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I NEVER feel hungry, can this be anything other than cancer? Distraught

Posted , 72 users are following.

longseason
longseason

Hello, I am a 25 year old male, I've searched the internet high and low but there doesn't seem to be any reassurance out there for me. I lost my appetite seeminly over night about 3 months ago. Over that time I have seen 4 different doctors and they have presribed various things like laxatives and acid reflux as I have also had mild digestive complaints on and off. None of these have had boosted my appetite though. I still enjoy eating and do so to keep my energy levels up, but I never actually get hungry and sometimes I get bloated after meals. I also had a colonscopy (I requested it) to rule out colon cancer and it was all clear so the doctor just gave me anti-anxiety meds assuming my lack of appetite was psychological. Only thing is I'm convinced it's not and have seen another doctor who I persuaded to give me an ultrasound. Doctor doesn't seem too worried though and just seemed to imply I'm a hypochondria.

   Assuming I am right about the lack of appetite being physical, can I really be anything else but cancer? I'm convinced what I am experiencing now is cachexia, or wasting from late stage cancer. I can't help but think it's pancreatic cancer with liver mets as I also have digestive complaints (have even had floating stools for a while now), I initially considered this just to excedingly rare in people my age but my symptoms just seems textbook. All in all just can't really believe this is happenning and I'm terrified about the ultrasound.

4 likes, 145 replies

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  • TripleTee1
    TripleTee1 longseason

    Posted

    Hello! I have some similiar symptoms trying to figure out what the heck is happening. I am 29 and also never feel hunger. However, I have never really felt hunger in my entire life. I can go hours without eating and eat only until I feel an empty feeling or realize the time. I have to force feed my self at times. I only feel hunger when I start an excercise routine. Within the last couple of months I've begun to feel dizzy all of the sudden.. light headed. The feeling is almost as if your under the influence. It usually happens after I eat. Which is odd. It also happens even though I haven't skipped any meals. Lately I've also felt abdominal pain and IBS and some chest pain.. I also notice I have dry eyes and feel exhausted all the time. I have been to the doctor multiple times this year and I think he's starting to think I'm crazy. I've had blood work done and all clear. I've had an ultrasound and all clear. Next would be a CT Scan but I'm not sure if I should even get one now. I am not on any medications. So I don't think it's a side effect of anything. I lead a normal life. I don't smoke, drink alcohol on occasion nothing excessive. Eat ok. I'm 5'7 125 lbs. excercise very moderately. The one thing is I do drink a lot of coffee and I am under a lot of stress. So I'm not sure if it's perhaps some chemical inbalance mixed with caffeine and perhaps stress related issues. However I don't feel normal. What scares me now is my light headedness and abdominal pain.

    • athar20069
      athar20069 TripleTee1

      Posted

      I think coffee is the culprit. I am also in the same boat and i used to drink coffee and tea and you know this habits are very dangerous because a human being do not have to consume coffee or tea because when you get tired you have to sleep naturally if you are having tea to beat the natural sleep then you are in situation like you are driving 🚘 whose engine oil gone bad and now you are damaging yourself physically and mentally. I reduced the consumption of tea to 2 times a day from 5-6 times, still I don't feel the hunger.

    • desire87
      desire87 athar20069

      Posted

      i actually gave up coffee for a few yrs n drank green tea, before i lost my hunger. Afterwards it took me a while to realize i drink less now, (i think i only feel thirst when i need to lick my lips or something) and had been forgetting to drink coffee in the mornings for a couple months actually, my hunger didn't come back but i got a lot of headaches. I'm also concerned now that pain killers otc are making me throw up, except asprin. Going to check for chrons at the next dr. visit.

  • Theminiwriter
    Theminiwriter longseason

    Posted

    Hello!

    The thing is, if you worry about it constantly, it's going to make it worse. I have anxiety... health anxiety, to be exact. The cruel thing about anxiety is that it gives you real physical symptoms. Headaches, stomach aches and can even make you throw up! It's horrible.

    I understand that it can be insulting, but if the doctor handed you medication then this issue is truly troubling you. I reccomend that you only take this medication if you're feeling really really worried, because I notice it also makes your stomach hurt sometimes.

