Anxiety and loss of appetite: what's the connection?

Signs of loss of appetite from nerves

Symptoms of nervous reluctance to eat food are:

lack of hunger;
aversion to food (including favorite food);
nausea after eating, which did not want to “get into” the body.

Symptoms of loss of appetite due to VSD and other types of neurosis may be constant, or may occur only occasionally. Moreover, their occurrence does not necessarily have to be associated with some clearly defined stressful situation.

Appetite sweats can be timed to the time of day or days of the week. Or it may actually be constant.

An aversion to food can be extremely strong, or it can only be expressed in mild displeasure from the meal.

Very often, nervous loss of appetite is combined with other neurotic symptoms, primarily those that affect the gastrointestinal tract. This may include nervous nausea, diarrhea, stomach pain, etc.

In children

Nervous tension in a child leads to a breakdown of the nervous system and negatively affects the functioning of internal organs. The post-traumatic state poses an even greater danger for children. The task of parents is to detect the situation in time and eliminate its consequences.

Children, like adults, experience stress every day. It responds more actively to a child’s body. Signs of nervous tension in a baby:

hot temper;
muscle tension;
lack of active movements;
the child has stomach pain, back pain and headaches;
unstable appetite;
dysfunction of the bladder and intestinal tract;
lack of concentration, disturbed sleep, moodiness, gets tired quickly.

In adolescents, the symptoms of nervous tension are similar to the reaction of the body in adults. Adolescence is characterized by maximalism. A stressful situation is exaggerated and perceived as strongly as possible.

Causes

Dysfunction of the regulation of eating behavior

An imbalance of serotonin in the body, one of the functions of which is the regulation of eating behavior, is often cited as one of the main reasons for a persistent decrease in appetite against the background of neurosis.

In fact, in addition to serotonin, many more hormones and neurotransmitters are simultaneously involved in the development of anxiety and the feeling of hunger. That is why anxiety always affects a person’s eating behavior. And that's okay.

Inhibition of the parasympathetic nervous system

Associated gastrointestinal symptoms

Classic neurotic symptoms are:

It is clear that against the background of such symptoms, appetite will be reduced.

Obsession with one’s condition and its constant assessment

This is the main cause of chronic loss of appetite during VSD, anxiety-phobic conditions, and panic.

All people suffering from VSD are sure that they are sick. Therefore, they scrupulously assess their physical condition. They constantly listen to themselves, noting new signs of illness.

They also supervise their desire to eat. Or unwillingness to do it.

Absolutely any completely healthy person can lose their appetite from time to time. However, such a person simply does not notice this and does not make a problem out of it.

Another thing is a neurotic with VSD. He thinks something like this:

For some reason I don’t feel like eating, although it’s already 14.00, and I haven’t eaten anything this morning. What does this mean? I need to read about this. Ahhhh! Oncology, neurological disorders, infections... Here you go! I knew I was dying.

Further, after such a fixation of his symptom and finding out that it indicates an incurable disease, the neurotic patient thinks only about the fact that he does not want to eat. And against the background of such fixation on a symptom, this symptom intensifies.

At the same time, other physical symptoms of anxiety (diarrhea, nausea, etc.), as well as psychogenic loss of strength, which is an invariable companion of most neurotic patients, add fuel to the fire. And which easily convinces them that they are seriously ill.

Medicines

Severe stress is a disease; it is necessary to begin treatment with medications after consultation with a medical specialist. Treatment for mental and emotional causes when appetite has disappeared is fundamentally different from the treatment of diseases not related to the nerves.

Antidepressants

They help restore appetite against the background of depression, neuroses and anorexia nervosa.

Prozac is a drug that increases the synthesis of serotonin (the hormone of happiness). The medicine is sold freely in pharmacies without a prescription. Often prescribed by a neurologist to adults and children. Helps eliminate anxiety and panic conditions, eliminates the syndrome of obsessive thoughts, and restores the menstrual cycle. Constant use of the medicine helps to balance the mental state and improves mood.

Glycine is a herbal preparation that contains an amino acid. Affects the course of processes in the cerebral cortex, normalizes chemical reactions. Applicable from first birthday.

Persen, Novo-Passit, Deprim - antidepressants containing herbal components, elevate mood, cope with poor appetite.

Drugs with antiserotonin action

Medicines that eliminate the effect of serotonin in case of its deficiency. They indirectly affect appetite and change the psycho-emotional state for the better. The drugs include: granisetron, iprazochrome, lisuride and others.

