Phantom hunger pains - how did you deal with it?

[gal friday 176]

I've spent 13.5 months trying to figure out why eating made me ravenously hungry. I knew my reflux was related, it became very severe after the surgery (I'm on the max dose of protonix, a double dose of zantac, and also take carafate 3x day). I rarely get heartburn, but at lunch or dinner I get hunger pains so severe that inducing vomiting is the only way to relieve them. I have never before experienced hunger like this, not even when I was in labor with my son and had no food or Water for 40+ hours. I rely on saltines and/or vomiting to manage the experience (eating Protein first means at least that stays down). It doesn't happen every meal or even every day (thank god), and my mental state plays a part (I'm bipolar and have OCD, and bad days bring out the hunger pains). It used to be that I would throw up 2-3 times to get the agony to go away (it is very agonizing), but with the addition of the Carafate, that hasn't happened in months. Phantom hunger pains are a documented phenomena, and I know that's what it is because 1) it happens even when I am full and 2) the hunger is coming from where my stomach used to be, not where it is currently.

It has taken me 13.5 months to figure out exactly what this is. My therapist (who I see weekly for severe PTSD) was the one who figured it out). At my session the other day, she said that it sounded just like phantom limbs. A quick google search when I got home and I found tons of post-sleeve patients who had it!!!

But nobody has had it more than a few months after surgery. I'm guessing it's still happening because my reflux is so bad. And it makes perfect sense - of course saltines help, they're soda crackers and neutralize stomach acids!!! (But they add carbs and calories, so I hate hate HATE that I have to eat them). Milk and cheese help too - they coat my stomach! (But again with the calories).

I FINALLY HAVE AN ANSWER!!!!!

So now, I move on to what to do. So far I've read about people having a few antacids at the end of a meal. Does anyone else have any suggestions?

[BLERDgirl 6,417]

I would go for the milk and cheese. Yeah it's calories, but I doubt you are eating a crazy amount.

[gal friday 176]

I'd like to find a way of managing it without food. The calories really can add up. I'd also like to not have to force myself to vomit to get relief when it's bad. I heard that gaviscon after meals can help. I'm wondering if there are any other tricks people have figured out. I've talked about this with my doctor's office (before I had a name for what was happening), my PA (who is useless) has never heard of these symptoms so she blames it on the reflux and tell me to see my GE, he says it's the surgery and to talk to my surgical PA.

I haven't gained any weight dealing with this but I suspect it is why my weight loss has stalled. I lose a few pounds, but can't keep them off longer than a week.

[BLERDgirl 6,417]

Exactly how much food do you have to eat? Are we talking a glass of milk and some string cheese?

[gal friday 176]

It can vary. Now, most of the time, I have vomited up most of my meal prior to consuming something, so it is replacing calories (thankfully, Protein usually stays down, and other than anemia, my malnutrition panels come back great). I used to have one glass of milk, but when I switched from 1% to skim, that stopped working. A few ounces of yogurt will work too, but again, it has to contain some fat. So I switched to saltines. At maximum, it's maybe 10 saltines per day, although that's not the norm. But since my weight loss has stalled, I'm wondering if the nutritional content is a factor - saltines are empty, useless calories. Do you think switching back to low fat milk/yogurt/cheese would be better than saltines? I'm beginning to think so.

I've also been just eating more carbs in general, because they don't trigger the phantom hunger. In addition, if I eat out (at a family meal, those are weekly, or just on the go), the phantom hunger is REALLY bad - I can't carry my carafate around since it is liquid (trust me, I've tried). But I hear that Gaviscon, which functions similarly to Carafate, comes in tablets I could keep in my purse.

So now that I know what is going on (and psychologically speaking, knowing really is half the battle), I'm hoping I can use tricks to keep the hunger from happening (and it really is severe and miserable). I can go back to less-carby meals. Do you think lowfat dairy is the better option? I just need a little kick in the metabolism and then I can start losing again - and keeping it off.