Did anyone lose their appetite before beginning dialysis?

[goofynina]

i dont have much of an appetite either i eat once a day, maybe twice, but thats not often...i do however get cravings for sour things like lemonade limade iced tea and sour candies

I have been doing PD for about a year and 1/2 now and i just started on this lemon kick too, i wonder what that is all about?  I dont crave food, i crave lemonade 

[mariannas]

Yes.  Definitely.  I lost about 20 pounds over the last 5 months.  The first couple of days of PD were rough too since that full feeling was sooooo uncomfortable.  Now, over two weeks after starting I am absolutely ravenous.  It will be good for me to put a little weight back on (I went from 105 to under 85!) so I have welcomed being hungry again. 

[livecam]

Very good question.  In about the 9 or 10 months before I started I did lose most of my appetite.  I was telling myself that I was on a diet and only eating one meal a day (lunch).  It is amazing how we can convince ourselves of something as silly as that and actually believe it.  I lost around 45 lbs. during those months.  I never threw up but after every meal I did experience intestinal discomfort.

All of this changed after I started dialysis.  My appetite was back and the problem I mentioned before completely went away.

[Krisna]

Yep!  I weighed 90 lbs when I started dialysis in Oct. 2002.

[paddbear0000]

I never threw up but after every meal I did experience intestinal discomfort.

I have the exact same problem!

[KR Cincy]

I lost a bunch of weight before starting dialysis...but mostly because two surgeries took out my big ol' diseased kidneys! I have regained my appetitie and have put back on a couple of pounds, but mostly seem to have found a good weight for me to handle daily home hemo and still have energy and strength to work fulltime as well.

[fluffy]

  dont worry about it Goofynina, i believe the whole world should bow to the awesomeness that is lemonade.  even though it has the unfortunate side effect of killing tooth enamel :p

[Krisna]

I threw up during and after dialysis for the first couple weeks.  I had waited longer than my doctor wanted me to so, vomiting was my body's way of ridding toxins!  I have intestinal problems but that's because I'm missing a large chuck of my sm. intestine.  I just have to eat smaller portions and eat more times a day.  So instead of eating 3 regular meals I eat 4 or 5 smaller meals.  I make sure that I get lots of protein.  Also for the ones who get nausea, try crackers with unsalted tops or get salt free corn chips from you local health food store!  Ginger ale works well for me too!  I use the Thomas Kemper Ginger Ale.  It's made with real Ginger.  I used to have nausea on a daily basis and my nephrologist prescribed something for me so that I could eat.

[Jannie]

i also crave lemonade. After I finish my hemo, I walk to the hospital cafeteria and buy a large bottle of lemonade and chug it down. I love lemonade.Ii even eat it frozen out of the can, I believe the early romans treated kidney disease by eating lemons.  Something about lemons being an alkali-forming food. Even tho they taste sour and acidic.

[MyssAnne]

That's interesting, about the lemonade. That's my drink of choice when I go out to eat...and I add lemons when I drink tea. Interesting.

[fluffy]

thats pretty cool. maybe theres somethign special about lemons, we should do a survey or something

[highlite36]

You know what a nephrologist told me about the no hunger thing....  I've seen many nephs because I'm such a "problem" child.  Everything that can go wrong with a renal patient, I've gone through....  You name it, I've had it....and ALL of the nephs agree that the reason why I'm not hungry is due to the failing kidney.  I've just been told that it's normal to not have any hunger when your kidneys are failing.  It's a sure sign of needing to start dialysis.  Since I've been dialyzing, I've realized that the first sign of inadequate dialysis is the lack of hunger.  They say that it's just your body telling you that something isn't right with the system. 

[goofynina]

That makes sense to me, but how come my neph didnt tell me that 

[paris]

The more I read about others nephs, the more I realize how lucky I am.  He warned me that I may start throwing up long before it began.   It does help when you know others are going through the same thing. As always, knowledge is power.

[fluffy]

the funny thing about some doctors is that they can be oddly self centered "if i know this the patient should know it too' so i look stuff up before asking them just to see if i can throw them off

[Marvin]

Fluffy,
I CRAVE lemons and have the whole time I've been on dialysis.  Here in the south (NC) when you go out to eat at a restaurant, they put lemon slices on your glass of iced tea when they bring it to you.  All of my friends/family pass their lemon slices to me to eat, and I eat the whole thing -- and sometimes ask the waitress to bring me more lemon slices on a saucer!

As for weight loss, my ESRD came on quickly, so I didn't notice it too much.  I was 375 pounds when I started hemo (almost 13 years ago).  Six months later, I weighed 225 pounds -- and I wasn't even trying to lose it!  When I got my transplant (5 1/2 years later), I put on the pounds again, and got up to 275.  When I went back on dialysis (3 years after that), I started losing again and got down to 200 pounds.  When I started Home Hemo (three months ago), my appetite picked back up.  I'm now around 250.  When I lost the original 150 pounds, I gave away my "fat" clothes, but I don't do that anymore.  I have "skinny" and "fat" wardrobes in my closet.

[kellyt]

I found out at my most recent neph appt on Thursday that my GFR is 18.  My creatinine is 4.6.  My appetite is definitely changing, but not severely.  I find myself eating smaller portions - that's once I can finally decide on what to eat.  Nothing sounds good anymore.  Also, my taste is changing as well.  Things I used to love just don't taste the same.

[Romona]

Some transplant Center have long waiting lists to get in for evaluations. My center had a one year wait time. Because I had additional injury to my one functional kidney (botched procedure) I was evaluated 5 months later.