I keep getting hunger headaches

[soos_mite_ah]

I'm studying abroad  rn and I noticed that ever since I got here I'm much more suceptible to hunger headaches. I feel like I'm eating the same volume of food so as a result I'm not physically hungry, but I keep finding myself being dizzy and having a headache in between meals. I know these are hunger headaches because after I eat a meal, I feel much better. Granted I'm walking everywhere and I have to walk up and down 4 flights of stairs everytime I want to go to my room because my building doesn't have elevators so I have increased my physical activity. 

My guess is that even though I'm eating the same amount of food as far as volume goes, the food I'm eating is lower in caloric density. I noticed that when I have been going to restaurants around here, the calories are lower than what I'm used to. I think it's because the U.S. has a bunch of shit pumped into the food that are really bad for you since there are no regulations and that increases the calories (don't quote me, I don't know how calories are created or how they are calculated lol). 

Basically, the way I normally eat at home is that I would have 2-3 meals that are 600-900 calories and a small snack if I feel like it. But here, unless I eat 3 meals and a couple of snacks, I will end up with a headache.  My guess is that because of the lower calories, I'm probably unintentionally underfueling my body. 

Also, I'm concerned about all of these headaches being a symptom of a larger issue with my health. What does this mean for my overall blood sugar? How do I deal with this going forward? What's happening to me lol? 

Bonus question: I used to eat really restrictively (like 600-1400 calories a day) and back in the day I wouldn't get hunger headaches (then again I wouldn't get hunger cues at all) but now if I do as much as oversleep and skip breakfast, I feel fatigued all day and here I also get dizziness accompanied by a hunger headache. Why is this so? 

[soos_mite_ah]

Bump

[soos_mite_ah]

Please.. I don't mean to be disrespectful or to beg for attention but I cannot find answers for this thing and I have been feeling like I'm about to faint numerous times since I posted this. It hasn't been helping that I barely got time to sleep or to catch up on work for this study abroad program. I don't know what I'm doing wrong, I feel awful, and I'm not getting any solid answers from the people around me irl. 

[Salvijus]

Drink more water?

[Raptorsin7]

@soos_mite_ah I get similar headaches, and they've gotten a lot better since I started working with a quality aryuveda doctor.

If you have some disposable income I highly recommend speaking to an aryuveda consultant. 

Also, I've been  practicing Isha hatha yoga, and I've read that Sadhgurus shambhavi mudra kriya yiga is supposed to help with headaches. 

So I'd recommend learning suriya kriya and/or shambhavi mudra 

Edited July 14, 2022 by Raptorsin7

[Michael569]

@soos_mite_ah you should seek out medical attention if you often feel like fainting.

It may be hypoglycemia, hypotension, heat stroke. Hard to tell 

It may also be caloric deprivation as you suggested.

What country are you in?

[soos_mite_ah]

@Michael569 I’m in the UK rn. 
I do have a strong suspicion that it’s caloric deprivation and / or hypoglycemia. Idk if this is relevant but during the time when I’m not dizzy, I’m really exhausted to where I could have a full nights worth of sleep and a nap and still not feel restored. 

I highly doubt it’s dehydration or the heat but they were contributing factors. Last week I was in a room that was getting overheated with no fan or ac and it was 80 degrees outside. While that temperature isn’t bad, the building im staying in is old and is built for the cold, meaning it was much hotter in the building. On that same day I was also getting really dehydrated. I ended up feeling sick for two days and then afterwards I found a way to deal with the heat in my room and made sure to eat multiple times in a day and drink plenty of water. I found that this did help to a certain extent but I still feel exhausted and on occasion dizzy/with a headache. I will admit that I haven’t been getting much sleep lately either due to my workload and busy schedule.  

it’s just really weird for me because I didn’t experience this to this extent in the US. Sure there were times where I went too long without food or cut down on calories too much but it hasn’t been prolonged for more than a couple days much less a whole week. 

[integral]

Where abroad are you staying? it's possible you're having food addiction withdrawals like if in the US all you ate was restaurant food. seems unlikely doe.

It could be that you're stressed and hunger headaches can happen because you're thinking more than usual and expending more energy than you normally would. try calming down and relaxing more while studying or working, don't do it in such a rush?

Edited July 14, 2022 by integral

[Michael569]

@soos_mite_ah Yeah, it's probably related to switches in the environment, climate and diet. The current mini-heat wavve isn'thelping probably. Are you in England? I think south-east currently has the worst of it. 

UK traditional diet can be comparable to the traditional American diet but I know, based on our chat, earlier last year that your diet is more home-cooked and more wholefood based so perhaps if you didn't have as many opportunities to cook and would eat more pre-cooked, bought food, you may be eating less without realising it. When I eat store-bought food in UK, I generally feels worse so for me home-cooked is always the preference when I can. 

It may be the consistency of food, in UK they use less salt and less sugar and generally fewer additives like HFCS compared to US, I think, the guidelines around food are stricter so it may literally be as @integral said, that there is something in the US food that you are not getting here is potentially causing withdrawal symptoms. I'm not sure if this is the case but would not 100% discount the option. 

Your body may be stressed about the movement, still jet lagged and kinda struggling to find its way around so that could be taxing your energy levels even without being aware of it. Not sure where in UK you are but places like London & other busy cities have a very dynamic type of lifestyle (including the subway and busy public transport)  which can be taxing to a person not used to that. Migrations like this can be stressful. 

Also, is there any chance you got either some mild cold, flu or even covid? Maybe not but worth asking I thought 

Also, final question. Do you know your current HbA1C? (blood sugar balance) Have you ever measured your glycemic response? If not eating makes you feel dizzy and nauseous it would be worth having your glycemia investigated. But again, this may not be relevant, not sure. 

Seems like it is a combination of multiple factors that are putting your body under strain: time lag, diet change, no AC, the current heat, forgetting to drink, eating fewer calories as you are not in your environment, possibly sleep deprivation from the heat. 

There is no one simple advice I have, other than trying to find some sort of routine while you are here. Shops like Pret-A-Manger offer healthy options for food so you could for example have their oatmeal for breakfast with some fruits and nuts you can buy in grocery shops (Tesco/Sainsbury's/ Marks&SPencer or Waitrose are the biggest brands found at every corner). 

For lunch, places like Tortilla, also Pret-A-Manger, Wassabi, Itsu and similar can offer alternatives. Alternatively you could look at Meal Deals in Tesco which you can build to be a healthier wrap + fruit + water (most people choose to take crap sandwich, crackers and coke - but there are ways to make the choices to be healthier). 

For dinners, I assume you have some options at the campus/uni or the institute where you study so just make the most of it. 

Carry a bottle of water with you wherever you go and aim to get those 2 litres per day. If it helps download one of those water apps and set a 45 minute reminders to drink up. I would avoid drinking anything other than pure water while you are here. They sell all sorts of shitty sugar crap in shops with hidden sources of sugar. Just stick to the basics. 

Careful with being on direct heat. 

Also, if you are a coffee drinker, coffees in UK are weaker than those in US so that could be a factor. 

As for sleep, buy a Chamomile Tea (Pukka or Clippers brand use microplastic free bags and are sold literally everywhere) and drink those before your bedtime. Might help. But for the heat at night, I have no advice, it is pain in the ass where I live too  . One thing worth trying is sleeping on the floor if you have that option but its not for everyone. I try it occasionally it is a Russian rullette. Some nights it sucks, some nights it is awesome. 

Hope that is somewhat helpful. Take care! Feel free to message me if you have questions about anything UK-food related in particular. 

[soos_mite_ah]

8 hours ago, Michael569 said:

@soos_mite_ah Yeah, it's probably related to switches in the environment, climate and diet. The current mini-heat wavve isn'thelping probably. Are you in England? I think south-east currently has the worst of it. 

Yes I'm currently in England. The heat itself isn't that bad. Back in Texas I'm used to summers being around 35-40 degrees Celcius but the AC and the fact that our infrastructure is built for homes keeping their cool makes the heat more bareable. I find it to feel much better outside than inside.  

8 hours ago, Michael569 said:

UK traditional diet can be comparable to the traditional American diet but I know, based on our chat, earlier last year that your diet is more home-cooked and more wholefood based so perhaps if you didn't have as many opportunities to cook and would eat more pre-cooked, bought food, you may be eating less without realising it. When I eat store-bought food in UK, I generally feels worse so for me home-cooked is always the preference when I can. 

It may be the consistency of food, in UK they use less salt and less sugar and generally fewer additives like HFCS compared to US, I think, the guidelines around food are stricter so it may literally be as @integral said, that there is something in the US food that you are not getting here is potentially causing withdrawal symptoms. I'm not sure if this is the case but would not 100% discount the option. 

11 hours ago, integral said:

it's possible you're having food addiction withdrawals like if in the US all you ate was restaurant food. seems unlikely doe.

It could be that you're stressed and hunger headaches can happen because you're thinking more than usual and expending more energy than you normally would. try calming down and relaxing more while studying or working, don't do it in such a rush?

