Loss of appetite

The reason for this is often heat, simple or with matter, and then the patient wants wet and cold, that is, drink, and not hot and dry, that is, food. Heat with matter acts more strongly in this regard and weakens appetite more. Cold is better for the appetite and therefore we see that the north wind and the winter season stimulate the appetite more and that a person traveling among the snow has a very strong appetite; the reason for this is that warmth relaxes, raises the juices and fills the stomach with them, while cold has the opposite effect. But sometimes the reason that damages the appetite is an excessive cold disorder of nature, if it kills the sensory and attractive forces, and the appetite weakens, but this rarely happens. The cause here is even any excessive disorder of nature, for the strengthened disorder of nature weakens all forces.

Sometimes the appetite decreases during fevers due to a disorder of nature, strong thirst and overflow with rising bad juices; Appetite decreases most during pestilence fevers. With excessive weakening, the appetite increases extremely. Appetite decreases greatly with tumors of the stomach and liver. If convalescents do not show an increase in appetite and it falls, this indicates the age of the disease, unless, of course, the lack of appetite is due to anemia and weakness of the body; keep this in mind.

The cause of lack of appetite is often abundant, viscous mucus that forms at the mouth of the stomach; then all food is repugnant to nature, except that which contains pungency and causticity. After eating such food, however, swelling, distension and nausea occur, and the patient feels relief only from belching. Sometimes the reason for the loss of appetite is constant catarrh, descending from the head to the stomach, and sometimes the reason for this is the fullness of the body and poor absorption of nutrients, or the fact that the nature is busy correcting bad juice. This happens, for example, during fevers, when the patient abstains from food for a long time, because the nature does not absorb nutrients from the vessels, and the vessels from the stomach, since the nature turns to the expulsion of bad juices and is distracted from attracting nutrients. For the same reason, bears, hedgehogs and many other animals go without food for a long time in winter, because they have a lot of immature juice in their bodies and their nature is busy correcting it, bringing it to maturity and using instead substances that are absorbed by the body. In general, the need for food is its compensation for what is assimilated; when assimilation does not occur, or in the body itself there is a replacement for what is assimilated, the animal does not need food coming from the outside.

The reason for lack of appetite is also that the vessels in the meat, muscles and other organs are affected by weakness and they do not absorb nutrients; then the absorption of food does not consistently reach the mouth of the stomach, and the stomach does not require new food. The same thing happens when the stomach does not need to replace what is assimilated: after all, if there is no assimilation, there is no need to replace what is assimilated, and the absorption of food by the vessels does not reach the mouth of the stomach.

Sometimes the reason for lack of appetite is the cessation of the outpouring of black bile, which continuously flows into the mouth of the stomach from the spleen. Then bile does not irritate him, causing appetite, and nature does not expel it, cleansing the stomach. When anything foreign remains on the surface of the stomach, even in a small quantity, the stomach does not seem to need matter or movement to expel the foreign substance; it is not like the stomach, striving to absorb food and moving to attract it. Lack of appetite can also be caused by the disappearance of the sensory power of the mouth of the stomach; then the stomach does not sense the absorption of food by the vessels, even if they absorb it.

Sometimes this happens for a reason rooted in the stomach itself, sometimes due to complicity with the brain, and often due to complicity with only the sixth nerve coming from the brain. This also occurs from weakness of the liver, due to which the power of appetite weakens, and sometimes this is a consequence of the dying of the power of appetite and attractive power throughout the body, as happens, for example, after profuse bloody diarrhea, this is a bad case and difficult to cure. This disease leads to the fact that if the patient is offered various dishes, he wants to eat any of them, but when the chosen dish is brought to him, he feels aversion to it. It's even worse if he doesn't want anything. The strength of appetite weakens not only after a bowel movement, but also with any excessive disorder of nature.

Sometimes the cause of lack of appetite is worms if they damage the intestines and the stomach participates with the intestines in the disease; Often the worms damage the stomach itself, rising to it. Weakening of appetite sometimes occurs due to the abundance of harmful black bile, which causes the stomach to vomit and expel, rather than accept and attract food. Appetite sometimes also disappears due to pregnancy and delayed menstruation at the beginning of pregnancy, but most often pregnant women experience indigestion. Lack of appetite can also be caused by excessive heat or cold weather, which dissipates the strength with its heat or causes it to freeze from the cold and prevents the absorption of food. Increased warmth in the stomach has the same effect, and the same thing happens to a person who is accustomed to wine and suddenly stops drinking.

The state of appetite sometimes changes and it weakens due to sleep disturbances, and sometimes a decrease in appetite occurs due to anemia, followed by weakness of strength, as happens in convalescents when cleansing the stomach. In this case, the appetite gradually returns when the patient revives and the blood is restored. Physical exercise also destroys the urge to eat, as does drinking plenty of water.