    Try not to worry about it. Wait a few weeks for your stomach to settle a little, eat small things and if it persists see the doctor again. Trust me on this. I once had constant itchy skin and worried about cancer of the lymph nodes and it persisted for A MONTH.

    • athar20069
      athar20069 Theminiwriter

      Posted

      Yes constant worrying is the problem. I feel. if you have anxiety (constant fear or worries) then it effects the digestive system may be it releases more adrenalin(fight or flight hormone). I also have shortness of breath as well.

  • courtnay26
    courtnay26 longseason

    Posted

    Well I guess the first

    Thing to do is get a liver panel

    If your AST and ALP is high

    Then you could maybe ask for an MRI

    To see if they can spot anything

    Until then I would stock up on turmeric

    And ginger pills

    Good luck

  • r.s.whiteley
    r.s.whiteley longseason

    Posted

    I'm having the exact same issue. I'm an 18 y/o female and have been feeling this way for about 2 months now. I've seen a doctor and they did an ultrasound, blood tests, and a stool sample. They checked for IBS, gluten intolerance and lactose intolerance, but the tests came back clear and there is apparently nothing wrong with me. I absolutely adore food and I still eat at the times I'm supposed to because I know my body needs it, but I just do not feel hungry at all. I thought the other day that maybe my metabolism is super slow, but I'm not a health professional so I don't want to self-diagnose. In the back of my mind I'm worried it might become anorexia or something like that.

  • AllyK
    AllyK longseason

    Posted

    I am 19 year old female and I've had this problem for almost 2 years now with no luck. The only way I know I'm hungry is if my stomach physically hurts, which at that point means that I've been starving myself (involuntarily). I have another issue however; the feeling of being "full" doesn't come to me at all. Instead, I'll be in the middle of eating and then all of a sudden it's like my body rejects food and I have to stop eating right away. If I don't, then I get severely nauseous and possibly vomit. The problem with this is that I'm not eating a lot because of this, but I figure it's better to eat a little than throw all of it up. 

    I've saw a doctor twice when the symptoms first started (which were overnight, one day I was fine and the next I barely ate for weeks and ended up losing 15 pounds). In both doctors visits I got a fecal test and a urine test but both came up normal, so it's not parasites. My blood test was also normal. Technically my heart rate was irregular but I have heart problems due to a low weight. The second visit my doctor thought I had a food phobia and asked if I thought I had an eating disorder. I do not have an eating disorder... I would love to gain weight if I didn't vomit every time I tried to do so.

    Maybe I've been reading too much into it, but I have a hypothesis that it has something to do with a leptin and ghrelin hormone deficiency, which control decrease and increase of appetite, respectively. 

    Has anyone else made any progress on this?

    • linda22908
      linda22908 AllyK

      Posted

      hi i feel as if i am in the same boat as you have you had any updates yet how are you going?
    • AllyK
      AllyK linda22908

      Posted

      Hi I actually just saw this. I had an upper endoscopy (basically they sedate you and put a camera tube down your throat) about 3 and a half months ago and they found a strange white spot at the base of my esophagus and various inflamed spots in my stomach. They did a biopsy on the spot but they didn’t find any bacteria, etc so they just diagnosed me with acid reflux rolleyes Pretty sure there’s more going on but there’s not much else I can do. 
    • Guest
      Guest AllyK

      Posted

      I feel the exact same way. Have you happened to find any solution? It will be life saving
    • veeeronicac
      veeeronicac AllyK

      Posted

      Are you still experiencing lack of hunger? I have the exact same feeling I literally feel full all of the time and I’m afriad it’ll never go away!! Let me know if it ever changed for you 
    • athar20069
      athar20069 AllyK

      Posted

      Exactly this endoscopy done for me to and acid reflux medication and sucralfate syrup was given by my gp and he asked me to avoid spicy, oily, baked food, less caffeine intake to 1 tea a day. Still not much helpful. When i insisted gp to tell me what exactly happened to me, he said my bottom of esophagus has loosened up and it is not locking the mucosa (food in stomach) and this mucosa is crossing its limit by freely entering esophagus and then back to stomach, this is called acid reflux and so i feel my stomach is tight like filled with stones

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