Hunger and Meal Issues

For starters, I'm a 36 year old female, 5' 5.5", and 117lbs.

I'm having trouble figuring out if I'm normal, and if so, what to do about it. I basically can't go more than 4 hours between meals without feeling hypoglycemic. Though I can remember times in the past where I occasionally went too long between meals and felt that way, it's been an everyday occurrence now for a couple years. It got so bad I bought a glucose meter, but my glucose has always been normal no matter when I take it. Blood tests have also shown it to be normal. As long as I eat regularly and enough, I feel fine. I will say that I've been constantly stressed out for a few years now (prone to anxiety), and my blood tests have shown a slightly elevated WBC (between 11-13) for about 5 years now. Doctors can't explain it, and tests for leukemia are negative. I'm suspicious that I may have an intestinal parasite infection - I've seen things in the stool that resemble worms. An initial stool test showed a negative result, but I read those are highly unreliable. Other options...

Could high metabolism cause this? I walk dogs professionally, and usually hit 10,000 steps a day. Sometimes it's 20,000. That's the only exercise I do. I also inherited skinny genes and have never had an issue with weight, except being underweight and having to gain. My symptoms were way worse when trying to gain about 15 lbs. I felt like I was dealing with extreme hunger which anorexics supposedly deal with during recovery. FYI - I never had an eating disorder. I lost weight because I wasn't tracking my calories while walking so much. A year ago I weighed 104 lbs.

Now that I'm at a healthy weight again, the hunger is more manageable. However, I'm struggling with breakfast. I don't like eating a lot early in the day, but I usually wake up hungry, or get hungry within an hour of waking up. I've tried so many different things for breakfast to make sure that I stay full until lunch. If I have bran cereal or oatmeal, I'm hungry an hour later - and I use whole milk with those. The only thing that seems to satisfy me long enough to make it to lunch, is a breakfast sandwich with meat eggs and cheese. That's not the healthiest option, I realize, but nothing else I eat seems to do the job. I've often had to eat a mid-morning snack, but it's frustrating having to work while being hungry in the morning. I'm also sick of having to eat between meals.

I crave meat and carbs a lot. While gaining weight, I've eaten lots of unhealthy food - burgers, etc. - which worked, but I don't want to give myself a a heart attack. Unfortunately, when the hypoglycemic feelings hit, I need a substantial meal usually to make them go away, and it takes upwards of an hour to start feeling normal after eating. That's why I don't think it's true hypoglycemia. Just taking in some sugar doesn't make me feel better. I have to eat a meal. I've also read that dyspepsia can cause this - I have chronic acid reflux.

Does anyone else have these issues? Is it normal to NEED food every 4 hours? God forbid if I ever was in a situation where I had to go without food for a day or two. I'd pass out. Any thoughts on breakfast ideas? I'm desperate for some food stability...if I could plan healthy, high calories meals instead of resorting to fast food, my stress would decrease.