Sometimes the reason for lack of appetite is sorrow, worries, anger and the like, and sometimes the appetite is weak, but as soon as a person begins to eat, it rises. The reason here is that food either awakens the attractive force or changes the inherent quality of nature, which destroys appetite. If, for example, this nature is hot, then when food enters the stomach that is actually cold in comparison with this nature, the hotness of the nature calms down; It also happens that a person drinks cold water on an empty stomach and his appetite increases. Intoxicated people regain their appetite by eating bread soaked in cold water, and when a hangover occurs after drinking wine while the juices are flowing, the appetite for meat soups increases. The same thing happens if the quality that destroys appetite is coldness, and the food that enters the stomach is actually hot or actually warmer. A decrease in appetite in chronic diseases is a very bad sign. Know that the reasons for the disappearance of appetite are also the reasons for weakness of appetite, if they are expressed, they are smaller and weaker.

Signs. Signs of lack of appetite, depending on nature, have already been explained. An indication that lack of appetite is due to insufficient digestion of food is thickening of the skin, a pampering lifestyle, something has already been said about this earlier, frequent bowel movements and a slight increase in appetite after exercise and bowel movements. A sign of lack of appetite due to weakness of the mouth of the stomach is what we talk about in the paragraph about weakness; Signs of this also include frequent involuntary bowel movements. An indication that the lack of appetite depends on the weather is given by asking about the patient’s past condition; Has he been exposed to very cold or very hot air? The fact that lack of appetite depends on ulcers is indicated by the pain mentioned in the paragraph on ulcers, the release of particles of ulcers in feces, the softening of nature, the short stay of food in the stomach, the burning sensation caused by substances that have an sour, acrid or bitter quality. A sign of lack of appetite due to pregnancy is pregnancy; a sign of rotten juice, nausea, “turning of the soul,” sometimes observed bad breath and bad bowel movements.

A sign that the lack of appetite is due to the cessation of the outpouring of black bile from the spleen is the following: when such a person eats sour foods and they begin to irritate and tan his stomach, the appetite returns, as if these foods act in the same way as the interrupted outpouring of bile would have acted. if it had not been interrupted. This indication is reinforced by the fact that the spleen is then enlarged and protrudes forward due to the retention of what should have poured out of it. The fact that the lack of appetite occurs from the copious outpouring of black bile, which is harmful to the stomach, is indicated by vomiting bile, a sour taste in the mouth, obsessions, and the color of the tongue turning black.

Signs of lack of appetite due to worms are signs of worms in the intestines or stomach and an increase in appetite when taken as a medicinal dressing of sabur in apple wine, which prevents the worms from rising to the upper parts of the abdomen. A sign of lack of appetite due to anemia is that it occurs in people who are convalescing or in people who have frequent bowel movements. The fact that lack of appetite depends on sleep is indicated by sleep disturbance and the absence of other signs. An indication that the cause is a loss of appetite are signs of an established disorder of nature or previous bowel movements that weaken the whole body, while the patient’s condition is such that if he wants something to eat and is brought what he wants, he feels disgust for it and runs away from him. It’s even worse if he doesn’t want anything at all. A sign of lack of appetite due to the disappearance or weakening of the sensitivity of the mouth of the stomach is that all the actions of the stomach are healthy and that caustic substances do not burn or cause nausea and hiccups. This is what falafili tastes like, for example, if you take it on an empty stomach and wash it down with something.

Treatment. One of the good ways of treating a patient who has no appetite for food, not due to the prevailing warmth of nature, is to keep him from eating for some time and reduce the amount of his food until his strength is revived and what remains undigested is digested. Then it will be necessary to empty his stomach and he will attack the food. The same thing happens to a person suffering from insomnia: if he is not allowed to sleep for some time, he becomes drowsy and falls into a deep sleep.

Among the remedies that induce appetite and are useful for those whose appetite has decreased due to weakness, as happens in convalescents, or due to damp, viscous matter, is the following: the patient is given unripe salted olives or a little salted fish to eat and is forced to swallow a little sea ​​onion vinegar. There should be absolutely no saffron in his food. As for ordinary salt, this is the best way to stimulate appetite. Substances that stimulate the appetite include fragrant capers, mint, onions, olives, peppers, cloves, galangal, vinegar, marinades from these plants and vinegar from them, as well as murree, and onions and garlic in small quantities. Asafoetida and small fish also stimulate the appetite and at the same time cleanse the mouth of the stomach.

One of the medicines that awakens the appetite, a medicine prepared from squeezed quince juice, honey, white pepper and ginger. Among the medicines that awaken the appetite in people with a hot nature or in people with fever is the quince juvarishn mentioned in the Pharmacopoeia, prepared with apples. One of the means that stimulates the appetite and prevents “stomach inversion” in those whose stomach does not accept food, mint jam of this kind: pound a sour pomegranate with the peel and take one part of its squeezed juice, half of the squeezed mint juice and excellent honey or sugar. one part. The composition is carefully thickened over a fire and given on an empty stomach, one spoonful at a time. Lack of appetite due to warmth is sometimes eliminated by drinking cold water in such quantity as not to kill the innate warmth; Drinking thickly brewed sour juices also helps with this.

Among the proven remedies for this disease is pouring pomegranate juice with rose oil, especially if there is matter in the stomach, and if thirst overcomes, then drink the milk of cold seeds with cooling thickly brewed juices and cold medicinal dressings. If there is matter, you first bring it out.

