No matter how much I eat, I still feel hungry

[Red Squirrel]

Yeah I'm working on coming up with a variety of healthy meals. Though would a nutrient difficiency hit this fast and act this way? Out of all the things I ate this week to try to satisfy my stomac I must have covered pretty much all nutrients I would think. Ate lot of bananas and other fruits and vegetables and had tons of protein, probably lot of carbs, cholesteryl and fats too mind you. But nothing I eat seems to work. Guess at this point I just need to wait till I can call my doctor and get blood work and other tests done. Hopefully the office is open tomorrow.

Just finished a big plate of spaghetti about an hour ago (I never even eat a big meal like that this early) and I'm already starting to feel the starvation feeling again, though I don't really have more appetite. A lot of the stuff I'm finding online where people have this constant starvation they also have an appetite to go with it. Basically my neck tells me I'm full, if that makes sense, but my stomac tells me I'm starving.

This whole situation has also started to make me tired much earlier than normal. I was in bed by like 9:30 last night. I'm never tired that early. But it kinda works out since I'll be starting a set of day shifts which is 7am to 7pm, so even though I'm sick I'll be able to go as I'm not really fever and puking sick just this weird stomac thing.

Tomorrow the grocery stores will be open so I'll have to buy more food, starting to run out in the house. Interestingly I also lost the 5lbs that I gained. Maybe it was mostly water since I've been drinking tons. It has an immediate soothing effect on the stomac as it goes down but does not last long. Come to think of it I'm not peeing as much as I normally would if I drink this much water.

 

[vi edit]

Just throwing this out there...but have you considered depression as possibility?

 

[Mai72]

Yea man, get to a doctor ASAP. I know you said you're going. That's great. It doesn't make sense that you're still hungry even after eating a ton of food. I haven't eaten in 13 hours and I'm not even hungry yet. I took a 200 mg caffeine pill so that's keeping my hunger down.

Our bodies are amazing. It tells us when something is wrong. It gives us subtle hints all the time. The problem is many men have an issue with seeing the doctor. They keep putting it off like they have all the time to fix whatever is ailing them. Then they come down with something that could have been prevented if only it was caught in time. Sadly, this happens to many guys.

Good luck.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Just throwing this out there...but have you considered depression as possibility?

I hope it's not that, but it has crossed my mind. I do fall under some of the symptoms of it. I don't actually feel unhappy though, but depression can be a weird thing, so I can't really rule it out. I also did loose a lot of family this year, 2 people within a week right before Christmas and others months before. I am coping fine with it and accepted the fact and moved on, but maybe subconsciously it's still bothering me?

But normally I can go a while before eating so definitely something is up, and it hit rather suddenly. What sucks is I had a nice stretch of time off I was looking forward to, but because of my stomac I felt too meh to do anything and not to mention had to spend most of my time making meals.

 

[LPCTech]

Sometimes I eat, and my stomach is full, but my mind is hungry, but I cant eat anymore cuz my stomach is full. Is it that? or the opposite?

Do you smoke pot? That could make you feel hungry even when full.

Also, if you work out alot, this could just be normal for you at this stage of life.

But if you saw a doctor and they weren't alarmed, then I would say to just not really worry about it. There was a point in my life where I could just not stop eating and never felt full and everything was fine. When I was about 22 years old. Now I eat very little and am rarely hungry.

 

[Mai72]

Just throwing this out there...but have you considered depression as possibility?

With depression you tend to not eat. I should know because I had depression about 7 years ago. My weight went from 185 to 160 in a matter of months. I'd go thru stretches where I didn't eat. I looked emancipated.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Sometimes I eat, and my stomach is full, but my mind is hungry, but I cant eat anymore cuz my stomach is full. Is it that? or the opposite?

It's actually the opposite, I don't have appetite (after eating enough to satisfy it) but my stomac feels like it wants more food and no matter how much I eat it always feels like it wants more.

No pot (tried it months ago though)

Though right now it seems to be shifting back and forth, at this particular moment it feels more bloated from the food I had, as I normally don't eat this much. But at times it feels like bloated and starving at same time, it's weird. I'm not worried about gaining weight, it's just that this constant feeling is super irritating and almost at the point of being painful. I'll just have to wait and see what the doctor says. I'm hoping they can do an endoscopy right at the office to see what's going on and at least confirm it's not an ulcer or something.

