Hunger as the only symptom of reactive hypoglycemia ?

oat_bran
oat_bran Posts: 370 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I've been struggling with inexplicable streaks of hunger for years and recently, I stumbled upon an article of reactive hypoglycemia and it sounds a lot like what I experience except I don't seem to get any other symptoms besides hunger (no dizziness, lightheadiness or shakiness). Anyone here has reactive hypoglycemia with hunger as the only symptom?

It comes in strikes that can last a few days or sometimes a few weeks. It comes about an hour or so after eating a decent sized meal, one with plenty of fiber, fat and protein, the same that usually keeps me full for hours. Except that when it starts, I feel hungry again, I feel a nagging, gnawing, almost painful kind of hunger, while at the same time still feel food in my stomach if that makes any sense? And when this hunger hits, I sometimes find it almost impossible to feel satiated anymore, no matter how much I eat.

What make me think it might be hypoglycemia is that I noticed that eating small (100-150cal) small-volume mixed macro snacks every 1,5-2 hours instead of actual meals seems to help. I actually feel satiated after eating that snack (even if only for an 1-1,5hours and I feel physically better somehow (more energy and alertness). These snacks must have some carbs (or the satiation never comes), but it looks like if it has too many I get that hungry feeling again (over 15g per snack seems like the limit for me). It doesn't always work 100% but maybe I just haven't nailed down the right macro ratio yet.

My theory is that my body overproduces insulin for some reason during these periods (might be menstrual cycle-related as there seems to be some correlation) so my blood sugar drops after a meal, but when I eat more (especially the high protein or high fiber snacks) it just takes too long for it to enter my blood stream to raise blood sugar, especially if there's already food in my stomach, hence the continuous hungry feeling. And maybe small snacks work because they have too little carbs to cause too much insulin being released while at the same time passing the stomach quickly and not preventing the next dose of carbs from being absorbed? This might also explain why simply eating very low carb doesn't seem to work. I've read that in some people who start eating very low-carb, the body keeps producing too much insulin which leads to low blood sugar while the protein in their meals takes too long to break down and be converted to glucose...

Reactive hypoglycemia seems like a controversial issue. There isn't a ton of information online. And apparently, it's really hard to diagnose. I started thinking about getting myself a glucometer to check my blood sugar constantly to see if there's any correlation between the hunger and my blood sugar levels, but I've heard they are not super reliable...

(If anyone's interested I am 134lbs, 5'2'', 30 yo female, eat at maintenance most of the time or even over, at roughly 40%carbs/30%protein/30%fat. Also doctors haven't given me any helpful advice so far)

Replies

  • nooboots
    nooboots Posts: 480 Member
    Is it indigestion?
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,419 Member
    I know the feeling but I've stopped trying to figure it out.

    Good luck finding answers. I just eat. I've been at maintenance for a lot of years and I don't know the answer other than that. It is right after eating so I try to just tell myself, "You've eaten enough. This will pass." and it usually does, either in minutes, hours or days. :lol:

    Do you ever do a big carb day? That seems to help me "reset" in some way. Sort of a one or two day refeed? I do that when I've been having repeated days of that hunger-after-eating. Usually that works.
  • oat_bran
    oat_bran Posts: 370 Member
    bjkoziara wrote: »
    I've been diagnosed with RH and this doesn't sound at all like what I go through. Typically the only way it affects me is if I have a high simple carb or high sugar breakfast without enough protein and fat to balance it out, my sugar crashes and becomes dangerously low. At that point I need to eat before I pass out. I get shaky, cold sweats, etc. It only happens when I have an otherwise empty stomach (breakfast).

    I see. Yes, indeed it doesn't sound like what I experience. I get this even after eating very balanced meals high in protein, fiber and fat. And no other pronounced symptoms aside from hunger...
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 14,254 Member
    How close are your long term maintenance calories? Does your weight fluctuate? How big a zone? Are any of these effects associated with hormonal cycles? Are you maintaining towards the "almost losing" side or towards the "almost gaining" side? Your description sounds almost like a potentially long term under-eater in need of an occasional re-feed to perk up!!!
  • chelny
    chelny Posts: 179 Member
    This kinda sounds to me like it could be insulin resistance or diabetes. Just throwing it out there as a possibility.

    “One symptom can be extreme hunger: Even after you eat, you may still feel very hungry. That’s because your muscles aren’t getting the energy they need from the food; your body’s insulin resistance keeps glucose from entering the muscle and providing energy. Therefore, the muscles and other tissues send a “hunger” message, trying to get more energy into the body.”
    -from endocrineweb.com
  • rheddmobile
    rheddmobile Posts: 6,840 Member
    It also sounds like insulin resistance to me. I’m a type 2 diabetic and what you are imagining isn’t a thing that happens - your blood glucose can’t remain low for weeks even when you eat.

    However, you can be constantly hungry because your body doesn’t metabolize carbs properly. Before I was diagnosed I would eat whole bags of candy and never feel full, because it wasn’t reaching my cells in the form of energy, due to insulin resistance.

