Hunger as a side effect of medication
November 3, 2014 9:51 AM Subscribe
Is there anything that is known to suppress hunger when it's a side effect of taking medication?
I've been taking a new medication that has increased hunger as one of its side effects (not Ambien), and it seems to come with a loss of resolve, as well. It just seems like a good idea to eat, even if I've just eaten recently. So, I take it before bed, and an hour or two in I have some really strong cravings for foods that are more on the fatty/carbohydrate end of the food spectrum (which seems typical for about 5% of people who take this medication).
I suspect there may not be a blanket answer for all medication, but I'm very open to the opinion of non-medical professionals, personal anecdotal evidence, and pure speculation before I discuss this with my doctor. Thanks for your thoughts.
I've been taking a new medication that has increased hunger as one of its side effects (not Ambien), and it seems to come with a loss of resolve, as well. It just seems like a good idea to eat, even if I've just eaten recently. So, I take it before bed, and an hour or two in I have some really strong cravings for foods that are more on the fatty/carbohydrate end of the food spectrum (which seems typical for about 5% of people who take this medication).
I suspect there may not be a blanket answer for all medication, but I'm very open to the opinion of non-medical professionals, personal anecdotal evidence, and pure speculation before I discuss this with my doctor. Thanks for your thoughts.
Response by poster: I'm open to anything that might have a positive effect on suppressing hunger when it's a byproduct of taking medication.
posted by SpacemanStix at 10:02 AM on November 3, 2014
posted by SpacemanStix at 10:02 AM on November 3, 2014
Eat bulkier, lower glycemic index foods. Lots of leafy greens, for example. (Obviously beware of oversaturating with fatty dressing; best way to dress salad is to lightly coat the bowl beforehand, then add vegetables and toss.)
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 10:05 AM on November 3, 2014
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 10:05 AM on November 3, 2014
So, I take it before bed, and an hour or two in I have some really strong cravings for foods that are more on the fatty/carbohydrate end of the food spectrum (which seems typical for about 5% of people who take this medication).
If you brush your teeth does it stop you from eating before bed? Sometimes that's what I have to resort to.
posted by fiercecupcake at 10:13 AM on November 3, 2014 [1 favorite]
If you brush your teeth does it stop you from eating before bed? Sometimes that's what I have to resort to.
posted by fiercecupcake at 10:13 AM on November 3, 2014 [1 favorite]
Singulair does that to me. Chewing gum helps. I've also had to start asking myself if I'm really hungry or not.
posted by myselfasme at 10:15 AM on November 3, 2014
posted by myselfasme at 10:15 AM on November 3, 2014
The loss of "resolve" might be straight up fatigue, if you're taking the medication before bed.
Assuming there's no reflux issue...have you tried setting up small snacks specifically for this purpose? I know someone who handles something similar by buying individual containers of Greek yogurt, and doesn't eat them at any other time.
posted by gnomeloaf at 10:38 AM on November 3, 2014
Assuming there's no reflux issue...have you tried setting up small snacks specifically for this purpose? I know someone who handles something similar by buying individual containers of Greek yogurt, and doesn't eat them at any other time.
posted by gnomeloaf at 10:38 AM on November 3, 2014
So are you waking up hungry during the night? Or are you taking it a in the early evening and then finding yourself hungry closer to bedtime? If the latter, would taking it right before bed be an option?
posted by nebulawindphone at 10:39 AM on November 3, 2014
posted by nebulawindphone at 10:39 AM on November 3, 2014
I don't know if this is an OK response since it doesn't answer your specific question, but I went through an identical issue resulting in me gaining 30 pounds- ultimately I was forced to switch to a different medication. I probably could have handled the weight gain but being hungry all the time was very distressing. If there are alternative medications available for your condition that's what I would consider.
posted by BuddhaInABucket at 11:47 AM on November 3, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by BuddhaInABucket at 11:47 AM on November 3, 2014 [1 favorite]
topamax and wellbutrin are both known for suppressing appetite - but since they are psych drugs i wouldn't recommend going that route unless you have reason to. when i was on an appetite-increasing med, my solution was to just pound a glass of water and really carefully moderate my behavior.
