Excessive hunger

Excessive hunger: Introduction

Excessive eating is called "polyphagia" (or hyperphagia) and can be the symptom of numerous conditions. For a variety of mental and emotional conditions that cause excessive eating or binging, see overeating. For conditions causing the feeling that you are full when eating (or causing this sensation too early), see fullness. The list here deals primarily with medical conditions that affect the body's metabolism and cause an increase in the appetite and excessive hunger for food. See also appetite changes or appetite loss if these descriptions are more appropriate. Certain medical conditions causing hunger are extremely serious and any hunger symptoms need prompt professional medical advice for correct diagnosis and treatment.

» Review Causes of Excessive hunger: full list

Causes of Excessive hunger:

The following medical conditions are some of the possible causes of Excessive hunger. There are likely to be other possible causes, so ask your doctor about your symptoms.

• Indigestion - causing eating more to reduce discomfort.
• Some possible causes of abnormal hunger include:
  • Marijuana - a form of cannabis
  • Cannabis
  • Diabetes - usually if undiagnosed or poorly controlled diabetes
  • Diabetic ketoacidosis
  • Hypoglycemia
  • Hypoglycemic attack
  • Graves Disease
  • Mania
  • Bipolar disease - overeating and excessive appetite when in the manic phase.
  • Intestinal worms
  • Tapeworms
  • Hypothalamic disease
  • Certain medications - various medications can stimulate appetite.
• Brain disorder causing increased eating (hyperphagia) include:
  • Encephalitis
  • Brain injury
  • Third ventricle tumor
  • Some brain tumors
  • Chromophobe adenoma
  • Craniopharyngioma (type of Brain cancer)
• See also causes of overeating and appetite changes
• Strenuous exercise
• Recovery from illness
• Hyperthyroidism
• Hypoglycaemia
• Depression
• Hysteria
• Bulimia
• more causes...»

See full list of 50 causes of Excessive hunger

» Review Causes of Excessive hunger: full list

Causes of Types of Excessive hunger:

Review causes of types of Excessive hunger in more specific categories:

• Excessive hunger in children (23 causes)
• more types...»

See full list of 2 types for Excessive hunger

Excessive hunger: Symptom Checker

Listed below are some combinations of symptoms associated with Excessive hunger, as listed in our database. Visit the Symptom Checker, to add and remove symptoms and research your condition.

Symptom Checker

• Excessive hunger: Symptom Checker

Symptom Checker

• Excessive hunger and Digestive symptoms (31 causes)
• Excessive hunger and Appetite changes (26 causes)
• Excessive hunger and Eating symptoms (26 causes)
• Excessive hunger and Food symptoms (26 causes)
• Excessive hunger and Behavioral symptoms (25 causes)
• Excessive hunger and Fatigue (23 causes)
• Excessive hunger and Muscle weakness (23 causes)
• Excessive hunger and Society problems (23 causes)
• Excessive hunger and Muscle symptoms (22 causes)
• Excessive hunger and Nerve symptoms (22 causes)
• Excessive hunger and Personality symptoms (22 causes)
• Excessive hunger and Sensations (22 causes)
• Excessive hunger and Pain (20 causes)
• Excessive hunger and Anxiety (19 causes)
• Excessive hunger and Emotional symptoms (19 causes)
• Excessive hunger and Weakness (19 causes)
• Excessive hunger and Weight loss (18 causes)
• Excessive hunger and Head symptoms (17 causes)
• more...»

See full list of 1906 Symptom Checker combinations related to Excessive hunger

Excessive hunger: Marketplace Products, Discounts & Offers

Products, offers and promotion categories available related to Excessive hunger:

• Digestive Health
• more product offers...»

Causes of General Symptom Types

Research the causes of these more general types of symptom:

• Eating symptoms (1688 causes)
• Appetite changes (1062 causes)
• Digestive symptoms (4279 causes)
• Food symptoms (1656 causes)
• more symptoms...»