I know that just in general I can be prone to eating less than what I need because of how I use whole foods as opposed to processed stuff. I try to count calories every now and then just to make sure I get enough in and I noticed that it's very easy for me to undereat around here. I know in the U.K. even if I'm eating whole foods the way that I do in the U.S, I'm sure something about GMO's/ organic food regulations are probably factoring into the caloric density. I'm not sure exactly what I would be withdrawing from since god knows what they allow in the food in the U.S. but like you said, I'm not ruling it out. I also did notice that a lot of food here doesn't have as much salt or seasoning and since I don't use much salt in my everyday cooking at home, my sodium levels are usually on the lower end of normal. I wouldn't be surprised if it would dip down more to where it would affect me physically. 

9 hours ago, Michael569 said:

Your body may be stressed about the movement, still jet lagged and kinda struggling to find its way around so that could be taxing your energy levels even without being aware of it. Not sure where in UK you are but places like London & other busy cities have a very dynamic type of lifestyle (including the subway and busy public transport)  which can be taxing to a person not used to that. Migrations like this can be stressful. 

I'm not feeling super fatigued by all of the walking but I will say that I'm not super used to it as Dallas is much less pedestrian friendly. The thing that messes with me though is that I have to walk up and down like 4 flights of stairs to get to the room I'm staying in and I find myself doing that multiple times a day. I guess while I knew I was expending more energy, I didn't think of it as much since I do work out pretty regularly at home and still maintain a relatively active lifestyle since I am a college student who is living on campus and therefore ends up walking everywhere like 75% of the time. I suppose it's the combination of the walking and the lower calories because I guess part of it feels like an exaggerated more drawn out response to how my body normally reacts to an intense workout session when I haven't been eating enough for a few days. 

9 hours ago, Michael569 said:

Also, is there any chance you got either some mild cold, flu or even covid? Maybe not but worth asking I thought 

I did get a mild sinus infection prior to coming to the UK. I had it for a couple days before my flight here and then a couple days after (so like from 6/26-6/31). I just had a runny/stuffed up nose at times, fatigue, and just the annoying feeling of sinus pressure in my gums. It wasn't bad to where I felt sick but it was enough to where it was just annoying. I also tested negative for COVID. 

9 hours ago, Michael569 said:

Also, final question. Do you know your current HbA1C? (blood sugar balance) Have you ever measured your glycemic response? If not eating makes you feel dizzy and nauseous it would be worth having your glycemia investigated. But again, this may not be relevant, not sure. 

I had a check up a couple weeks before I left the country. While I don't know my HbA1C, I do remember the doctor mentioning that my blood sugar levels came out fine (as they usually do). I know my doctor tries to keep tabs on my blood sugar levels becaues of my PCOS even though I never had elevated or really low blood sugar levels before. They just do it since insulin resistance is commone with PCOS even though I'm pretty sure I don't have that particular variant of PCOS. 

Now that I'm writing it out, could PCOS also be a factor in my fatigue? I'm pretty sure that I have the adrenal kind since I know that I don't have insulin resistance, I never had anything come up for inflamation, and I know that birth control isn't the thing that gave me this condition (and if anything that's helping me regulate my PCOS). 

9 hours ago, Michael569 said:

Seems like it is a combination of multiple factors that are putting your body under strain: time lag, diet change, no AC, the current heat, forgetting to drink, eating fewer calories as you are not in your environment, possibly sleep deprivation from the heat. 

There is no one simple advice I have, other than trying to find some sort of routine while you are here. Shops like Pret-A-Manger offer healthy options for food so you could for example have their oatmeal for breakfast with some fruits and nuts you can buy in grocery shops (Tesco/Sainsbury's/ Marks&SPencer or Waitrose are the biggest brands found at every corner). 

For lunch, places like Tortilla, also Pret-A-Manger, Wassabi, Itsu and similar can offer alternatives. Alternatively you could look at Meal Deals in Tesco which you can build to be a healthier wrap + fruit + water (most people choose to take crap sandwich, crackers and coke - but there are ways to make the choices to be healthier). 

For dinners, I assume you have some options at the campus/uni or the institute where you study so just make the most of it. 

Carry a bottle of water with you wherever you go and aim to get those 2 litres per day. If it helps download one of those water apps and set a 45 minute reminders to drink up. I would avoid drinking anything other than pure water while you are here.

These all sound like good advice. I appreciate it. 

9 hours ago, Michael569 said:

Also, if you are a coffee drinker, coffees in UK are weaker than those in US so that could be a factor. 

I don't drink coffee that often but I remember hearing the other students around me complaining about the coffee strength here earlier today lol. 

