Nikia,

Listen, a similar thing happened to me, I got ill, quit eating, and then my mind just went to pieces. You've got to eat. Can you eat yougart? That would be a good place to start.

Your body needs protein to make serotonin, more specifically, you need the amino acid tryptophan (which your body cannot synthesize itself) from the protein. You can buy a product called 5-hydroxytryptophan in capsules at the healthfood store which is good, but if you're a meat-eater, turkey is fairly high in tryptophan too. By the way, for us veggies, neither soy protein nor dairy are particularly good sources for tryptophan.

Next you need certain fatty acids that your body can't make (you've probably heard of them - omega-3 fatty acids). Fish oil capsules will do the trick, but flax oil capsules are the choice for vegetarians. Again, these are molecules which your body cannot synthesize, and so must be supplied in the diet, and your nervous system (among other systems) just doesn't function properly without them.

Finally, as others have mentioned, a basic multivitamin would be a good idea. Don't go with a "megadose" vitamin, as some of them acutally have toxic levels of some nutrients (seriously, I've seen that myself). You need the B vitamins... some recent research suggests that a reduced ability to absorb B vitamins in the elderly may actually be responsible for a significant amount of depression in the elderly.

And seriously, see someone. Really.
Good luck.

[ScreamingMeemie]

12. Go go go-to a doctor, the emergency room. You are putting your heart

in huge trouble-irreversible trouble. Please take care of yourself-we need you.

[Deja Q]

13. I had a parasitic infection - go to the doctor NOW!!!!!

Your symptoms sound a lot like mine. And a persistent illness will make anybody depressed.

The lab tests I had to take barely suggested the parasitic infestation and everybody in the lab and dr office ignored it until I crumpled and had to go to the ER; where they saw the same report and decided to do something about it.

Get to a doctor NOW and make sure they take every test imaginable; blood, stool, whatever. And be assertive and pro-active! I assumed they would take care of everything as they said they'd call if anything had shown up. Well, they didn't and I suffered because of it. (I still dread the ER and ambulance bills, which I don't feel I should pay because THEY didn't bother to follow up on a legitimate lead!)

[Nikia]

14. I have an appointment for tomarrow

I had gone earlier in my illness and the lab tests showed negative. Regardless, I know that I need to be eating properly soon (like a couple weeks ago). I am taking my husband with me to the doctor because in my state of mind I probably could be pushed around quite a bit if the doctor doesn't take me seriously for some reason. I just forced myself to eat a little bit of cooked carrots, pasta, and chicken. Although my stomach hurts, in some ways, I feel better than I did before I ate. I'll have to get some vitamins as well. I'll let you know how things go. Thank you for the support and advice. You guys are so great.

[prolesunited]

15. Glad to hear you are going to the doctor

and that your husband is going with you. It's good that you forced yourself to eat some real food. If you think of your body as a complex machine, I'm sure you can understand that you need to fuel in properly. I hope you feel better soon.