posted by megan_magnolia at 11:53 AM on November 3, 2014
posted by megan_magnolia at 11:53 AM on November 3, 2014
Prestiq neutered my appetite to a really scary level. Aderall lowered my wife's food desires. St John's wort is said to be effective, sometimes. But you really should try over the counter stuff, preferably that your doctor prescribes.... so, basically, talk to your doctor first.
posted by Jacen at 12:27 PM on November 3, 2014
posted by Jacen at 12:27 PM on November 3, 2014
One option might be to pay less attention to the feelings of hunger. I'm on the No S diet, which means I eat three meals a day, regardless of whether I'm hungry at other times. I also eat only one plate of food at each meal, even if I'm hungry for more. That means I can ignore whether I'm hungry at other times or not. I found this very helpful.
Know that food cravings will not hurt you if you don't give in to them. They will eventually go away, like the thoughts they are. If your metabolism is fairly normal, only eating three meals a day and ignoring feelings of hunger between meals isn't going to hurt you, either (this may not apply if you have diabetes or something like that, IANAD, TINMA). I deal with hunger between meals by drinking water (or another non-caloric beverage) or finding something to distract myself from thinking about food.
There are people who would like you to think that being hungry is an absolute Emergency Red Alert that Must Be Dealt With Right Now. Many of these people are in the business of selling snack foods of some kind. Hmmm, why might they want you to think that you should eat something right away any time you are hungry?
posted by Anne Neville at 12:52 PM on November 3, 2014 [3 favorites]
Know that food cravings will not hurt you if you don't give in to them. They will eventually go away, like the thoughts they are. If your metabolism is fairly normal, only eating three meals a day and ignoring feelings of hunger between meals isn't going to hurt you, either (this may not apply if you have diabetes or something like that, IANAD, TINMA). I deal with hunger between meals by drinking water (or another non-caloric beverage) or finding something to distract myself from thinking about food.
There are people who would like you to think that being hungry is an absolute Emergency Red Alert that Must Be Dealt With Right Now. Many of these people are in the business of selling snack foods of some kind. Hmmm, why might they want you to think that you should eat something right away any time you are hungry?
posted by Anne Neville at 12:52 PM on November 3, 2014 [3 favorites]
I take meds that both increase and decrease appetite, and they don't really cancel each other out. It just makes eating more complicated. I deal with it by trying to eat conservatively early in the day when I'm not feeling hungry, but still making sure I do eat because otherwise I feel terrible and get grumpy and dumb. I do this so that in the evening when the morning meds have worn off and the nightime munch meds kick in, I can eat as much as I feel I need to without feeling guilty about it. But I don't recommend this. It isn't ideal.
Behaviour modification is what it comes down to. If you have to take the medication, you have to change something else. Drinking water and hot beverages, high fiber foods that are low in carbs (or fiber supplementation), and distractions are the best tools I've got. Not keeping foods I like or that are easy to eat in the house helps even more. This worked even before I went low carb, because I've always been too lazy to put on clothes to go get chips in the middle of the night. Try to avoid blood sugar spikes and crashes.
In your case, if it wouldn't interfere with absorbtion of the medication, I'd try having a cup of decaf hot beverage with actual cream and something with a lot of fiber that is very filling and won't cause an insulin spike (like a One Minute Muffin made with mostly flax or coconut flour) either a bit before or after you take the med. If you want something else to eat after a OMM made without almond flour and can actually eat it without feeling sick, then maybe you and your doctor need to have a chat about other options. Or dig deep into dieting websites for hardcore eating management tricks.
(I take a few hungry meds, antihistamines and Singulair and birth control pills and a benzo, but have been on must eat all of the food now meds like Remeron and Zyprexa in the past. Adderall does lessen appetite, but once it wears off the hungry comes crashing back hard every day even the long acting at high dose. And I'd never suggest that anyone take it for anything if they didn't need it, ever. Wellbutrin doesn't affect my appetite either way. Topamax is also not worth it unless you are absolutely desperate and nothing else works for whatever you have, and doesn't always supress the hungry. I deal with the meds I'm on because I'm a tricky snowflake who's out of other options, but I'm luckier than some.)
posted by monopas at 1:00 PM on November 3, 2014 [2 favorites]
Behaviour modification is what it comes down to. If you have to take the medication, you have to change something else. Drinking water and hot beverages, high fiber foods that are low in carbs (or fiber supplementation), and distractions are the best tools I've got. Not keeping foods I like or that are easy to eat in the house helps even more. This worked even before I went low carb, because I've always been too lazy to put on clothes to go get chips in the middle of the night. Try to avoid blood sugar spikes and crashes.
