I’ve always had a sweet tooth. The main reason I have a weight problem actually. But over the last couple of months it’s gone into overdrive. If I’m hungry, I want something sweet. I can’t think of anything but getting something sweet. After I eat a regular meal, I want something sweet. I eat something sweet, I want more sweet stuff. It’s like this SUPER intense craving. I have to have sugar and I have to have it now. It’s getting ridiculous. Anyone have any suggestions on how to handle or curb a sweet tooth?
I have always had a sweet tooth, but I try not to let it get the best of me. One thing that works for me is a diet soda or ice tea with artificial sweetner after dinner instead of dessert. I get a sweet taste without actually consuming sugar. However there are days, especially stressful days, that drive me back to my ‘old friend’. Don’t try quitting cold turkey… it’s far too easy to cheat and fall off the wagon.
Have you been to a doctor?
First step is to see a doctor and get a blood sugar test and possibly a diabetes screen. Diabetes can make one crave sweets (but it is not caused by sweets) because there’s all this sugar in your blood, but it’s not getting into the cells where it’s needed. So your poor cells are screaming for sugar, and your dumb ol’ lizard brain is going, “What? Did you say we need sugar? Um, okay, someone tell the hands to go get us some Little Debbie’s Snack Cakes, STAT!” So even if your blood sugar is still sky high, your body tells you that you need to eat sugar. You don’t need to eat sugar, you need to move the sugar into your cells!
If diabetes is ruled out, then my next suggestion is the opposite of dolphinboy’s. Avoid artificial sweeteners. It’s possible that our use of artificial sweeteners has misled our bodies into thinking things sweetened with sugar have no calories, and therefore they don’t trigger our “full” signal! This could be (one reason) why obesity has risen despite the increase in artificial sweetener use over the last few decades, and it could be why you’re not getting full despite eating sweets. Even when you do eat sugar, your body assumes you’re eating no calories if you’ve trained it with artificial sweeteners.
If you must have sweets, make it sugar - so your body learns how many calories are in “sweet” accurately - and make it worth it. One good piece of chocolate, with not only sweet but bitter and ever-so-slightly salty notes may be much more satisfying than a cup of crappy ice cream.
Or not. This advice comes straight from the, “Here, take my advice…I’m not using it!” file. 
If the OP is an adult (30 according to profile) and has always had a sweet tooth, wouldn’t having untreated diabetes have done a lot of damage by now?
Unfortunately, I have no advice for the OP. I’ve always had a sweet tooth too (this explaination also explored on Discovery Health as to why could fit, as my mom laments having eaten a pound of m&ms a day most of her pregnancy), and have found no good ways of soothing it. Instead, I give into it and try to exercise as much as possible to offset extra calories. It’s far from a perfect solution.
I hope this doesn’t start some kind of war here but I broke free of a horrible sugar addiction through Atkins. After the induction phase I didn’t have those strong cravings.
I’d say see a doctor too of course. But this same thing happened to me last year as you described. I started with the Carbohydrate Addict plan but ultimately went with Atkins after CA still had me getting the cravings.
Now every once in a while I want a little sweet but I’m fine with some sugar-free candies or a little DaVinci sugar-free syrup mixed in whatever.
I have a terrible sweet tooth, and I’ve found that if I can get myself to eat an apple, the craving passes.
My blood sugar levels are normal, though. My doctor ruled out diabetes.
This thread is making me crave sugar, dammit.
Some people feel that switching to a low-carbohydrate diet (such as South Beach) helps with sugar cravings.
Well I was tested for diabetes last year when I was pregnant with my daughter and was fine. Diabetes DOES run in the family though… both grandmothers, both grandfathers and three aunts…I guess it couldn’t hurt to go get tested again, I just hate hate HATE that liquid they make you drink.
And yes, carbs are another craving of mine. I’m able to resist that more easily though. But I doubt I’d be able to resist them enough to do Atkins. I’d go crazy. I tend to become super bitch when I try to cut down on carbs or sugar.
I have quite a sweet tooth as well, and it does tend to hit right after dinner. I’m doing a Biggest Loser competition so I’ve had to figure out strategies to combat this, so’s not to pig out on pastry and suchlike. The best compromises I’ve come to are: Trader Joe’s has frozen mango chunks in a bag. If you take a cup of that stuff and nuke it for about thirty seconds you get nicely sweet icy chunks that fool you into thinking “Ooh, ice cream!” Mix in a cup of nonfat apricot/mango yogurt and you’re set–for about 200 calories. Bananas are your friend as well–I like to thin slice a big banana into a bowl and add 1/3 cup of Wilderness Lite Cherry Pie Filling and a half cup of whipped cream (the canned kind.) About 260 calories. Or you can replace the pie filling with a cup of low/nonfat chocolate pudding–that’s about 300 calories. The best part about these desserts is that they are extremely filling so they slam dunk your stomach into SHUTTING UP. 
I used to have a horrible sweet tooth. I fixed it by just quiting cold turkey. I stopped drinking pop(previously my main beverage, 3-5 cans a day), and stopped adding sugar to my coffee and tea. And stopped eating sugary snacks completely. After a few months i found i just didn’t want sugar any more. I’ve started eating some sugar again but i find most sugary treats are just way too sweet for me now, so i don’t have any trouble keeping my sugar intake down. I never even considered artificial sweeteners. My strategy wouldn’t work for everyone but it might be worth a try.
Are you craving sweet or are you craving chocolate? I’m always craving chocolate and there’s none here (peanut butter M&M’s don’t count!). Closest non-junk food equivalent I’ve found is an apple with some peanut butter.