Hepatoprotectors and restoratives

The main effect of the drugs is to normalize metabolic processes and increase the overall tone of the body.

L-carnitine

By participating in the metabolic process, it helps restore the metabolism of fats, carbohydrates and proteins. Helps normalize the digestive system and improve appetite.

How to get rid of it?

Proper nutrition

First of all, you need to eat normally. I can’t even through it.

Eat healthy, natural food prepared at home. Preferably at a strictly defined time (by the clock).

To increase appetite, you need to add spices to your food, such as:

cilantro and coriander;
cinnamon;
fennel;
ginger;
cumin (jeera);
mint;
black pepper.

It is good to introduce various bitters into your diet. For example, grapefruits, instant chicory, black natural coffee.

Fermented foods are shown. Sauerkraut is a great appetite booster.

Working with your thoughts

To completely get rid of VSD and other neurotic disorders, you need to do a lot of work on yourself. Preferably with the help of a professional psychotherapist. This may take up to a year.

However, you can increase your appetite faster. To do this, you need to stop thinking about the fact that he is not there. Stop monitoring the rumbling in your stomach or its absence. Give up thoughts about whether you feel sick or not, whether you want to eat or not.

Why don't you feel like eating when you're nervous?

You don’t feel like eating when you’re nervous, and nausea can even set in when a person has just experienced some fairly strong short-term stress. It could be an unpleasant conversation, a fight, or something else that caused a strong emotional outburst. In this case, creeping nausea and lack of appetite are normal, because it’s not for nothing that at such moments they say that a piece won’t fit into the throat.

But if a person experiences emotional stress for quite a long time, then the body begins to adapt and tries to protect itself, but then, on the contrary, a strong appetite appears and the likelihood of gaining extra pounds if the stressful situation is not resolved in a short time.

At first glance, it seems that stress and depression cause disturbances only in the nervous system. Any nervous disorder provokes a malfunction of all body systems, the autonomic nervous system.

55% lose their appetite and food seems less tasty.
In 30%, emotional distress provokes functional intestinal and digestive disorders.
For 10%, unpleasant thoughts about life’s problems distract them from eating.
Less than 5% experience nausea or vomiting due to nervousness.

Lack of appetite can result in undesirable consequences due to stress, which already has a negative effect on the body.

What to do if a person has experienced a mental disorder and refuses to eat? We'll tell you in the article.

What if it’s not nervous after all?

Of course, no one denies that chronic loss of appetite occurs not only due to nervousness, but also occurs due to severe somatic pathologies.

Therefore, if you are not so young and have never noticed a tendency to panic, unreasonable worries and anxieties, and you have never been diagnosed with VSD, then loss of appetite is a reason to see a doctor.

Many people ask the question: “Does stress make you lose weight or make you fat?” Perhaps both. Let us examine in detail the problem of losing weight due to stress. How does this process happen? What should you do to get back in shape?

Anorexia due to nervousness

In adults

Stress comes in different forms. Every day a person experiences a lot of situations: at home, at work, on the road, on the street. Some do not greatly affect the central nervous system, others cause depression or severe overexcitation and loss of appetite occurs due to nervousness.

Light tension

This is a common occurrence. A little irritation, unpleasant memories, excitement when meeting an acquaintance. This is considered a mild tension, relieved without the person's control and without the use of drugs (distraction to other topics or concerns).

But it's not always easy to distract yourself from a negative moment. The human brain continues to replay the situation, simultaneously involving the owner in a stressful situation more and more. It is not light tension that sets in, but increased tension.

Overvoltage

A stressful state of the body that takes away more strength. Feeling weak, dizzy, and losing energy. A person is in this state when he solves important problems every day and makes responsible decisions. This behavior is typical of politicians and businessmen.

But such stress is not considered intrusive. Relieving increased stress will attract more resources from the body than with mild stress. But it won’t cause much harm to your health. A person must let go of the situation and let the brain relax, then everything will return to normal.

If you fail to abstract yourself, and instead of calming down, tension increases, obsessive thoughts may appear. Due to stress, a person becomes exhausted, the situation does not leave the brain, and it is impossible to get distracted. The next stage of nervous tension begins.

Severe tension with the appearance of obsessive thoughts

Nervous exhaustion of the body occurs, up to the appearance of unpleasant sensations inside, depression, and neuroses. At this stage, there may be an upset of the digestive system, the person may feel sick, vomiting, diarrhea, and have a stomach ache.

