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I'm eating. Why am I not gaining weight?
Here's what I learned today. COVID gave me a metabolic disorder. It likes to invade the small intestine, you see, where the nutrients from all the food you eat are absorbed, and the damage can take a long time to heal.
When I finally started to get better, I thought I was doing all the right things. I was eating the best of the healthy snacks throughout the day. Drinking kefir and electrolytes. My gut had been through such an ordeal, I was very conscientious about feeding myself well. So why was I still so thin and weak? Well, because it was too damaged to absorb all those nutrients. They were just passing through. That's why I needed the extra electrolytes. That's why I was still so underweight.
I've read that many of our symptoms may stem from this problem: dry itchy skin, troubles with eyes, hair loss, etc, including the racing heart I talked about earlier. Experts say that you can mend, but it takes time and attention to replace what all was killed off or damaged, and of course with COVID it's going to take longer.
Hope that's useful to someone. Next time I want to talk about this eating disorder it's given me that keeps recurring. It switches off my hunger periodically. I simply don't want food, don't care about food, don't feel hungry at all, sometimes up to 5 days, and I can't afford to lose more weight. I'm kind of mad about that.
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Also important, malabsorption can also cause weakness and fatigue. Go figure.
Yogurt may help ?
@bigj
The kefir is pretty much the same thing and I've been drinking it every day. I read today about the benefits barley can have in the mix, which is funny because I've been craving barley porridge lately. I don't like oatmeal. Too pasty. But I've been having a small bowl almost every night. I don't like to quit. I want to win. I'll keep trying.
You need a certain amount of healthy bacteria to support a healthy gut. Maybe and I just stress maybe I am not a MD. You
have taken away to much. Lay off the Kefir for awhile and see if there's any improvement.
I had covid and initially my symptoms afterwards were rapid heart beats and profuse sweating, the heart worried me the most especially hearing it beating in my ears. I was eventually sent to a cardiologist and after numerous tests it was determined that my heart was fine just too fast. Two years later it all settled down but I was changed, being self aware I noticed that I was getting thinner, my appetite was hearty but nothing would stay on me. I had various tests over time and again nothing came up other than I’m a senior female and I was told that it was normal, some people battled rapid weight gain with age and others just didn’t gain weight at all. I find that for my own peace of mind I take it all in stride and try to eat well, get some exercise and try if possible to stay away as much as possible from medication. Also, I believe in masks, yes they are annoying but they really do help a lot in crowded places, we know by now that covid is not a normal virus and it has and still does ruin the lives of many people, in the summer I take a little more chances but when the weather changes put it back on, it even reduces the need for vaccines to some degree, try to take charge of your own health, too much reliance on doctors today is not always the best option give or take a few lucky people.
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1 ReactionDrinking kefir or eating anything with natural probiotics, as well as including lots of prebiotic fiber in your diet can only benefit you.
After getting Long Covid, I discovered a gluten intolerance which I was previously not aware of. Many other folks on the site have also found new allergies and intolerances. Perhaps this is an avenue to explore.
BTW - overnight oats, which you can make with milk or even kefir, are much less slimy than cooked oats.
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1 Reaction@debbiedsf
Fruits and vegetables used to have natural bacteria on them before we started irradiating them. Then came the sudden arrival of IBS. Why? Because we needed that good bacteria to digest the food, for Pete's sake.