“I am diabetic and I feel very hungry. What can I do?”
I am heavily diabetic and I feel very hungry at frequent intervals. What can I do to control my hunger?
4 Answers
If you are hungry, that is the goal. That means you are probably losing weight. This feeling needs to be embraced. Easy to say.
Depending on your diagnosis, there are several medications that you can try to help you control the appetite. You must discuss the options with your endocrinologist.
Diabetes is a state of metabolic disorder were blood glucose is high due to either Insulin deficiency or Insulin insufficiency. It could be type 1, type 2, or other forms of diabetes. When blood glucose is uncontrolled the symptoms of diabetes can manifest. Symptoms of uncontrolled diabetes could be due to high blood glucose or due to low blood glucose. When blood sugars are high symptoms could be acute or chronic. Symptoms of acute complications include, excessive urination, excessive thirsty, nocturia (waking up at night to urinate) unusual hunger, weight loss, etc. Or may go on to develop diabetes ketoacidosis and coma.
The symptoms of chronic complications are cardiovascular disease, kidney disease, nerve disease, eye disease, etc.
The symptoms of low blood sugars could be moderate or severe. Mild and moderate complications of diabetes could be, unusual hunger, palpitations, shakiness, headache, dizziness abdominal pain, light headedness, etc. Severe complications of hypoglycemia include, stupor, loss of consciousness, and seizures.
To answer your question we have to start with the question of how well your diabetes is controlled. The first step is to control your blood glucose to a reasonable range (blood glucose between 70-140 mg/dl over 50%of the time or HbA1c less than 7.5%). Prevent high or low blood glucose levels. After managing your diabetes well, the next step is to have regular exercise, maintaining ideal weight, eating healthy diet lower stress and sleep well. You should feel better overall and your hunger would be reasonable.
Lower carbohydrate intake, especially fast-acting foods such as soft drinks and sweet. Eat lots of vegetables with each meal and hydrate your self at all times. Eat plenty of vegetables and drink sufficient water before each meal. This will slow absorption of your sugar from the body and you will be less hungry. Limit intake of fruits as they contain a lot of sugars.
You can eat vegetables unlimited. They will fill you up and ease your hunger. Vegetables also lower your blood glucose especially if you eat them before each meal.
The most important thing to do, is to pay attention to your diabetes, exercise regularly, eat healthy, and lower stress.
Talk your doctor about these issues. It is very important that you listen to the advice of your doctor.
Good luck.
The symptoms of chronic complications are cardiovascular disease, kidney disease, nerve disease, eye disease, etc.
The symptoms of low blood sugars could be moderate or severe. Mild and moderate complications of diabetes could be, unusual hunger, palpitations, shakiness, headache, dizziness abdominal pain, light headedness, etc. Severe complications of hypoglycemia include, stupor, loss of consciousness, and seizures.
To answer your question we have to start with the question of how well your diabetes is controlled. The first step is to control your blood glucose to a reasonable range (blood glucose between 70-140 mg/dl over 50%of the time or HbA1c less than 7.5%). Prevent high or low blood glucose levels. After managing your diabetes well, the next step is to have regular exercise, maintaining ideal weight, eating healthy diet lower stress and sleep well. You should feel better overall and your hunger would be reasonable.
Lower carbohydrate intake, especially fast-acting foods such as soft drinks and sweet. Eat lots of vegetables with each meal and hydrate your self at all times. Eat plenty of vegetables and drink sufficient water before each meal. This will slow absorption of your sugar from the body and you will be less hungry. Limit intake of fruits as they contain a lot of sugars.
You can eat vegetables unlimited. They will fill you up and ease your hunger. Vegetables also lower your blood glucose especially if you eat them before each meal.
The most important thing to do, is to pay attention to your diabetes, exercise regularly, eat healthy, and lower stress.
Talk your doctor about these issues. It is very important that you listen to the advice of your doctor.
Good luck.
There are now a number of drugs to help you control your hunger. Talk to your Dr. about the proper choice of drugs. It hard for me to advise you because you did not tell me what you are taking now. Probably one of the best drugs for depressing appetite is a drug from the class of drugs called GLP1 RA. There are now many drugs available in this class. You have probably seen them advertised on TV. Some of these drugs have to be taken daily (Victoza) but several (Trulicity, Ozemka, etc.) are once a week. They are working on a once a month one. They must be taken by injection. I take one of them & the injection is painless. I have lost 25# & decreased my insulin by 25% with this drug. They are working on an oral form of these drugs. There are at least 4 other drugs that can help as well. So see your physician to go over what drug or drugs would be best for you.