9 hours ago, Michael569 said:

As for sleep, buy a Chamomile Tea (Pukka or Clippers brand use microplastic free bags and are sold literally everywhere) and drink those before your bedtime. Might help. But for the heat at night, I have no advice, it is pain in the ass where I live too  . One thing worth trying is sleeping on the floor if you have that option but its not for everyone. I try it occasionally it is a Russian rullette. Some nights it sucks, some nights it is awesome. 

I figured something out for the heat in my room and that definitely helped. But I'll take the tea into consideration as well. 

[Razard86]

On 7/12/2022 at 6:45 PM, soos_mite_ah said:

I'm studying abroad  rn and I noticed that ever since I got here I'm much more suceptible to hunger headaches. I feel like I'm eating the same volume of food so as a result I'm not physically hungry, but I keep finding myself being dizzy and having a headache in between meals. I know these are hunger headaches because after I eat a meal, I feel much better. Granted I'm walking everywhere and I have to walk up and down 4 flights of stairs everytime I want to go to my room because my building doesn't have elevators so I have increased my physical activity. 

My guess is that even though I'm eating the same amount of food as far as volume goes, the food I'm eating is lower in caloric density. I noticed that when I have been going to restaurants around here, the calories are lower than what I'm used to. I think it's because the U.S. has a bunch of shit pumped into the food that are really bad for you since there are no regulations and that increases the calories (don't quote me, I don't know how calories are created or how they are calculated lol). 

Basically, the way I normally eat at home is that I would have 2-3 meals that are 600-900 calories and a small snack if I feel like it. But here, unless I eat 3 meals and a couple of snacks, I will end up with a headache.  My guess is that because of the lower calories, I'm probably unintentionally underfueling my body. 

Also, I'm concerned about all of these headaches being a symptom of a larger issue with my health. What does this mean for my overall blood sugar? How do I deal with this going forward? What's happening to me lol? 

Bonus question: I used to eat really restrictively (like 600-1400 calories a day) and back in the day I wouldn't get hunger headaches (then again I wouldn't get hunger cues at all) but now if I do as much as oversleep and skip breakfast, I feel fatigued all day and here I also get dizziness accompanied by a hunger headache. Why is this so? 

Probably Iron, might need to get your iron levels checked.

[integral]

1 hour ago, Razard86 said:

Probably Iron, might need to get your iron levels checked.

Very unlikely actually and if that is the case do not take iron supplements that is the worst poisonous way to do it. just eat meat and eggs. 

@soos_mite_ah Do you know if the room you're in or the building was ever heavily smoked in or there might be issues with the air quality that you're breathing? Second hand smoke will definitely cause issues, or secondhand vape.

Edited July 15, 2022 by integral

[soos_mite_ah]

Update: I have gotten a few days of rest. Thursday was spent with me sleeping for most of the day with the exception of me going to my classes and eating dinner. I went out a couple of times to grab food on Friday and layed in bed all day. And today on Saturday, I woke up pretty late because I slept like 10 hours,  ran some errands, got food, and managed to get some school work done. I still did feel a bit lightheaded between meals but I made sure to not overextend myself and I had some snacks on hand so I leaned on that.  I feel like I'm going to sleep regular hours tonight and be back to my normal self tomorrow granted I'm eating enough.

 

On 7/15/2022 at 2:24 AM, Myioko said:

How long has your headache been going on for? I wouldn't worry about it and just wait it out, take care of yourself/get enough food, and assume that it will go away...

On and off for 2 weeks now, mainly in between meals or at the end of the day. 

On 7/15/2022 at 2:24 AM, Myioko said:

There are so many factors that go into headaches such as stress, travel, change of environment, change in altitude, tense muscles, heat, not drinking enough water, food, clenching your teeth, squinting and bright light, loud sounds, lack of sleep, many unknown factors, that it is a lot of guesswork. 

Yeah I agree. There are a lot of factors involved. I'm finding that addressing them one at a time has been helpful. 

On 7/15/2022 at 2:24 AM, Myioko said:

If the intensity of the pain doesn't go away by the end of the week then yeah you could go make an appointment with a Dr to talk it over, get your blood sugar checked and have them recommend you things to relief the type of headache you could have. Whenever I've gone to Dr's for headaches they'd pretty much say 'I dunno why you're getting headaches. But here, take this, and just let us know if your symptoms get drastically worse!'

 The headaches aren't super intense but they are annoying to where I have trouble focussing. The thing that really brings me down is the tiredness and the lightheaded/dizziness. I'm planning on going to the doctor if I still feel lightheaded in the next couple of days. 

On 7/15/2022 at 2:24 AM, Myioko said:

Being dizzy sounds kind of worrisome to me but I don't have any experience with that besides when my blood sugar is low: feeling slightly dizzy, light headed, shaky, clammy, tired, and faster heartbeat

I know that most of the time when  you get hunger headaches it's because of low blood sugar. 

On 7/15/2022 at 2:26 AM, integral said:

Do you know if the room you're in or the building was ever heavily smoked in or there might be issues with the air quality that you're breathing? Second hand smoke will definitely cause issues, or secondhand vape.

I highly doubt that's the case tbh. 

[integral]

4 minutes ago, soos_mite_ah said:

I highly doubt that's the case tbh. 

There could be mold in the room your in. If your sure there is no air quality issues that's fine, but if there is it will cause a number of symptoms. 

[Razard86]

On 7/14/2022 at 9:26 PM, integral said:

Very unlikely actually and if that is the case do not take iron supplements that is the worst poisonous way to do it. just eat meat and eggs. 

@soos_mite_ah Do you know if the room you're in or the building was ever heavily smoked in or there might be issues with the air quality that you're breathing? Second hand smoke will definitely cause issues, or secondhand vape.

Very likely, a lot of women struggle to maintain healthy iron levels, there is a thing called a period.

https://www.healthline.com/health/headache/anemia-and-headaches#bottom-line

[Yarco]

Your electrolytes might be screwed up, possibly eating less salt than American food. Maybe also losing salt from sweating, although even the middle of summer isn't very hot in the UK.

Try drinking some coconut water. Eat a banana to boost your potassium. My go-to is drinking some pickle juice, basically the brine in the jar of pickles. Although if you don't like pickles that'll be disgusting, also pickles is something different in the UK and might be hard to find dill pickles. Usually some polish ones in the international aisle.

Definitely check your place for obvious signs of black mold / mildew, especially in the bedroom and bathroom. UK is terrible for all kinds of fungi and mold because it's always wet. I lived in the UK for several years, in all 3 places I had literal mushrooms growing up from around my bathtub. I had basically constant allergies the entire time I lived there from mold. The good news is when I moved home, it's like my immune system was overwhelmed for so long that it also basically cured me of regular seasonal allergies.

Mold gave me headaches as well, but not dizziness. Try to keep track of when you feel worst and best during the day. If it's mold in your home then you should feel a lot worse in the evenings and weekends when you're at home for hours, and feel better after you've been out of the house for several hours.

[Razard86]

1 hour ago, Yarco said:

Your electrolytes might be screwed up, possibly eating less salt than American food. Maybe also losing salt from sweating, although even the middle of summer isn't very hot in the UK.

Try drinking some coconut water. Eat a banana to boost your potassium. My go-to is drinking some pickle juice, basically the brine in the jar of pickles. Although if you don't like pickles that'll be disgusting, also pickles is something different in the UK and might be hard to find dill pickles. Usually some polish ones in the international aisle.

Definitely check your place for obvious signs of black mold / mildew, especially in the bedroom and bathroom. UK is terrible for all kinds of fungi and mold because it's always wet. I lived in the UK for several years, in all 3 places I had literal mushrooms growing up from around my bathtub. I had basically constant allergies the entire time I lived there from mold. The good news is when I moved home, it's like my immune system was overwhelmed for so long that it also basically cured me of regular seasonal allergies.

Mold gave me headaches as well, but not dizziness. Try to keep track of when you feel worst and best during the day. If it's mold in your home then you should feel a lot worse in the evenings and weekends when you're at home for hours, and feel better after you've been out of the house for several hours.

This man knows his stuff. Absolutely the American diet is chock full of things that overseas countries do not include. One such example is iodine which we pretty much put in like all of our food. So you will have different reactions to eating similar food overseas.

[integral]

On 7/16/2022 at 5:39 PM, Razard86 said:

Very likely, a lot of women struggle to maintain healthy iron levels, there is a thing called a period.

https://www.healthline.com/health/headache/anemia-and-headaches#bottom-line

There are a lot of issue with using studies to paint a picture and pervasive cultural myths(like cholesterol = bad) and the health care industry. Not going to get into all that now, just that iron is a cultural kneejerk reaction every time a woman is dizzy. Its possible, get a check up. Also iron issues are a symptom not the root of the issue.  Its so dangerous for her to go down the low iron path doctors prescribe because its misguided, they need to fix the absorption and the supplements are poisonous. Its one of does snow ball issues, when people go down this path the issues start building and building, and more misguided treatment methods are introduced, its a downward spiral that the health care industry does not recognise yet. They believe the the downward spiral is normal, instead of questioning there methods. 

Edited July 21, 2022 by integral