Causes of Similar Symptoms to Excessive hunger

Research the causes of these symptoms that are similar to, or related to, the symptom Excessive hunger:

• Food symptoms (1656 causes)
• Weight gain (349 causes)
• Thirst (133 causes)
• Overeating (41 causes)
• Undereating (98 causes)
• Loss of appetite (969 causes)
• Weight loss (1931 causes)
• Thinness (468 causes)
• Cravings (22 causes)
• Indigestion (95 causes)
• Hypoglycemia (215 causes)
• Diabetes mellitus (213 causes)
• Hyperphagia
• Amphetamine abuse
• Depression (517 causes)
• Tapeworm infestation
• more symptoms...»

Diagnostic Guides for Excessive hunger

Medical Books Excerpts Read excertps from published book sections related to Excessive hunger from the following published medical books for more detailed information about Excessive hunger. Free access (no registration): read all online diagnostic book sections about Excessive hunger

Copyright notice for book excerpts: Copyright © 2008 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. All rights reserved.

Excessive hunger: Undiagnosed Conditions

Conditions that are commonly undiagnosed in related areas may include:

• Chronic Digestive Disorders that can remain Undiagnosed:
  • Crohn's Disease -- Undiagnosed
  • Ulcerative Colitis -- Undiagnosed
  • Celiac Disease -- Undiagnosed
  • Heartburn -- Undiagnosed
  • GERD -- Undiagnosed
  • Inflammatory Bowel Disease -- Undiagnosed
  • Irritable Bowel Syndrome -- Undiagnosed
  • Carcinoid Syndrome -- Undiagnosed
  • Pancreatitis -- Undiagnosed
• more undiagnosed conditions...»

Hospitals & Clinics: Excessive hunger

Research extensive quality ratings and patient safety measures for hospitals, clinics and medical facilities in health specialties related to Excessive hunger:

• Digestive Health (Gastroenterology) -- Hospital Quality Ratings
• more quality ratings...»

Research Hospital & Clinic Quality Ratings » »

Excessive hunger: Research Related Doctors & Specialists

• Digestive Health Specialists (Gastroenterology):
  • Gastroenterology (Digestive Specialists)
  • Pediatric Gastroenterology (Child Digestive Health)
• more specialists...»

Other ways to find a doctor, or use doctor, physician and specialist online research services:

• Rate Your Doctor by Taking a Survey Online
• Research Your Doctor
• View Online Patient Surveys from Other Patients of Your Doctor
• Research local doctors and specialists including ratings, affiliations, and sanctions.

Misdiagnosis and Excessive hunger

Chronic digestive conditions often misdiagnosed: When diagnosing chronic symptoms of the digestive tract, there are a variety of conditions that may be misdiagnosed. The best known, irritable bowel syndrome, is over-diagnosed,...read more »

Intestinal bacteria disorder may be hidden cause: One of the lesser known causes of diarrhea is an imbalance of bacterial in the gut, sometimes called intestinal imbalance....read more »

Antibiotics often causes diarrhea: The use of antibiotics are very likely to cause some level of diarrhea in patients. The reason is that antibiotics kill off not only "bad" bacteria, but can also kill the "good" bacteria in the gut. This leads to " digestive...read more »

Food poisoning may actually be an infectious disease: Many people who come down with "stomach symptoms" like diarrhea assume that it's "something I ate" (i.e. food poisoning)....read more »

Mesenteric adenitis misdiagnosed as appendicitis in children: Because appendicitis is one of the more feared conditions for a child with abdominal pain, it can be over-diagnosed (it can, of course, also fail to be diagnosed with fatal effect). One of the most...read more »

Celiac disease often fails to be diagnosed cause of chronic digestive symptoms: One of the most common chronic digestive conditions is celiac disease, a malabsorption disorder with a variety of symptoms...read more »

Chronic digestive diseases hard to diagnose: There is an inherent difficulty in diagnosing the various types of chronic digestive diseases. Some of...read more »

Is your child always hungry?: Type 1 Diabetes also known as Juvenile Diabetes appears during childhood or adolescence and is a chronic...read more »

Read more about Misdiagnosis and Excessive hunger

Excessive hunger: Related Rare Diseases

Rare types of medical conditions and diseases in related medical categories:

• Chronic Digestive Disorders -- Rare Types:
  • Crohn's Disease -- Rare Types
  • Ulcerative Colitis -- Rare Types
  • Celiac Disease -- Rare Types
  • Inflammatory Bowel Disease -- Rare Types
  • Irritable Bowel Syndrome -- Rare Types
  • Carcinoid Syndrome -- Rare Types
  • Pancreatitis -- Rare Types
  • Gallstones -- Rare Types
  • Lactose Intolerance -- Rare Types
• more rare diseases...»