In your case, if it wouldn't interfere with absorbtion of the medication, I'd try having a cup of decaf hot beverage with actual cream and something with a lot of fiber that is very filling and won't cause an insulin spike (like a One Minute Muffin made with mostly flax or coconut flour) either a bit before or after you take the med. If you want something else to eat after a OMM made without almond flour and can actually eat it without feeling sick, then maybe you and your doctor need to have a chat about other options. Or dig deep into dieting websites for hardcore eating management tricks.
(I take a few hungry meds, antihistamines and Singulair and birth control pills and a benzo, but have been on must eat all of the food now meds like Remeron and Zyprexa in the past. Adderall does lessen appetite, but once it wears off the hungry comes crashing back hard every day even the long acting at high dose. And I'd never suggest that anyone take it for anything if they didn't need it, ever. Wellbutrin doesn't affect my appetite either way. Topamax is also not worth it unless you are absolutely desperate and nothing else works for whatever you have, and doesn't always supress the hungry. I deal with the meds I'm on because I'm a tricky snowflake who's out of other options, but I'm luckier than some.)
posted by monopas at 1:00 PM on November 3, 2014 [2 favorites]
If this is something like Seroquel, the answer seems to be basically that you're out of luck, although there are occasional internet mutterings about metformin.
Also, in my experience, even medications that nominally reduce appetite may not actually help. Like an above poster, I found that Pristiq killed my appetite, but the hunger-causing medication I was on (Abilify) overruled that and I was hungry anyway; the Pristiq just made it unpleasant to actually eat the food I couldn't stop thinking about. The constant cravings were worse than the OCD I was on medication for in the first place (the above advice to wait it out made me laugh-sob) and I eventually had to just stop taking it. Hopefully YMMV.
posted by dorque at 1:04 PM on November 3, 2014
Also, in my experience, even medications that nominally reduce appetite may not actually help. Like an above poster, I found that Pristiq killed my appetite, but the hunger-causing medication I was on (Abilify) overruled that and I was hungry anyway; the Pristiq just made it unpleasant to actually eat the food I couldn't stop thinking about. The constant cravings were worse than the OCD I was on medication for in the first place (the above advice to wait it out made me laugh-sob) and I eventually had to just stop taking it. Hopefully YMMV.
posted by dorque at 1:04 PM on November 3, 2014
Having to take a steroidal medication for ~3mo left me craving red meat, super-sized buffet en·trée portions (as a vegetarian this was confounding) ....I was eating twice as much as usual AND waking from dreams of food.
What helped me : healthy recipes for hunger ending like Oatmeal Pancakes top with banana slices. Add chopped fresh apples, grated carrots, coconut, raisins for variety.
Another helpful food choice: bake 5 or 10 sweet potatoes, then purée adding stevia blend (if you want sweet), broth (if you crave 'meaty')...cinnamon, nutmeg, oranges... If you eat meat just bits added in will fill you.
These type foods STAVE OFF hunger and help you not be twice the person you want to be.
posted by Twist at 2:20 PM on November 3, 2014
What helped me : healthy recipes for hunger ending like Oatmeal Pancakes top with banana slices. Add chopped fresh apples, grated carrots, coconut, raisins for variety.
Another helpful food choice: bake 5 or 10 sweet potatoes, then purée adding stevia blend (if you want sweet), broth (if you crave 'meaty')...cinnamon, nutmeg, oranges... If you eat meat just bits added in will fill you.
These type foods STAVE OFF hunger and help you not be twice the person you want to be.
posted by Twist at 2:20 PM on November 3, 2014
This depends so much on the medication. When I took Seroquel, I could be completely full and within an hour or so of taking it, I would be starving. It wasn't just the hunger though. I wanted the carb-iest carbs around, although I would settle for just about anything, including lean cuisine meals that I would never touch otherwise. I referred to it as my "second seroquel dinner." It sucked.
