[Celyn]

Hey there,

I don't think anyone here can give you an estimated time of how long you can live like this until health problems start occurring. However, I think that waiting for your depression to clear up is unwise. While it's quite common for your appetite to disappear during depression, it will come back. But it's important that you still try to eat and look after yourself in the meantime.

Firstly, you can take steps to look after yourself by listening to your body. When you feel hungry and lightheaded, your body is telling you that you need to eat. Even if you don't feel like eating, or you lose your appetite when you are eating, your body still needs food. I think that finding your favourite foods can help, and it can be helpful to remind yourself that you need to eat. Try not to see it as 'forcing' yourself, but more you are trying to help yourself.

I agree with Jazz, that instead of trying to have the regular '3 square meals a day' to break it up and have 6 smaller meals throughout the day. Or to snack between meals. You may also want to try nutrition drinks, not as a replacement for meals, but to ensure that you are getting vitamins and minerals.

Since this has been going on for a while, I'm wondering if you have talked to anyone about it? Perhaps you could talk to a doctor, and get weighed, so that you can work out how best to manage your eating when you don't feel like it. Also, you could ask for a referral for counselling to help you manage with your depression.

Hope this helps