[pct-l] Remedies for loss of appetite
Clint Kaul
clintkaul at gmail.com
Sun Jun 21 09:35:32 CDT 2009
Hello Reinhold (and Josh) (and Thomas),
On Sun, Jun 21, 2009 at 7:50 AM, Reinhold
Metzger<reinholdmetzger at cox.net> wrote:
> Did you ever consider that perhaps your problem was acute mountain
> sickness ''AMS'' resulting from a lack of acclimatization?
> ''AMS'' can cause any and all the symptoms you described and the fact
> that the symptoms emerged at Wrightwood, at high
> altitude, could point toward ''AMS''.
> Longer acclimatization and or less strenuous activity (less aggressive
> hiking) resulting in lower oxygen demand until acclimatized
> might solve the problem.
> I experienced loss of appetite & stamina on some of my JMT fastpacks due
> to ''AMS''
I never considered it. I have never had trouble with AMS at low
altitude (< 10,000)
or even at 14,000 when mountain climbing. I did have AMS when going above
20,000. You are correct that many of the symptoms sound similar to what I
described. My PCT symptoms did not seem similar to the AMS symptoms I had.
I didn't have a headache, feel light-headed, have shortness of breath. While
I felt lethargic/slow it is similar to how I feel when I am hungry in
normal life.
If I managed to eat a reasonable amount of food at once, I felt better
for awhile
after that.
The thing that seems to be confusing is that I wouldn't say I felt nauseous -
definitely not like the nauseousness I felt with AMS. I guess I'm just poor at
describing my symptoms. Yes I would typically throw-up my breakfast, but
I immediately felt "fine" after that. I was hungry and my stomach "hurt" (for
lack of better description) but the "hurt" felt the same as the "hurt" I have in
normal life when I haven't eaten in a couple of hours. When I was hiking down
the trail I felt "fine" but suddenly I would have to stop and start dry-heaving/
retching by the side of the trail. Usually 1-2 (rarely 3) stomach heaves,
probably 75-80% of the time without any food regurgitation, and then I felt
"fine" again. I would stand still another 15-30 seconds and then continue
hiking. Within a minute I would try to eat a little more food. I
don't know what
to attribute the retching to - indigestion?, excessive stomach acid? ???
By 11am-12noon the retching would stop. I would still have the hunger
and stomach "hurt" throughout the entire day though. The only time the
hunger/stomach-hurt disappeared would be the roughly 2 hours after I ate
a decent meal. A "decent meal" being Lipton Pasta Side for example, or
a bagel and 4-5 oz of cheese/peanut-butter - basically 600-800 calories.
I will also note that from Three Points (mile 403?) to Tehachapi (566) the
trail rarely goes over 6000 feet. I had all my symptoms during this entire
stretch as well. At least when I had AMS within a couple of hours of
descending back to lower altitude I felt fine/normal again - all symptoms
disappeared. If I only had these problems for 1-2 days - who cares, I
would still be on the trail. But after 11-14 days (do you count rest days?)
of slowly worsening symptoms the "fun factor" was gone.
> I also would suggest you take food that you really like.
> It is strange how you can loose your taste for food you like normally.
> But, I never lost my taste for cheese, BB chips or Snickers bars.
> Some folks frown on that as junk food......Perhaps, but if you can eat
> it it is better for you than normal healthy food that you can't get it
> down or keep it down.
> If you fastpack at high altitude go for what your body craves and if
> that is high in fat and sweets, so what....more calories and
> faster release. Besides, you will burn all the fat anyhow.
I chose food which I like in normal life, but perhaps not in the quantity
that I was forced to eat on the trail. For example, I like peanut butter
but eating 8 oz a day I quickly grew to dislike it. I had to spread out
the eating of peanut butter over several breaks to get it down.
So yes, the next time I go out on the PCT I'll be packing more "junk
food". I need to boost my carb percentage anyways. I also hope a
wider variety of fats will work; I had relied on olive oil initially but that
didn't work well for me.
For Thomas, I didn't consider Lyme disease. I was pretty careful
about checking my body each day for ticks. I never saw any ticks
or their bites. I never saw the "rash" or felt muscle/joint pain.
I'm a bit surprised no-one suggested giardiasis. While looking at
the symptom list now I doubt it is giardiasis. I didn't have diarrhea,
bloating, cramps, fatigue that I think of with giardiasis.
Thank you for the suggestions. They are certainly worth considering,
clint
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