Such patients include those who are convalescing and recovering from fever, who still have some burning sensation in their stomach; they are treated in the same way, but the drugs are not administered with large amounts of cold water, so that the strength of the stomach does not decrease. Such patients should be given medicine of this kind: roses ten dirhams, sumac two dirhams, cardamom one dirham, turned into cakes and given two dirhams to drink at a time. This medicine stimulates the appetite and stops thirst.

One of the dishes that stimulates the appetite in such patients is oatmeal moistened with water and vinegar; they benefit from cleansing the stomach by inserting a finger into the mouth: this sets in motion the force of the stomach. As for the lack of appetite due to cold, a decoction of various

spices help with this, as well as old wine, falafili and especially teryak; Garlic also helps. It is very beneficial for this disease. The medicine made from pulegium mint and all hot juvarishnas are very suitable for such patients, as well as citron jam, ginger jam, myrobalan jam and wild carrot jam. Poultices also help them, especially with millet; it is more suitable than salt.

For lack of appetite due to the abundance of viscous mucus in the stomach, vomiting caused by radish, which is eaten and washed down with one honey sikanjubip, helps, as explained in the paragraph on general methods of treating the stomach. One of the useful remedies for this is honey shikanjubin with seeds, in which, on top of all other honey, one mann and three ukiyas are added; They give it to drink three spoons every day. Unripe salted olives with anise and capers in vinegar with honey also help; bathing in hot springs, travel and movement are useful for this ailment; after cleansing the stomach, such patients are treated with the remedies mentioned in the description of therapeutic measures against loss of appetite from cold. If the reason for the lack of appetite is bile juice or some other liquid juice, then they perform a bowel movement with drugs known to you with myrobalans; sikanjubin with sabur works better than sikanjubin with scammonium resin: scammonium resin is hostile to the stomach. This disease is also treated with vomiting, which removes liquid juices, and a decoction Wormwood is an excellent remedy.

As for the lack of appetite, which occurs due to the complicity of the nerve that conducts sensations, or to the complicity of the brain itself, then in this case treatment should be directed towards the use and strengthening of the brain. In the absence of appetite due to compaction and poor absorption of juices from the liver by the vessels, one should achieve loosening of the body by bathing in a bathhouse and moderate exercise, and also induce perspiration with opening medications. If the cause of the disease is black bile, then you should empty the stomach of black bile and then use salty, sour and tearing substances to tear off the remaining bile. After this, food with a pleasant smell that produces good chyme is prescribed. A disease that occurs as a result of the cessation of the outpouring of black bile is treated by using and strengthening the spleen; seek to open the passages between the spleen and the stomach by using medicines that move towards the spleen, such as dodder and caper root bark in sikanjubin, and capers in vinegar.

In pregnant women, appetite is stimulated if it drops by moderate walking, moderate physical exercise, selection of suitable foods and drinks, old fragrant wine, which strengthens the expelling power and dissolves bad matter; They are offered delicious dishes that have a pungent and tearing quality. If the disease occurs from a decrease in the strength of appetite, then one should hasten to correct the nature that weakens this strength, whatever it may be, and transfer it to the nature opposite to it. The same is done if the disease occurs as a result of relaxation or abrasions in the intestines; this comes from the dying of the power of appetite.

As for the lack of appetite due to a weak stomach in such patients, they should be induced to vomit by inserting a finger into their mouth: even if they do not vomit, they will soon feel an increase in the strength of their appetite. Sometimes they have to be given teryak in some kind of stomach wine, for example, dodder wine or myrtle berry wine, depending on what is more suitable. If the cause of the disease is weak sensitivity of the mouth of the stomach, then the brain should be treated and the cause that caused damage to its action should be eliminated. Know that vomiting, which gently cleanses the stomach, is a wonderful medicine for a patient whose appetite for sweets and fatty foods decreases, and he is limited to sour and spicy foods. With most types of loss of appetite, a medicinal bandage of incense, mastic, aloe, sukka, fragrant reed, pomegranate flowers and quince juice with fragrant wine helps, among other things; it is applied if the disease does not occur from dry stomach. By the way, wormwood wine helps and the daily intake of one dirham of aromatic rush roots and half a dirham of sumbul; This medicine is taken with water on an empty stomach. The medicinal porridge mentioned in the Pharmacopoeia, the invention of which is attributed to Ibn Abbad, helps such patients; They say that grated vetch, if you take two bowls of it with sour pomegranate, stimulates the appetite.

When loss of appetite leads to fainting, then for treatment, food with a pleasant smell is brought to the patient, for example, fried milk lambs or kids, fried chickens, etc. He is not allowed to sleep, and when he wakes up, they feed him bread dipped in wine. Such patients are given stews to quickly nourish the body. Know that all kinds of oils, and especially cow’s oil, discourage or reduce appetite, because they relax and clog the mouths of blood vessels. The most suitable are oils with a slightly astringent property, for example, unripe olive oil, nut oil, pistachio oil.