Diagnostic tests for Excessive hunger:

Various tests are used in the diagnosis of Excessive hunger. Some of these are listed below :

• Physical examination
  • Measure body mass index (BMI) i.e. weight in kg/(height in meters) squared
  • Examine for signs of bulimia nervosa - e.g. cardiac arrhythmia, dental decay and swollen salivary glands due to vomiting and dehydration due to diuretic abuse.
  • Examine for visual field defects and papilledema that may be present with pituitary or hypothalamic tumors
  • Examine for signs of Graves disease including look for proptosis (forward displacement of the eyeball), thyroid enlargement, fine tremor, rapid pulse
  • Mental state examination - including appearance, behavior, rate and continuity of speech, mood, affect, thought content, evidence of any hallucinations or abnormal beliefs, orientation to time, place and person, attention and concentration, short-term memory, insight and judgement.
• more tests...»

See full list of 17 diagnostic tests for Excessive hunger

Diagnosis Checklist: Questions your doctor may ask (and why!)

During a consultation, your doctor will use various techniques in their assessment of Excessive hunger. Your doctor may ask several questions when assessing your condition. It is important to remember that your consultation is a two-way process and any extra information you can share with your doctor about your symptoms may help them with their diagnosis. Some of the questions your doctor may ask are listed below:

• How long have you had excessive hunger? - to establish if acute or chronic.
• Are you sleep deprived? - e.g. shift worker, sleep debt, insomnia - may cause excessive hunger.
• What is the age of the person with increased appetite? - e.g. it is normal for pubertal adolescents to have increased appetite.
• Past medical history? - e.g. diabetes, Grave's disease.
• Past psychiatric history? - e.g. bipolar disorder, depression, anxiety, bulimia nervosa.
• more questions...»

See Diagnosis Checklist for Excessive hunger (17 listings)

Diagnosis Checklist: Associated symptoms your doctor may ask about (and why!)

Sometimes, other symptoms may be present and may help your doctor analyse your condition. The symptoms your doctor may ask about (in association with Excessive hunger) may include:

• Excessive thirst, frequent urination and weight loss? - the presence of these symptoms with excessive hunger would suggest either diabetes mellitus or Grave's disease.
• Weight gain? - may suggest an insulinoma, Cushing's disease or Obesity.
• Symptoms of anxiety, depression or other emotional symptoms? - may suggest that excessive hunger is due to bulimia nervosa, hysteria, manic phase of bipolar affective disorder.
• Diarrhea? - suggests disorder may be related to a malabsorption syndrome, intestinal bypass or a gastrointestinal fistula.
• If diarrhea, what is the nature of the stools? - e.g. fatty, pale colored, extremely smelly stools that float in the toilet and are difficult to flush away is called steatorrhea due to excess fat in the stool and are characteristic of malabsorption of nutrients which may be due to celiac disease, chronic pancreatitis, previous gastrectomy and cystic fibrosis.
• more symptoms...»

See Diagnosis Checklist for Excessive hunger (17 listings)

Home Diagnostic Testing and Excessive hunger

Home medical tests possibly related to Excessive hunger:

• Food Allergies & Intolerances: Home Testing:
  • Home Food Allergy Tests
  • Home Food Intolerance Testing
  • Home Water Testing
  • Home Lead Poisoning Tests
  • Home Heavy Metal Poisoning Tests
• Digestive-Related Home Testing:
  • Home Stomach Ulcer Tests
  • Home Colorectal Cancer Test Kits
  • Home Fecal Occult Bleeding Test Kits
• more tests...»