Nervous weight loss

Weight loss due to nervousness (anorexia nervosa) is a dangerous psychological illness, the specifics of which are obsessions with losing weight, fear of gaining weight and refusal to eat. As a rule, this nervous disease develops in teenage girls and young women who are dissatisfied with their appearance and with themselves specifically. It can be very difficult for such people to regain their appetite after severe stress and prolonged hunger.

The main signs of anorexia nervosa due to emotional exhaustion are the following:

refusal to eat or, on the contrary, eating more food than the body needs, the latter is done to subsequently cause nausea in an unnatural way;
weight loss under stress to a critical level;
constant worry about your weight;
dieting and exercising to the point of exhaustion.

Causes of weight loss due to nervous tension

What happens during stress? A person cannot relax, he is tormented by thoughts about problems, emotions do not allow him to concentrate on important things. Stress is often accompanied by overexertion and spasm of body muscles, including the muscles of the gastrointestinal tract. Many people feel that during times of stress, thoughts about food recede, and it is almost impossible to gain weight in such a situation.

What causes such a situation as weight loss during stressful situations? The main reasons are as follows:

Instability and weakness of the nervous system leads to an eating disorder against the background of nervous experiences. A person cannot get better and experiences constant worries about this.
Hereditary factor: one or more relatives suffered or have nutritional problems.
Frequent illnesses, weakened immune system. If emotional experiences are added to this, then the person loses his appetite. In severe cases, vomiting begins after eating.
Asthenic physique. A person has a narrow chest, shoulders, thin arms and legs, and underdeveloped muscles. Usually, asthenics have an increased metabolism, it is difficult for them to gain weight even with regular nutrition. When under stress, asthenics quickly lose weight; after long experiences, it is most problematic for them to gain weight.

Factors of nervous disease

Anorexia nervosa is a consequence of a cycle of special social and living conditions. An important role in the development of the disease is played by heredity, external pathogenicity, individual character traits, and social characteristics (the value of family relationships). The influence of stress overexertion, starvation, aversion to food, and neuroses cannot be ruled out.

There are other reasons that contribute to thinness distress. The etiology of the scheme is as follows:

people who are overly concerned about their weight and have particular cravings for weight loss recipes;
people with inflated demands on themselves and people close to them, picky, scrupulous;
people with a hereditary type of this disease;
people who are strongly influenced by certain standards of appearance;
people with mental health problems who have been abused or who have lost a loved one.

What is anorexia - definition

Manifestations and signal indicators of anorexia

Most people suffering from anorexia nervosa are thin. However, they are very worried about extra pounds and are afraid of gaining weight, so they begin to limit themselves in food, leading to exhaustion. As a result, fasting leads to nervous tension, which leads to severe weight loss.

The source of such a disease is distorted self-esteem.

The main reasons for the formation of nervous thinness are described below.

People who are interested in food: study and collect recipes, prepare various dishes for guests, but they themselves cannot eat and avoid eating under any pretext or pretend to eat, but do not swallow.
People experiencing severe anxiety because of weight. It is difficult to find out: the patient usually does not talk about his attitude to the problem and keeps secret that he causes himself to vomit after eating.
People who are constantly hungry and satisfy it with large amounts of food (symptoms of bulimia), and then get rid of it by inducing vomiting or taking laxatives.
People who have lost weight due to stress, lead an active lifestyle and pay special attention to physical activity.

The effect of stress on appetite

The result of exposure to stressful situations on the body is dysfunction of the digestive organs and emotional exhaustion.

A prolonged lack of desire to eat leads to parasomnia, possibly even a complete lack of sleep.
The female body reacts to stress by disrupting menstruation.
In children's bodies and in adolescence, nervous tension results in vitamin deficiency, the protective function against infections decreases, the musculoskeletal system is not formed correctly, and the risk of contracting viral and infectious diseases increases.
With severe depression or neurosis, anorexia nervosa develops, which quickly depletes the body and leads to a sharp decrease in weight.
Nervous tension is accompanied by pain syndromes throughout the body. Drowsiness, weakness, spasmodic phenomena, nausea, especially in the morning. Against the background of impaired motor functions of the intestines, heaviness and upset appear in the stomach after eating.

Consequences of the disease

If the disease is not treated in time, it can lead to the following problems:

disorders of the cardiovascular system: heart pathologies, dizziness, decreased heart rate, decreased blood pressure, brief fainting, risk of death;
disruption of the endocrine system, which affects the performance of the thyroid and gonads in women. The production of hormones decreases, which leads to menstrual irregularities, infertility, and loss of sexual desire;
a decrease in the amount of calcium in the body, which leads to bone fragility;
with repeated unnatural induction of vomiting in patients with anorexia, the esophageal mucosa suffers and tooth enamel deteriorates;
there is loss of spirit, depression, absent-mindedness; suicidal thoughts arise.

Most often, patients do not consider themselves sick and do not pay special attention to their well-being, even if there is a complete loss of appetite. But anorexia nervosa is a dangerous disease that leads to serious consequences. Death cannot be ruled out. What to do in this case? Those close to a person with signs of this disease should promptly identify the disease and insist on going to the doctor.

Causes of weight loss due to nervous tension

Nerves affect the functioning of the entire body, and the digestive system in particular. The functions of internal organs are disrupted in an attempt to cope with stress. The causes of weight loss differ between adults and children.

Adults

Reasons for lack of appetite and weight loss:

stress for any reason leads to overload at the emotional level, overwork;
dysfunction of the autonomic nervous system against the background of emotional stress leads to disruption of the functioning of internal organs;
the presence of neurosis and depression leads to spasmodic phenomena in the digestive tract, which in turn leads to a decrease in appetite;
Metabolism and hormone production also go haywire under stress.

Each age of the child has its own reasons for weight loss associated with emotional stress:

Infants and younger preschoolers react sensitively to the long absence of their mother, the nervous tension of their parents, and changes in the rules of the daily routine.
Older preschoolers: experiencing a trip to a new kindergarten, new people, misunderstandings with parents, relationships with peers.
In adolescents, the emotional background is increased due to changes in the body itself, growing up.

Causes of stressful conditions:

A second child appears in the family. The fragile psyche of an older child leads to negative results. He feels unwanted and abandoned.
In case of moving to a new place of residence, the usual environment will change accordingly.
Frequent quarrels between parents or divorce.
Negative information coming from TV screens and the Internet.

Diagnosis of the disease

If symptoms of anorexia nervosa appear, you should consult a psychiatrist.

The specialist will get acquainted with the problem and give an opinion, based on the results of which treatment will be carried out.

Main diagnostic methods:

conversation with the patient and his family: during communication, the necessary information is extracted to determine the extent of the disease and possible damage;
calculation of BMI (body mass index);
passing the necessary tests, such as a detailed blood and urine test, setting the amount of hormones, X-ray of the skeleton, gastroscopy and cardiogram to determine the damage from the disease.

Elimination of nervous exhaustion

The type of treatment is selected based on the degree of the disease. Seriously ill patients are placed in a hospital under the close supervision of medical workers. The main stages of eliminating the disease: gradual normalization of weight, restoration of internal balance and support of the psychological state.

Treatment in hospital

In patients with a complex stage of the disease, weight normalization occurs slowly. For this purpose, a personal diet is prescribed, which includes all the substances necessary for the body in a specially selected volume. When selecting a diet, body weight, the stage of starvation, and signs of deficiency of any mineral or vitamin are taken into account. It is necessary to restore appetite during times of stress so that a person eats on his own. If this fails, the patient is fed using a special-purpose tube, which is inserted into the nose to pass into the stomach.

Drug treatment involves eliminating certain symptoms that appear as a result of anorexia. For amenorrhea, hormonal medications are prescribed; for brittle bones, medications containing vitamin D and calcium are prescribed. Antidepressants (Prozac, Olanzopine) are often prescribed. They should be taken strictly as prescribed by your doctor.

Fluoxetine in the treatment of anorexia

Treatment methods

Psychotherapeutic treatment is an important component in the fight against weight loss due to stress. There are two methods of therapeutic assistance that are used to restore the emotional state after stress:

family (for adolescent patients);
behavioral (applies to an adult patient).

The result is determined partly by the patient himself. To make the treatment of anorexia more effective, close people of the patient are involved. They must show perseverance and willpower to help cure this disease.

How quickly a person recovers from stress depends on himself and his environment. If you believe in success and really want to get rid of the problem, everything will definitely work out.

I lost about 7 kg of weight over the last month (from 63 to 56) due to nervousness. Now I have no appetite at all, I force myself to eat at least something. Still a very restless sleep. Who faced such a situation and how did you win? Thank you in advance.