Hi Starbuck:
It's a question near and dear to my heart. I actually sort of lost my appetite about a year before I was diagnosed (should have been another warning sign, but that's another story). I had NO appetite from the time of my colon resection in December. This was probably attributable to absolutely constant nausea with no time off between chemo. I have prescriptions for six different anti-nausea meds, the only one that helped even a little was Zofran (they did give me Emend prior to chemo and for 2 days after). As a result of this, I have lost 50 pounds since December and am pretty malnourished. Fortunately I had the weight to lose, but of course, this is the worst possible way to lose it. I am now back to my high school/college weight
The nausea finally went away about two weeks ago when I was discussing the problem with one of my three liver surgeons and mentioned I had stopped taking prilosec after my colon resection because my GERD had magically gone away (had been on that or similar meds for 15 years) She explained how GERD could sort of magically morph into nausea!!! I couldn't believe it! I can't count the number of docs who knew I had stopped taking Prilosec (including my at-home genius--who of course claimed he had "no idea" I had stopped it
). So after all these months, I went back on Prilosec, and ta-da, nausea is essentially gone. Go figure. I'm telling this in case anyone who is nauseated had a prior history of GERD and may want to try Prilosec. I swear it was like a miracle.
Anyway, as far as your loss of appetite, try to make sure every thing you eat is chock full of calories. Don't eat anything that will fill you up without any calories in it. Consider superforifying your milk, if you are drinking milk. You do this by mixing dry milk into your milk. It will significantly increase both calories and protein. Keep your jar of peanut butter on the counter and try eating a tablespoon or two of it each time you walk by. Even though veggies are great, forgo some of them to keep your protein and carb intake up. Don't know how you feel about cannabis, but that can help appetite a lot, and you may already know. At this point, if something seems good, even if it's total junk food, eat it. I'm a big fan of Cheetos these days. No idea why, but at this point I am eating ANYTHING that I can think of that sounds good. Also, try eating really small, frequent meals.
Can't think of anything else right now, but I'll let you know if I do. Good luck, sweetie.
Love, Bev