Stories from Users for Excessive hunger

Real-life user stories relating to Excessive hunger:

• Too young for Fibromyalgia
• too young for memory loss
• Gnawing Hunger Pangs!
• Constant, extreme "motion sickness" from ANYTHING, much more
• i feel so ill all the time now!
• Unexplained hunger and faitgue
• Chronic Severe Hunger
• Too sensitive--need help!
• extreme nausea
• Too young for this
• Always hungry?
• How to put on weight?
• I didn't know where to put this...
• Very extreme photophobia
• Misdiagnosed for too long-----
• Always hungry...
• extremely confused
• Too Young For Memory Loss.
• is my son too young for type too
• <>

Symptom specific forums: The following patient stories in our interactive forums and message boards relate to Excessive hunger or relevant symptoms:

• Neurological (Nerves) (606)
  • Could this be MS?
  • Numbness and tingling all over
  • Eye twitch
  • Tingling/numbness in arms/hands/legs/face/head [more symptoms]
  • So many symptoms but no diagnosis...GGRRR
  • More user stories
• Endocrine (Growth and Metabolism) (160)
  • Symptoms of Cushing's - Tests all negative
  • Has anyone been diagnosed with Wilson's Temperature Syndrome and are being treated??
  • I am at my wits end with these symptoms
  • Pitutary tumor
  • I think I have Cushings, can you help?
  • More user stories
• Psychiatric (Mental Health) (359)
  • PLEASE can anyone help my son?!
  • What The F*** Is Rong With Me...please Help
  • Addicted To Stealing
  • My husbands making me sad
  • Heart condition or mental health problem?
  • More user stories

Videos for Excessive hunger

Patient Surveys for Excessive hunger

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Medications or substances causing Excessive hunger:

The following drugs, medications, substances or toxins are some of the possible causes of Excessive hunger as a symptom. Always advise your doctor of any medications or treatments you are using, including prescription, over-the-counter, supplements, herbal or alternative treatments.

• Marijuana - the "munchies" from marijauna intoxication.
• Medications that may stimulate the appetite include:
  • Cortisone
  • Steroids
  • Antibiotics
  • Antidepressants
  • Pain relief medications
• more causes...»

See full list of 305 medications causing Excessive hunger

Drug interactions causing Excessive hunger:

When combined, certain drugs, medications, substances or toxins may react causing Excessive hunger as a symptom. Always advise your doctor of any medications or treatments you are using, including prescription, over-the-counter, supplements, herbal or alternative treatments.

• Accupril (Quinapril) and DiaBeta (Glyburide) interaction
• Accupril (Quinapril) and Glynase (Glyburide) interaction
• Accupril (Quinapril) and Micronase (Glyburide) interaction
• Accupril (Quinapril) and Diabinese (Chlorpropamide) interaction
• Accupril (Quinapril) and Glucotrol (Glipizide) interaction
• Accupril (Quinapril) and Orinase (Tolbutamide) interaction
• Accupril (Quinapril) and Tolinase (Tolazamide) interaction
• Accupril (Quinapril) and Dymelor (Acetohexamide) interaction
• more interactions...»

See full list of 232 drug interactions causing Excessive hunger

Definitions of Excessive hunger:

Ingestion of a greater than optimal quantity of food.
- (Source - Diseases Database)

Organs affected by Excessive hunger:

The list of organs typically affected by Excessive hunger may include, but is not limited to:

• General constitution

Detailed list of causes of Excessive hunger

The list below shows some of the causes of Excessive hunger mentioned in various sources:

• Amphetamine abuse - hunger
• Amphetamine withdrawal - increased appetite
• Anterior pituitary hyperhormonotrophic syndrome - increased appetite
• Anxiety
• Bipolar disease - overeating and excessive appetite when in the manic phase.
• Brain injury
• Bulimia
• more causes...»

See full list of 50 causes of Excessive hunger

How Common are these Causes of Excessive hunger?

This information refers to the general prevalence and incidence of these diseases, not to how likely they are to be the actual cause of Excessive hunger. Of the 50 causes of Excessive hunger that we have listed, we have the following prevalence/incidence information:

• 5 causes are "very common" diseases
• 4 causes are "common" diseases
• 2 causes are "uncommon" diseases
• 0 causes are "rare" diseases
• 0 causes are "very rare" diseases
• 47 causes have no prevalence information.

See the analysis of the prevalence of 50 causes of Excessive hunger

Conditions listing symptoms: Excessive hunger:

The following list of conditions have 'Excessive hunger' or similar listed as a symptom in our database. This computer-generated list may be inaccurate or incomplete. Always seek prompt professional medical advice about the cause of any symptom.

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Causes of Excessive hunger Based on Risk Factors

This information shows analysis of the list of causes of Excessive hunger based on whether certain risk factors apply to the patient: