Posted 2/10/2020 11:35 AM (GMT -5)
There's a post right now by Cignet that touches on some of this.
You might have dysautonomia, specifically gastroparesis. It's a nervous system issue, wherein your autonomic nervous system stays in sympathetic (fight-or-flight) all the time instead of switching to parasympathetic (rest-and-digest) some of the time. Your nerves might not be signaling your GI tract to contract and function normally. I have experienced this a lot in my time with Lyme. It took years to figure out what was wrong, and doctors always searched the GI tract for answers, ignoring the neurological component of digestion.
Treatments that chill out the nervous system help me a lot, like craniosacral therapy, meditation, and acupuncture. There was a period when I weighed 89 pounds, and the only thing that would enable me to feel actual hunger and manage to eat was an acupuncture session. Two hours later it would wear off and I would go back to feeling no hunger or thirst, and feeling horrible if I tried to force anything in. If I put something in my mouth, then it felt like my throat forgot how to swallow, and i didn't produce saliva when chewing. When I swallowed with great effort, it felt like glass moving through my system, and the bite of food sat in my stomach like a jagged rock. I had been focusing all my attention on GI healing (probiotics, enzymes, bitters, anything to encourage peristalsis), but for me, it turned out the issue was neurological.
Here are some tricks for stimulating the vagus nerve: https://selfhacked.com/blog/32-ways-to-stimulate-your-vagus-nerve-and-all-you-need-to-know-about-it/
I also talk a lot about DNRS.
Do you have other neuro symptoms? I found that the things I do to manage POTS have fixed the periods of gastroparesis as well.
For a long time my PCP wanted me to go to therapy for anorexia or to take a drug that increases appetite. (I did neither.) She prescribed a powdered nutrient formula - Metagenics UltraInflammX - so that I would not develop deficiencies.
I might be totally off about what's going on with you, but I thought I would share my experience, just in case!