It really didn't matter if I had the most filling meal right before taking it, either. The best thing I could do was damage control, meaning only keeping healthy food around (although this was not always possible since I had roommates. (I'm not someone who eats junk food usually either which just made it extra frustrating.)
Oh, also, I was taking Wellbutrin which can have an appetite suppressant effect, but it didn't seem to help at all with the Seroquel hunger. I did manage to keep a relatively consistent weight, but I've always been on the petite side, and I was smoking a lot of cigarettes, so that probably helped to.
This was one of several reasons I got off that med, but I was using it to deal with insomnia, so it wasn't as much of an issue for me to get off of it. I hope you have better luck with this than I did. I do think your best bet if you want to stay on the med will be harm reduction by making it difficult/impossible to access junk food.
posted by litera scripta manet at 2:49 PM on November 3, 2014
It really didn't matter if I had the most filling meal right before taking it, either. The best thing I could do was damage control, meaning only keeping healthy food around (although this was not always possible since I had roommates. (I'm not someone who eats junk food usually either which just made it extra frustrating.)
Oh, also, I was taking Wellbutrin which can have an appetite suppressant effect, but it didn't seem to help at all with the Seroquel hunger. I did manage to keep a relatively consistent weight, but I've always been on the petite side, and I was smoking a lot of cigarettes, so that probably helped to.
This was one of several reasons I got off that med, but I was using it to deal with insomnia, so it wasn't as much of an issue for me to get off of it. I hope you have better luck with this than I did. I do think your best bet if you want to stay on the med will be harm reduction by making it difficult/impossible to access junk food.
posted by litera scripta manet at 2:49 PM on November 3, 2014
One of the possible side-effects of Wellbutrin is decreased appetite.
posted by Thorzdad at 2:50 PM on November 3, 2014
posted by Thorzdad at 2:50 PM on November 3, 2014
I'm open to anything that might have a positive effect on suppressing hunger when it's a byproduct of taking medication.
I took Advil for about six years. It is known to cause the body to need more of one of the B vitamins (I don't recall which one). When I finally got off of it, I was able to stop taking B vitamin supplements and also stopped craving foods high in B vitamins. As I said recently in a different Ask, I think I lost a lot of weight by focusing on doing an excellent job of meeting my nutritional needs.
So my thought is that you should do some research on whether or not this particular drug is known to cause any specific deficiencies or interfere with absorption of any nutrient in specific. If so, see if a supplement of that specific nutrient will reduce your cravings and help you get this under control.
It is a pretty well known thing that some drugs promote deficiency of specific nutrients. This is hardly unique to Advil. It's an angle you could research.
Best of luck.
posted by Michele in California at 5:33 PM on November 3, 2014
I took Advil for about six years. It is known to cause the body to need more of one of the B vitamins (I don't recall which one). When I finally got off of it, I was able to stop taking B vitamin supplements and also stopped craving foods high in B vitamins. As I said recently in a different Ask, I think I lost a lot of weight by focusing on doing an excellent job of meeting my nutritional needs.
So my thought is that you should do some research on whether or not this particular drug is known to cause any specific deficiencies or interfere with absorption of any nutrient in specific. If so, see if a supplement of that specific nutrient will reduce your cravings and help you get this under control.
It is a pretty well known thing that some drugs promote deficiency of specific nutrients. This is hardly unique to Advil. It's an angle you could research.
Best of luck.
posted by Michele in California at 5:33 PM on November 3, 2014
Wellbutrin and Adderall suppress appetite.
posted by Jacqueline at 6:40 PM on November 3, 2014
posted by Jacqueline at 6:40 PM on November 3, 2014
Dexedrine does a better job of suppressing appetite than Wellbutrin, I assume other stimulants are the same way. I took Dexedrine and Wellbutrin concurrently, when I dropped the Dexedrine I gained 7 lb.
posted by crazycanuck at 5:47 PM on November 4, 2014
posted by crazycanuck at 5:47 PM on November 4, 2014
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by Hermione Granger at 9:59 AM on November 3, 2014