Medicine for head hunger?

[alwaysonadiet 47]

Crazy question. Since head hunger is so real. Is there medicine? An appetite suppressant to help that can be taken? Just wondering if anyone else has thought of this?

[Seela 1,187]

The only "medicine" I know of for head hunger is to go for a walk.

[Busymomof3 181]

My doctor once put me phentermine which is an appetite suppressant. It killed my appetite and I did lose weight. HOWEVER, I was told that phentermine is not given lightly. It can cause heart problems and other bad side effects so they were pretty cautious about who he prescribed it too. The down side here also is that is basically an amphetamine so it can be addictive and they only prescribed it for 3 months. And of course, after I was done taking it, my appetite returned and no more weight loss. This was before I had even started considering my surgery. It's generally given by my doctor for people who need to lose weight in a hurry because they are facing dangerous medical conditions. I'm not an expert but this was my experience. It did cause me some pretty serious dry mouth for a month but it went away.

[gowalking 10,790]

If you could come up with a pill to control head hunger, you'd be rich beyond measure. Yes....you could take speed but as the poster above notes, it's not something you can do long term, nor is it without potentially serious side effects.

You have to learn to find things to occupy yourself when head hunger overtakes you. For me, I find that evenings are the most difficult, so I do my best to make sure I have things to occupy me during those times.

[Butterflyhigh 504]

Head Hunger is psychological not physiological. There is no pill that can change something that is not organic in nature. Anti-depressants affect brain chemicals which make a person depressed. Phentermine affects brain chemicals which tell our bodies we're hungry. Head Hunger is not caused by chemicals that your brain is producing. It's "all in your head" so to speak.

[Kindle 8,667]

Only you can control your head hunger. VSG surgery can provide the "fix" for physical hunger and limiting our quantities, but the real challenge is our mental state. Everyone of us needs to figure out how to deal with our destructive relationship with food, whether the "head hunger" comes from emotional eating, bored eating, stress eating, carb cravings, whatever. Without the mental commitment, any WLS is a waste of time and money.

If appetite suppressant drugs actually worked (without deadly side effects ) we wouldn't need WLS. As for me, I'm 3 months out and only just started to even want to eat. Evenings are the worse, but whenever I get the urge for something, I make myself drink at least 24 oz. by the time I'm done, the urge is usually gone...or it's time to go to bed.

[alwaysonadiet 47]

I think I eat too much than I should. I don't eat enough to make me sick or make anything in comfortable and hurt, but after a Protein Shake, then and hour later some yogurt or cottage cheese then like 1/2 hour later I want a bite of my sons I've cream then I decide I want a small oatmeal with brown sugar and butter. And I just think that's too much. I counted the calories and it's maybe 7-800 but I do t think I should be this hungry.

[alwaysonadiet 47]

Shouldn't be so hungry. I think the Protein is making me more hungry.

[Kindle 8,667]

Are you REALLY hungry, or just head hungry? And acid can also feel like hunger. A couple tbls of Maalox would completely cure my early "Hunger pains". Are you still in soft food/puréed stage? If so, try bean Soups or split pea Soup. I found these to be very filling. Concentrate on high protein/very low carb stuff. The ice cream, oatmeal with brown sugar and sweetened yogurt is just feeding your carb monster and making you more hungry. Cottage cheese, plain Greek yogurt, cheese sticks, puréed tuna fish or chicken salad, hummus, etc. would be more filling options that won't spike your blood sugar and make you feel hungry every hour.

And the biggest thing to realize is that the liquids and soft foods will not fill you up anyways. It passes through your sleeve very quickly. This is the point you need to be mentally strong and stick with the plan. If you are hungry, commit to a 16-20oz Protein drink before snacking on something else. Once I was on regular food, I got very full and stayed full on dense Proteins (chicken, pork, beef, eggs). And no drinking 30-45 min after you eat since that will just flush out your sleeve and leave you feeling hungry again.

[alwaysonadiet 47]

Thank you so much for the tip. I really do think I'm really hungry. I don't think it's head hunger because I can really eat!! I'm 4 weeks out so I can eat soft solids. I haven't eaten meat yet, maybe I should have chicken salad or tuna salad. I do eat a lot of cottage cheese & yogurt. Right now I'm so hungry I could go for a pizza. Only I know it won't go down my sleeve.