Eating Problems?

Get him to a doctor! Yes this could be symptoms of something deeper like depression or possibly some physical ailment.

Any chance he’s using drugs of some kind? It wouldn’t be the first time that a person’s drug habit came as a shock to family members.

Are you both still living at home? If so, have you discussed this with your parents? Surely they will have noticed both his loss of appetite and weight loss? They need to get him to his doctor for an exam and a confidential chat.

I get like this. I barely eat in the summer. It is hot and I don’t feel like eating. I’m just not hungry. Get back to me when a month becomes six.

@gailcalled Yes, we’re currently both 16, so we still live at home. But my mom is a single parent and her job doesn’t pay very well so she works a lot to try to support our family. We don’t see her very often, face to face, so I’m not sure she’s noticed. Between my job, my brother’s, and hers, we’re so busy all the time that all we get of each other are glances. We don’t even eat dinner together anymore.

@Jeruba I don’t think he’s using any sort of drugs, he doesn’t seem like that sort of person, but as you say, it isn’t the first time such a thing would happen, I’ll ask him about it, see if I can sniff out some answers.

@ARE_you_kidding_me I’ve thought about talking to my mom about that, but to be honest, she seems tired from work all the time and I can’t bring myself to bother her. Our nearest doctors appointment is months away, though, so I’ll talk to her the next chance I get.

@johnpowell I hope it’s only that, but he hasn’t been like this at all before, even previous summers, so I assumed the worst in the sudden change of behavior.

If you are all under the same roof, surely you can find five minutes to chat with her now? Make it your priority. If it is nothing, then no harm done.

If there really is an issue, then you must address it now with your mom, in spite of everyone’s busy schedule. You sound like a loving and caring sister (twin?).

@Mitsukuni You should talk to her ASAP. She may not notice because she is overworked raising you guys and working. It’s tough but she is doing it for you and she should understand your concern. A quick visit to a clinic should be enough to find out if there are larger problems or no reason for concern. It’s important and as young adults it’s easy to brush things off. It shows a lot about you that you are looking into this. This is a common symptom of benign things and very serious things so it’s critical that you take action and make sure it gets checked out.

Urge him to go to the doctor.

@Mitsukuni, there is no “sort” of person who might be using drugs. The number and kind of things that are available beggar the imagination, and the people who wind up with some sort of chemical dependency, without meaning for it to happen, cross every kind of social and economic and cultural barrier.

I don’t mean to plant suspicion or divert attention from something that might be a medical issue—or might be no cause for alarm at all, as @johnpowell says—but it could be a mistake to overlook the possibility.

He should see a doctor.

It doesn’t really matter if he doesn’t “seem” depressed or like he’d be on drugs. It doesn’t matter. Not eating and rapid weight loss are serious things. You don’t want to wait until something bad to happens and be left saying, “I thought he was fine.”

Kudos to you for caring so much about your bro. :)

Something is very unusual if a 16 year old male is barely eating. I agree it can be some of the guesses above, depression, alcohol, drugs, even overheated and some others are hypothyroid, or as you mentioned anorexia, although for now I will go with your premise that it is not anorexia.

If he is at the point he almost passes out he is in clear danger. Anorexics often die from heart failure. Electrolites get all screwy and it causes a heart attack.

Does he seem worried about his appetite or weight when you ask him about it? Is he sleeping more than usual? Does he still enjoy things? Is everything doom and gloom?

@gailcalled I know that sounds simple, but for us, time is always slipping through our fingers and it’s a struggling to talk to one another. Still, I’m going to make a greater effort to talk to my mum about this.

@ARE_you_kidding_me Thank you for saying that last part, I truly feel like I’m making a horrible deal out of nothing, but it just worries me. Also, my family does tend to take such things lightly, but I’m going to try and make time for my mum and I (and possibly my brother, if he’d be comfortable in talking about it) to talk about the problem, because it’s truly worrying me.

@marinelife To be honest, it’s easier said than done, but I’m working on persuading him. I imagine it’ll be smoother if I can talk to my mom about this though.

@Jeruba That’s true, circumstances can happen to anyone. I just never thought of my brother ever using drugs and the idea is foreign to me. I’ll keep this in mind however.

@livelaughlove21 This is true, if you wait too long, the chance to act passes you as well. I don’t want something horrible to happen to him because I second guessed myself. Thank you for you kind words.

@JLeslie He doesn’t seem to care too much about his weight, as long as he isn’t completely obese. I spoke to him about how I noticed he was getting thin, but he brushed me off, so I don’t know if this was him hiding something from me or he truly didn’t notice(he can be more than a little oblivious to the obvious, it’s worrisome sometimes). And contrary to your question, he really sleeps very little. Even if he says he’s tired, he’ll go to bed late and end up waking up early. And he doesn’t seem to be pessimistic, maybe a little sarcastic, but other than that, he’s positive most of the time.

Get it done kiddo, it’s important.

@ARE_you_kidding_me I know, I’ll talk to my mum tomorrow, thank you for your advice. And thank you for taking me seriously, a few of my friends are just brushing me off when I ask them for help.

Please keep us informed.

@snowberry Ah, thank you for being so concerned, I will update as soon as something significant happens!