Gnawing hunger. Scared of having an over-active thyroid. Seriously underweight?

[CorneliusRuperTravis]

Hey guys, I'm afraid I've got myself in another state of worrying yet again. I'm starting to really worry that I have an over-active thyroid. Stupid me for Googling (I know I shouldn't have).

For the past couple of days or so I've felt constantly hungry. Strangely enough the feeling is more in my lower body - just above my navel - as opposed to my actual stomach area. But the feeling is hunger all the same.

I'm 18 years old, male, 6 foot tall and I weigh no more than 8 1/2 stone, which I am told is almost severely underweight for my age and height.

I've never been a big eater all my life, but I DO still eat, and I think my diet itself is pretty healthy. However, I don't tolerate being hungry very well. If I have to wait too long for my next meal I feel very weak, shakey, sick and anxious. I think it is a combination of both anxiety and low blood sugar, but I feel awful regardless.

I'm getting off track here, but basically this constant feeling of hunger is playing with my anxiety. I'll eat one thing, and then have hunger pains the next 5 minutes. It's not dehydration either: my urine is completely clear and I take pretty regular trips to the bathroom.

How does one actually know if they have an over-active thryoid? From what I have read (DAMN YOU GOOGLE) the symptoms often include fast heart beat and symptoms of palpitations nervous system tremor (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tremor) such as of the hands and anxiety (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anxiety).

Now this just sounds like the kind of symptoms I get when my anxiety is high (i.e panic attack symptoms)

HOWEVER, I also went on to read this:

'Hyperthyroidism usually begins slowly. At first, the symptoms may be mistaken for simple nervousness due to stress.' =/

So for all I well know, it could well be the result of an over-active thyroid, and not as I previously thought: just the product of anxiety. :unsure:

I'm going round in circles stressing about this. Can anybody please share their view on this way of thinking? What are the actual chances of me having a thyroid problem, and am I just jumping to conclusions when the reality is something completely harmless?

[CorneliusRuperTravis]

Nobody? :unsure:

[vicky23]

Hi Cornelius,
I have similar issues to you in that I worry about low blood sugar and anxiety etc I'm also underweight and I didn't realise but when the Dr told me I was, I looked into my diet did a calculation roughly based on keeping a dairy of my eating and it turns out I wasn't getting my daily intake of calories. You may think you're eating healthy but do an actual calculation and you might just not be getting enough calories.
Anxiety does mimic a whole load of illnesses so it could well be anxiety and the only way you're going to find out for sure is to go to the Dr's and tell him your symtoms and get a test.
But this really does sound like anxiety and of course having an overthinking type nature you're convincing yourself it's an illness
All the best

[countrygirl]

I worked as an advisor for a thyroid chairity so well informed. The main question I have is have you always been very underweight or have you lost alot of weight either recently or some time ago??? Has your hand writing changed to a shaky scrawl. Are you hot all the time in winter??
Even if you answer yes to all the above its not a problem just pootle off to your Gp and ask for a thryoid function test, you may want to ask for one anyway to put your mind at rest. This is a definitive test for showing if you have an overactive thryoid. Even if you did have an overactive thryoid it is always treatable usually with drugs.

[anthrokid]

Hey Cornelius!

You can go into your gp and get a simple test done if it is something that is worrying you. But also remember that anxiety does use A LOT of energy and sugar stores, so you may find that it is just anxiety making you so hungry and the like. You should look into your diet and keep a food diary. You'll find that some foods do affect you differently, and some will give you les energy, and foods high in sugar will often be used up really quickly and you will get hungry faster. Try eating natural sugars like fruit, and eat a lot of low GI foods like wholemeal products and cereals.

[CorneliusRuperTravis]

Hey guys, thank you for your replies. Much appreciated as always x

Vicky, I'm not sure that it was anxiety to start with. It just happened to notice it all of a sudden on Saturday and it hasn't gone away since, no matter what I eat. However, I think what your saying could possibly be true because the more I dwell on it the worse it feels. Sometimes it changes to a kind of "sickly" feeling and when I touch it I can feel gurgling. I don't know whether this is hunger pangs or just normal digestion...feelings...

