Hello all,

I got banded last Thursday (9/1), and in the last day or so, I have been starting to feel hunger pains. I know that's not abnormal in and of itself, but they are *really* weird hunger pains.

Basically, I start to feel a little hungry - generally 2-3 hours after I last ate - and if I don't eat something in the next 20-30 min after that starts, it progresses really rapidly to extreme hunger that is verging on nausea... that then becomes heartburning and crampy. A couple bites of Soup or yogurt... maybe an ounce or 2 (still on the liquid diet) quiets it up really quickly, but the extremity of my reaction is concerning me. That was never how I was before banding... I was the person who would go all day without eating and then binge eat like crazy after work. Now on the one hand, that's a habit I have been working hard to change, but... feeling physically sick every time I start getting hungry is a bit extreme. Is that normal? Should I be concerned?

I'm 5 weeks out and I still get nauseated if I don't eat when I'm hungry. And in the beginning my hunger pains were intense! My doctor said to think of it like I have the stomach of a newborn. When babies get hungry they cry because their hunger is so intense. And just like a baby we start with fluids then slowly progress to solids. I never thought of it like that.

Its not uncommon to feel nausea when you hungry because your blood sugar has probably dropped tremendously. Dont wait until you get to that point eat before this happens

Whew! I feel better knowing that it is not abnormal, and the baby analogy makes a lot of sense. It was just shocking to me. Especially because I had thought that I would be able to go more than 2-3 hours between meals. Maybe that will be better as I am healing... right now, 4-6oz has me filled up, and I guess it doesn't last very long.

Thanks!!

Early on hunger felt similar to that for me too - no longer an almost pleasant emptiness and rumbling (pleasant because satisfying it was just round the corner) but crampy and painful.

Nowadays (six years out), I will get mild hunger that feels like ordinary tummy growling, but if I dont eat and I get really hungry, I start to get really bad heartburn. Its the only time I get heartburn with my band. Once that's happened, eating can actually be unpleasant - acidy and painful, so I try to avoid it. Which, given I've always been a strict 3 meals, no Snacks kinda eater since banding, is not always easy, coz I do tend to go long periods without eating.

I have been trying to keep it to things like ... a protein shake or a glass of juice between meals. I'm not a big snacker either, but I have been snacking in the last couple days because the painful heartburn + nausea is just terrifying.

I got my band on 9/9, had intense hunger pain in the hospital and now at home! A bottle of water and tea crustal lite with a few crackers has helped me. But they do keep me up at night!!! I hate it! Thought I wasn't supposed to feel hungry?