Abnormally High Hunger Again!

[CGally81]

Okay, when I discovered gluten was the cause of seemingly all of my problems, I went gluten-free, and within days, was ravenously hungry ALL the time, taking months to finally get down to almost normal.

Then I discovered that milk ingredients were messing with me, causing the same symptoms (to a lesser extent, but they were gradually getting worse), so I went casein-free. Again, my hunger shot WAY up, and it was horrible. Within about 2 months, it was within a much more manageable, almost normal level, and months after that, I began to feel great.

Well, about a month and a half ago, I heard about the health benefits of fish oil. So I decided to take some. "Some" being 4.5g a day, along with over 1g of Omega-3 acid from a fortified brand of peanut butter. I know, not smart. During that time, my appetite seemed somewhat reduced, and I was eating from 1900-2350 calories a day. Within weeks, I was having difficulty focusing, headaches, random fatigue, random warm forehead, and feelings of air rushing to the top of my head (difficult to describe, but much worse than it sounds). I stopped both the fish oil and the peanut butter brand, and the symptoms got better, but within a few days, my hunger shot up rapidly.

I'm now eating between 2800-3600 calories a day. There are times when it is better, and times when it feels like I'm regressing. A few weeks ago, though, I had frequent moments of going out of focus and some nasty headaches. But the hunger is still there and horrible. And the warm head stuff is starting to come back.

What caused it this time? The fish oil? Am I super-sensitive to Omega-3 somehow? I added Larabars to my diet, and some of those brag that they have Omega-3 acids in them (though mixed with Omega-6, which from what I hear reduces its side effects for those who have problems with it supposedly).

Anyone go through a situation that's anything like mine?

[missy'smom]

Have you had your blood sugar checked?

[vbecton]

Your situation sounds like mine. I eat nearly 4000 calories per day and feel (most of the time) like I'm being starved alive. I have good days, but even those I don't eat much less than 2500 calories.

I've had low blood sugar problems my whole life. I went gluten free 4 months ago and they seemed to resolve. Now, it's coming back. My diet is clean with whole foods.

My doctor is in the process of checking me for multiple issues, one being my pancreas. I've recently noticed undigested foods in my stool. I was just treated for SIBO, so that helped my hunger just slightly. Has your pancreas been checked out? I just had a fat stain stool test and mine came back with high split cell fats, so I'm not absorbing. Malabsorption at its finest. Next, I'll be doing a 3 day stool test to measure overall fat dumping (literally). That will give clues as to how my pancreas is performing. Maybe you have the same issue?

Sorry I can't give much advice, but I do understand. It's a pain eating like a pro-sumo wrestler full-time!

[CGally81]

My fasting blood sugar is slightly high. (it's like 106 - normal range being something lke 65-99, diabetic range being 125+, I'm pretty sure)

But I'd had normal amounts of hunger for the past few months before this fish oil nonsense, and the sudden massive rise in hunger after I stopped the fish oil (the fish oil was causing horrible side effects that may sound totally random, like getting a warm forehead and warm back of the neck, feeling like all the air rushed to my forehead, having difficulty concentrating, and being randomly fatigued).

Some of these symptoms persist to a much milder extent, a month after having stopped the fish oil.

My doctor now wants me to see a neurologist. I'm autistic, and I already know there's a link between autism and celiac, and autism and food intolerances in general. If I have some neurological problem, that shouldn't surprise me. It might explain some of this nonsense. The symptoms are so seemingly random and unrelated, but stuff like headaches, warm head, other weird feelings in my head - it does sound like it might be neurological.

I'm hoping the neurologist discovers something. I've come to absolutely hate food, thanks to this gluten and casein and fish oil and random massive increases in hunger nonsense.

Oh yeah, I had a blood test for things relating to my thyroid - I think T3, T4 and TSH - and they came out normal. So the neurologist is looking like my best bet.

[ravenwoodglass]

Does that fish oil contain soy? I have found many do and I can't take them because of that. If you have a soy intolerance perhaps your elimination of it factors into the increased hunger like when you quit the wheat and dairy.

[CGally81]

The fish oil was Carlson's brand, and no soy was listed as an ingredient.

I found a website where a ton of people listed reactions to fish oil, so I'm far from alone, even if strange reactions are largely unknown.

[CGally81]

I'm wondering now if I have candida. Because I have more than just abnormally high hunger. I had the weird symptoms after taking the fish oil, like pressure in the head, random fatigue, and so on, but I have some random fatigue now, random headaches, difficulty concentrating at times, and other stuff. Eating only 50 calories of baby carrots somehow seemed to give me a bit of energy, even though 50 calories is nothing. So I really wonder if something very strange is going on.

I'm going to see a neurologist Tuesday, but I also plan to mention candida to her as well, and I'm going to be bringing a written list of all my symptoms. I want this nonsense out of my life and to get back to normal. The feeling I had when bike riding today was wonderful, and I want to feel like that more often, rather than like I do now.