Countrygirl, I have pretty much always been thin, since I was young. I started getting noticeably lankier when I hit puberty, and perhaps a little thinner. I don't think my weight has gone down lately. My weight it seems, almost never changes. No matter how much, or indeed WHAT I eat it never goes up. And I hate going hungry so I make sure I don't starve myself, so it doesn't really go down either.

As to the other's, I can be quite sensitive to hot rooms sometimes, but I think that's just the anxiety I have of getting too hot and passing out. It's actually nothing too bad, might make me feel a bit sick if the room is VERY hot and has no fresh air: i.e an office in the middle of summer. Most of the time though, I feel the cold easily, especially in winter. I hate to wrap up a lot because I'm thin. So the answer to your question is probably not. Oh, and my handwriting has ALWAYS been messy, so no change there ^_^

aimee, I don't think I eat a lot of sugary foods. I know that too much of them can cause your blood sugar to crash later on, leaving you feeling tired and hungry. I usually snack on things like fruit, sandwiches and low-sugar grain and cereal bars to keep me going.

I'm going away for a few days, but if the symptom doesn't go away by the time I am back, I think a trip to the GP would be a good idea. I'm just kinda thinking it's a stupid thing to go to the doctor's for, and he'll probably think I am wasting his time. But, better safe than sorry, right? :)

[honeyp1e]

Hi Cornelius,
I have similar issues to you in that I worry about low blood sugar and anxiety etc I'm also underweight and I didn't realise but when the Dr told me I was, I looked into my diet did a calculation roughly based on keeping a dairy of my eating and it turns out I wasn't getting my daily intake of calories. You may think you're eating healthy but do an actual calculation and you might just not be getting enough calories.
Anxiety does mimic a whole load of illnesses so it could well be anxiety and the only way you're going to find out for sure is to go to the Dr's and tell him your symtoms and get a test.
But this really does sound like anxiety and of course having an overthinking type nature you're convincing yourself it's an illness
All the best


how do you no how many calories we should be having ?? i aim for 2000 a day am 28 years old, 5ft4" and weigh just 7st6lb but 4weeks ago i only weighed 5st12lb :D i have a blackberry phone and downloaded my fitness pal and you write in everything your eating and it adds all the cals up etc :winks:

[honeyp1e]

Hey Cornelius!

You can go into your gp and get a simple test done if it is something that is worrying you. But also remember that anxiety does use A LOT of energy and sugar stores, so you may find that it is just anxiety making you so hungry and the like. You should look into your diet and keep a food diary. You'll find that some foods do affect you differently, and some will give you les energy, and foods high in sugar will often be used up really quickly and you will get hungry faster. Try eating natural sugars like fruit, and eat a lot of low GI foods like wholemeal products and cereals.


OMG :ohmy: you have just answered my question?? i was about to reply to this saying i have all the same symptoms ALWAYS feeling hungry even when i have just eaten :weep: so i eat again & again and i feel like am eating all day and this sets of my panic as i have a phobia of vomiting and i think i will over eat and be sick etc anyway i wake up have a bowl of porridge with loads sugar on and then feel hungry (sugar) then i usually have chocolate (sugar) then i have some jam on toast (sugar in jam) anyway what am saying is my diet is high in sugars i just crave them all day & night but when i eat foods like potatoes etc i get full rather quickly and always wondered y ??

[football12345]

I thought I'd make a post in this thread.

I've made threads before about frequent hunger.

I seem to get hungry fast even if I eat a good healthy meal, therefore I eat every 3 hours.

I'm on a pretty strict diet at the moment and I'm going to the gym 4/5 nights a week so I'm really watching my caloric intake. I used to eat quite a lot of junk food, and since I've been on a healthy diet I haven't been feeling hungry as often. But when I do feel hungry I do get the lightheaded/dizzyness/shaking symptoms etc.

I still worry pretty often that I may be suffering from some form of low blood sugar issue or even diabetis. Diabetis is something I've worried about for probabaly the last 3 years, and I seem to be thirsty quite a lot and craving water.

Can any of you relate to this? :(

Cheers