When a good friend noted that Micah has been putting on some pounds, I dismissed the comment quickly, saying that I had not noticed. However a few weeks later he had his annual physical and there was no denying that he had gained 15 pounds in less than 9 months. The new medication that he is on is most likely one of the causal factors as Micah is no couch potato; he continues to lead an active life, hiking many miles and swimming a few times each week. But there is no denying that he always seems hungry now….
Hungry very shortly after eating twice as much as me and Dean for dinner. Hungry when he has had extra cookies for dessert, hungry after taking his nightly apple and carrots to bed. The medication might be working well in some ways but it has turned Micah into a constant forager for his next snack. This obsession propels him to sneak a brick of cheddar cheese into his room to consume as fast as possible before getting caught, down a jar of olives, or eat a full box of Cheez-It and leave the empty box as evidence for us to discover when we are looking for our own snack. He now wants multiple apples and carrots at bedtime, not the ration of one of each that used to satisfy him.
Of greater concern, the hunger seems to have triggered his desire to eat things not as healthy for him, like candles, and candy that was thought to be hidden away. Yesterday I had to wrestle a box of cookies away from him as he was not happy with the few that I had given him not five minutes before. Clearly we are going to have to look at a medication change before this guy weighs 300 pounds and we are taking out loans to pay the food bill (which as we are all aware is going up each week, even without a hunger driven guy seeking to eat 24/7). Alas, getting him in to see the neurologist who prescribed the new medication is going to take a few months, as this situation is not deemed an emergency. In the mean time we have a bell on the refrigerator and have resorted to moving his favorite foods to different hiding places like they are in a witness protection program, changing homes and packaging to throw off the hunter seeking to devour every morsel before anyone else gets a sample.
The one silver lining is that Micah eating everything in sight (and out of sight) is helping me not to eat everything that might be tempting, because it is GONE before I get to stuff it into me. For this I am thankful. It might be a new weight loss program for me and a career option for Micah as he helps others not to overeat. Hopefully his neurologist will have a different medication that is effective but not hunger inducing. Meanwhile we will continue to try to keep one step ahead of the resident forager.
Jan Lessard Peightell April 20, 2022