I did start working out, but nothing intensive, and I've worked out before and it never did this. If anything you'd think enough eating would eventually make it stop. I stopped working out for now till this is over though.

 

[LTC8K6]

With depression you tend to not eat. I should know because I had depression about 7 years ago. My weight went from 185 to 160 in a matter of months. I'd go thru stretches where I didn't eat. I looked emancipated.

"emaciated"

 

[Red Squirrel]

Well this sucks there is no opening to see my doctor till 25th, so I'll have to wait. Though it MIGHT be getting better, it's hard to tell and don't want to speak too soon. The latest thing now is that I get tired super early, which is not normal for me. I'm starting to think it's some kind of virus and I'm hoping it just goes away on it's own.

 

[WelshBloke]

 

[Red Squirrel]

Tape worm has crossed my mind actually. I don't think it's that though, but I suppose it's possible that I got it from undercooked chicken in a poutine I had on one of my night shifts before this all started.

Would a tape worm eventually pass with a bowel movement though? Or does it just stay there till it's removed? I kinda hope it's that as it will probably be instant relief as soon as they remove it. Beats the other possible things I found like ulcer, tyroid issue, mental health issue etc.

I'm leaning towards a virus of sorts though. But the ER doctor never even mentioned it could be that, so I don't know.

Had a baconator and fries for breakfast (yeah so much for healthy, but I really wanted something super filling and high cal) and I still kinda feel the burn lingering, though today it really does not seem as bad and it's a different kind of burn, does not really feel like starvation. It feels kinda acidic, like if I huffed hydrochloric or sulfuric acid. The burn feels more like in the lungs than in the stomac. Overall I'd say I do feel better than I did last week, so maybe this issue is slowly going away. Either way once I finally get to see my doctor I'll mention this. Hopefully this will really go away within next few days. Right now the biggest issue is the tiredness, by 8pm I'm done. This will be problematic if it lasts till I start night shifts. Does this sound like something a virus could do?

I have no nausia, no diarea, no vomiting, though. A lot of stuff I found also has those symptoms.

I guess all I can do at this point is wait and see what happens. The ER doc did tell me to go back if I do get nausia though.

Edit: And it's back. I ate at 11am it's only 3:00pm and my stomac feels like I'm starving. Did groceries today so have more snack food in the house so eating bananas and nuts to try to satisfy the stomac. I'll probably make chicken wraps for supper, bought chicken and other stuff to make wraps with. Think I'm going to work out, not like it will make it worse. I had stopped working out thinking this would go away but it did not change much.

Mostly just keeping this updated as a log at this point. My only real answer is to see my doctor and get tests done so I'll just have to wait till the appointment comes up.

 

[LPCTech]

Well, that is 4 hours, Id be starving too.
Get a stool sample taken and analyzed. Full CBC and liver count etc. Cuz, I mean, if you don't feel good, and you think something is wrong, Id get tested till they find something or tell you you're crazy lol

I have a serious intestinal disorder that I take daily medication for and have had 2 surgeries. So I know this kinda stuff can suck. Fortunately I'm almost totally ok now as long as I take my pills.

 

[Vdubchaos]

99.99% of the time, hunger is a symptom of "not enough nutrients that your body needs". How much you eat is irrelevant (When I used to eat junk, I would be hungry within 1 hour of eating it. I would also be miserable. Think of Fast Food as drug dealers, they give you substances that damage your body and force you to keep coming back.)

WHAT you eat is what's relevant.

Think of it as your body's way of telling you. "Give me nutrition/or things I really need".

Few questions for you OP

#1 - are you fit and in shape?
#2 - what is your diet like?

I will tell you right now. if you are not fit/in shape, this means your stomach is larger and takes more to fill.

And #2 is the most important. If you eat junk and crappy food, you get very little nutrients from the food you eat.

#3 - are you eating 3/4 portions of Veggies AND Fruit per day? Portion = size of your fist. So in total that's about 6-8 times a day?

 

[vi edit]

Had a baconator and fries for breakfast (yeah so much for healthy, but I really wanted something super filling and high cal) and I still kinda feel the burn lingering, though today it really does not seem as bad and it's a different kind of burn, does not really feel like starvation. It feels kinda acidic, like if I huffed hydrochloric or sulfuric acid. The burn feels more like in the lungs than in the stomac. Overall I'd say I do feel better than I did last week, so maybe this issue is slowly going away. Either way once I finally get to see my doctor I'll mention this. Hopefully this will really go away within next few days. Right now the biggest issue is the tiredness, by 8pm I'm done. This will be problematic if it lasts till I start night shifts. Does this sound like something a virus could do?