    The first step is to see a doctor and get an a1c, and possibly some other checks. A home glucometer can be very reliable depending on the brand, but that’s not what you need, since you don’t have an understanding of what different readings mean for you or what to do about them. See a real doctor. If getting to a doctor is a problem due to funds, most areas have resources for free or reduced cost diabetes checks and management.
  • New_Heavens_Earth
    New_Heavens_Earth Posts: 610 Member
    Did you see a doctor? Might be something you should look into.

    My symptoms are agitation, nervousness, light headedness, dizziness, all which happen without the hunger stage. Last episode was this morning after an hour of fasted cardio and weights.
  • NovusDies
    NovusDies Posts: 8,940 Member
    bjkoziara wrote: »
    I've been diagnosed with RH and this doesn't sound at all like what I go through. Typically the only way it affects me is if I have a high simple carb or high sugar breakfast without enough protein and fat to balance it out, my sugar crashes and becomes dangerously low. At that point I need to eat before I pass out. I get shaky, cold sweats, etc. It only happens when I have an otherwise empty stomach (breakfast).

    Agreed. RH is primarily a low blood sugar event after eating the wrong macro combination. It is unmistakable. I have to find a place to sit down pretty much right away.

    Hunger for me is secondary. Usually if I have an event I am ravenous the rest of the day.

    This requires a doctors diagnosis. Mine was discovered during a glucose tolerance test.
  • oat_bran
    oat_bran Posts: 370 Member
    PAV8888 wrote: »
    How close are your long term maintenance calories? Does your weight fluctuate? How big a zone? Are any of these effects associated with hormonal cycles? Are you maintaining towards the "almost losing" side or towards the "almost gaining" side? Your description sounds almost like a potentially long term under-eater in need of an occasional re-feed to perk up!!!

    I was trying to lose very slowly before (200-250 cals average deficit), but since these hunger streaks became more frequent and eventually almost non-stop since about almost 2 month, I pretty much gave up on weight loss for the moment and I'm just trying no too gain actually. I still have a good idea about my TDEE though due to my fitbit (and I know it's estimates are very accurate due to tracking my weight changes on a spreadsheet for a year). I haven't had a single day with a deficit over 500 in months, and before that my deficit was very reasonable, 250 cals or so with lots of breaks for maintenance and lately I haven't even had a day with any deficit at all. I stopped weighing myself to avoid any extra anxiety but I can clearly see that I'm actually gaining at the moment (judging by the clothes and the mirror).

    I'm having a hard time making conclusions about the association of these hunger strikes with menstrual cycle since I was on a pill for a very long time and went off of it a few months back so my hormones seem out of whack at the moment (which technically could explain why the hunger became almost constant instead of coming in short streaks), but there seems to be a correlation.

    I've had lot of days where I've eaten way over my TDEE which tons of carbs and it didn't help at all. So I really really doubt the issue is undereating...
  • oat_bran
    oat_bran Posts: 370 Member
    edited July 2019
    chelny wrote: »
    This kinda sounds to me like it could be insulin resistance or diabetes. Just throwing it out there as a possibility.

    “One symptom can be extreme hunger: Even after you eat, you may still feel very hungry. That’s because your muscles aren’t getting the energy they need from the food; your body’s insulin resistance keeps glucose from entering the muscle and providing energy. Therefore, the muscles and other tissues send a “hunger” message, trying to get more energy into the body.”
    -from endocrineweb.com
    rheddmobile wrote: »
    It also sounds like insulin resistance to me. I’m a type 2 diabetic and what you are imagining isn’t a thing that happens - your blood glucose can’t remain low for weeks even when you eat.

    However, you can be constantly hungry because your body doesn’t metabolize carbs properly. Before I was diagnosed I would eat whole bags of candy and never feel full, because it wasn’t reaching my cells in the form of energy, due to insulin resistance.

    The first step is to see a doctor and get an a1c, and possibly some other checks. A home glucometer can be very reliable depending on the brand, but that’s not what you need, since you don’t have an understanding of what different readings mean for you or what to do about them. See a real doctor. If getting to a doctor is a problem due to funds, most areas have resources for free or reduced cost diabetes checks and management.
    New_Heavens_Earth wrote: »
    Did you see a doctor? Might be something you should look into.

    My symptoms are agitation, nervousness, light headedness, dizziness, all which happen without the hunger stage. Last episode was this morning after an hour of fasted cardio and weights.

    Hmmm, I thought about diabetes. But since there's no history of diabetes in my family, I'm not obese and never was, and I eat very healthy generally, not much processed sugar and am very active, I kinda ruled it out. And my blood sugar was always normal every time it was tested. I also had some kind of diabetes test (I think it was the A1C one) a couple of years ago, which was already after these hunger episodes started. And it was negative. I haven't had a glucose tolerance test though since I was a child so maybe I should ask my doctor for it.

    So far, the doctors didn't seem to take me seriously and mostly just gave me some useless advice about eating frequent meals with lots of fiber and protein and avoid sugar (which I do already).

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