RE: Medication and binge eating

[Guest guest]

Hi Fiona,

I'm really sorry to hear what your partner is going through, as well as what you are going through as a result. I think it's really important that anything he is trying for dealing with the appetite fluctuations is cleared with his doctor. We aren't medical professionals here and what he is experiencing may be emotional hunger and physical hunger due to the medication, but trying to deal with this through intuitive eating isn't really practical. I think it benefits anyone to be more mindful of hunger and fullness and also be in touch with emotions and other triggers, but there are other factors in this case to take into consideration that may really interfere with trying to eat intuitively. Do you think his doctor could give him a referral to a registered dietician who would have more experience in this area? I really encourage you to take advantage of any kind of help you can get from medical professionals that have experience with your partner's condition as well as the medication. Prednisone is notorious for causing extreme fluctuations in appetite so I would imagine there is some kind of approach for dealing with it.

The protein suggestion is a good one because protein helps in keeping blood sugar stable. The only thing I could suggest is instead of him eating only protein for breakfast, have a combination of protein and carbohydrate. Carbs are especially important for maintaining energy and having protein with it keeps you from having a blood sugar crash that could happen eating carbs alone.

I'm sorry I can't be more helpful but this is very much beyond my scope of practice and really something that needs to be addressed with the doctor. I hope he can find a solution for this and that he gets better soon.

Thanks!GillianGillian Hood-son, MS, ACSM

Get your report, "The 6 Steps to Guilt-Fr*e Eating" at http://www.HealthierOutcomes.com Follow me on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/gillianhood

From: IntuitiveEating_Support [mailto:IntuitiveEating_Support ] On Behalf Of fiona_the_aussieSent: Saturday, April 03, 2010 6:35 PMTo: IntuitiveEating_Support Subject: Medication and binge eating

I hope someone on here can help with this issue.My partner is on prednisone and having chemotherapy for a rare autoimmune disease. The meds have a side effect of massively increased appetite and weight gain. He gets frequent episodes of ravenous hunger and eats massive amounts - a loaf of bread, a bag of hot cross buns, then a few helpings of dessert ... and that is in the middle of the night.This is really upsetting for him and he needs help on how to deal with it. This is not natural hunger but perhaps induced by blood sugar fluctuations - it sounds like hypoglycemia to me.Both the doctor and I suggested eating more protein and having protein snacks but this isn't controlling the cravings. When he had a protein only breakfast he became angry, which is not like him at all.Being out of control like this is scaring him and me, plus it has the added problem that my own stash of food that I am trying to legalise keeps disappearing. Not to mention the food budget!Is there any way to deal with this using intuitive eating? Have others had to deal with hypoglycemia? I don't think "legalising" this kind of eating is helping.Fiona