Ummm, did they check for ulcers? It's possible that an ulcer could be misrepresenting has hunger pangs. That and reflux could explain a lot of the things you just described.

 

[Red Squirrel]

I'm still waiting to see a doctor unfortunately, the closest appointment is the 25th. :\ ER doctor did not do much, just told me to go see my family doctor, he did not feel it was anything that pressing after he confirmed it was not diabetes.

Diet wise, I'm actually in the process of trying to eat better. The hardest part is trying to come up with enough ideas for easy to make healthy meals. So it's still a work in progress but been eating lot of chicken, beef stew, steamed frozen veggies like brocoli, and mixes, stir fry, spaghetti tuna/salmon (mostly salmon, as I've been told it has less mercury). Lot of nuts too, like cashews, peanuts, and almonds. I more or less eat those instead of potato chips, but still have the occasional potato chips, chocolate bar etc and fast food, but I've greatly cut down in say, the past month or so. Lots of beans as well, since it's a good source of fibre, and something quick and easy to make if I really can't think of something else to make.

I started working out as well, but still in fairly early stages, since I work shifts I don't really have a set schedule, I basically try to work out every 2 days when I'm off. But when this thing started I did not work out because I figured I'd just starve my body even more. I did end up working out once just to see what happens/if I have the energy, and the work out went fine. Doing the 5x5 program, so squats, bench press, overhead press, deadlift, and rows. (split in workout A and B, with squats being first workout for both)

When I was at the prime of eating like crap I had no issues with feeling full though. Especially if I ate something like a baconator combo or a poutine, I was good for pretty much the whole day. That's another bad habit I've been working on, eating more meals instead of just one. Often times I would only have one big meal. Less so now. I'm never hungry in the morning so I typically eat lunch and supper.

In general I'd say nutrition wise I've been slowly getting better, so it's odd that something like this would hit so suddenly.

Stomac ulcer seems to be what makes sense but I'm really hoping it's not that. Everybody I know who's had one ended up hospitalized and eventually died from it. But it was older people who had other health issues as well. Is there anything I can do about it myself, like anything I should/should not eat? If there's anything I can do I may as well try until I can finally see my doctor. If it's not that, great, but if it is, at least it might keep it less bad?

The hunger feeling seems to be mostly gone now, I only feel it when I actually do need to eat. But a new thing now is this weird burning feeling, I'd describe it as if you huff a potent chemical like highly concentrated acid, you get a bit of a burn in the lungs, it feels like that. If I take a deep breath I can really feel it.

 

[vi edit]

Yeah ulcers are definitely something that are more common with older people and those who drink and smoke heavily. But the symptoms sort of match up a lot. If you are refluxing badly you can actually get some of it back into your lungs.

Read up on GERD:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2714564/

 

[Red Squirrel]

That sounds scary... but that kinda does describe some of the feelings I have.

Right now the starvation thing seems to be gone, it's moved more to my lungs. Burning sensation when breathing. Food somewhat helps. Water too.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Just an update. The starvation feeling is still gone, so that's good. The burning sensation in my lungs is still there but is more feint now. My Dr. Appointment is this week, so hopefully I can go on some kind of test. I don't want to just dismiss it even though it's almost gone.

 

[Red Squirrel]

So I saw my doctor today, this issue is gone now, but based on what I told him he said it was probably heart burn. Told me some of the things that cause it and to try to avoid them for a while to see if it gets better. I'd say I'm at 95% now it's almost mostly gone. He prescribed me some heart burn medication just in case, so I can go pick it up at the pharmacy any time I feel I might need it.

He brought up ulcer and diabetes but given I was not having any other symptoms and that my blood sugar was tested then he figured it's not that, and I am feeling much better now as well. Just had to wait till it passes I guess. Hopefully this never happens again though, that was a brutal couple weeks. I guess not as bad as having a cold or flu but still very unpleasant. The hard part is going to try cutting down on coffee. I typically have at least one extra large Tim's every day. (probably equivalent to like 3 mugs)