Yes, Multiple Sclerosis (MS) can significantly affect hunger and appetite through various symptoms like fatigue, depression, swallowing issues (dysphagia), nerve damage (gustatory dysfunction, gastroparesis), and medication side effects, leading to both reduced appetite/weight loss and sometimes increased appetite, impacting nutrition and quality of life.
You might find you lose weight because of the way MS affects you. For example, problems with posture, swallowing, fatigue and tremor can all make shopping for, preparing or eating food more difficult. And your appetite can also be affected by stress, anxiety and depression, as well as certain drug treatments.
Underlying health conditions such as the common cold, infection, food poisoning, dementia, diabetes, cancer, hypothyroidism, heart disease, problems in the lung, kidney, or liver, and HIV/ADIS. Side effects of medications include antibiotics, amphetamines, chemotherapy, fluoxetine, digoxin, hydralazine, or opioids.
Symptoms of advanced MS
Some people with MS lose sensation in their tongue. Some health care providers refer to MS-related tongue issues as “MS tongue.” Loss of sensation or numbness can make it difficult to move your tongue when you speak, chew, or swallow. Tongue numbness may also diminish sense of taste.
Stress, anxiety, and depression can all affect your appetite and make it harder to eat (even if you are physically hungry, and even though you still need to eat). So can certain physical conditions, like hypothyroidism or nausea related to morning sickness or other health conditions.
Low thiamine levels can cause a range of symptoms, including fatigue, loss of appetite and behavioral changes.
The 20-minute rule for eating is a mindful eating strategy suggesting it takes your brain about 20 minutes to receive signals from your stomach that you're full, so eating slowly (aiming for 20+ minutes per meal) helps prevent overeating by giving your body time to recognize satiety, often involving chewing thoroughly and pausing between bites to align consumption with natural fullness cues. It also means waiting 20 minutes before reaching for seconds to truly gauge your hunger.
A loss of appetite is usually a sign of concern if it lasts for longer than a week. A loss of appetite can come with additional symptoms like: Fatigue or low energy. Nausea or vomiting.
There are many reasons this can happen. When you are busy, it is easy to lose track of time and lose touch with your hunger cues. In times of increased stress, your senses can be dulled. Your focus may be on what you feel you must do to relieve the stress or anxiety, and your hunger cues may be shut out.
Other causes of decreased appetite include:
The effects of MS in the brain could: make it harder to feel food and drink in your mouth. affect the automatic actions (reflexes) involved in swallowing, so these don't happen at the right time, or in a smooth, co-ordinated way. weaken the muscles in your mouth and throat.
Loss of appetite (anorexia) implies that hunger is absent and that the person has no desire to eat. In contrast, a person with an eating disorder such as anorexia nervosa or bulimia nervosa is hungry but restricts food intake or vomits after eating because of overconcern about weight gain.
MS Flare-up Symptoms
B12 deficiency can trigger specific food cravings, most notably for meat, fish, or eggs, as the body seeks animal-based sources to replenish the vitamin, especially in those on vegetarian/vegan diets or older adults. While cravings for sugary or salty foods can also signal general B-vitamin issues, the distinct urge for protein-rich animal products is a key indicator, but professional testing is crucial for confirmation.
Below, we highlight the best vitamins to boost appetite in adults.
Symptoms when vitamin D is low
Fatigue. Not sleeping well. Bone pain or achiness. Depression or feelings of sadness.
The 2-2-2 food rule is a simple guideline for leftover safety: get cooked food into the fridge within 2 hours, eat it within 2 days, or freeze it for up to 2 months to prevent bacteria growth, keeping it out of the temperature "danger zone" (40-140°F or 5-60°C).
Good choices for nourishing drinks include milky drinks, especially if made using fortified milk. These include hot chocolate, milky coffee, malted milk drinks such Ovaltine or Horlicks and milkshakes. Smoothies and fruit juice are also nourishing drinks.
Symptoms of multiple sclerosis (MS)
Some of the most common symptoms include: feeling extremely tired (fatigue) problems with your eyes or your vision, such as blurred vision or eye pain.
These include fibromyalgia and vitamin B12 deficiency, muscular dystrophy (MD), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease), migraine, hypo-thyroidism, hypertension, Beçhets, Arnold-Chiari deformity, and mitochondrial disorders, although your neurologist can usually rule them out quite easily.
People with MS may experience numbness or a burning sensation in their tongue. This is because MS effects on the brain affect sensation. MS can weaken the tongue's muscles, making it more difficult to perform day-to-day activities, such as speaking, eating, and swallowing.