I simply cannot differentiate between nausea and hunger pangs. Anyone else out there like me? When I was a child, it wasn’t a problem but as I have gotten older, it has gotten worse and worse. Granted, I have been losing and gaining a lot of weight as an adult so that might be a cause/connection. Maybe through all the stretching and shrinking, my stomach receptors are botched?
I get that sometimes. Other times, not so much.
If I really overeat, I can feel stuffed for 6+ hours, but then realize my stomch is completely empty.
That’s the case with me every single morning. My parents had a hell of a time convincing me to eat breakfast when I was a kid, but I pretty much always felt better after a couple of bites.
Consider drinking some ginger tea or ginger ale when you’re unsure. It will settle your stomach in any event, and might buy you some time to figure out if it’s hunger or not.
I’m the same way. I guess I ate regularly enough as a kid to not ever get hungry. The first time I remember it happening, I didn’t eat, because I felt nauseous. Then I got more hungry, felt more nauseous, continued to not eat, latherrinserepeat until I fainted in the bathroom.
Now I know better.
Yeah, me too. In fact, if I don’t eat for a while, I’ll not want to eat anymore. Food is just really unappetizing, and I have to force myself to eat something, lest I get a headache.
This is a pretty well-known phenomenon - it’s why they tell parents to give kids who’ve had the stomach flu some syrup from canned fruit or something similar, as a start back to eating. The sugar syrup raises blood sugar quickly, getting rid of any nausea from low blood glucose levels and reducing the chance of further barfing.
It’s also why pregnant women with morning sickness are encouraged to keep some Saltines or something on the bedside table. If you’re bad off, your best bet is to eat something before you even sit up in the morning!
I get kind of an acid stomach when it’s empty, and I could swear the fumes come up and make me sneeze!
I also did not know what the sensation of hunger was when growing up. (Unfortunately for the carpets, I also was not very well acquainted of the feeling of nausea, either.)
While I know what hunger means, I am afraid I might be losing the feeling for nausea again since I have only heaved once since I was 12 (i’m 36.)
What I usually do when I get this sensation is drink some cold water. If I feel the cold fill my stomach, I assume it’s hunger. It’s usually what it is anyway: I rarely get nauseous.
Also, I don’t like flying in planes due of a combination of claustrophobia and the fear of being airsick, even though I’m not all that susceptible to transportation sickness. And if I haven’t eaten before getting on the plane and start feeling hungry, I confuse it with nausea and feel worse.
I remember being taught about this on a kids show. The bluebird puppet had missed a meal, and now his tummy hurt. His puppet friends tried to help him out with tons of stupid ideas. It wasn’t until morning when the human caretaker (who, unlike Nanny from The Muppet Babies, actually had a face) found out about it that the kid got some food. It ended with the saying, “Sometimes, when your tummy hurts, it really means you’re hungry”.
Anyways, does anyone else know what show I’m talking about?
For me, nausea usually is hunger. If I don’t eat for a few hours, I start feeling really sick.
I have a hard time telling the queasy feeling from hunger from the queasy feeling of too much food or bad food.
Sometimes I eat more thinking I am low on food and make a bad situation much worse. I tend to eat little amounts at any given sitting and keep a mental note of my very recent eating history to keep this problem to a minimum. When eating, I also stop mid bite almost if I am feeling even slightly full and will wait a good bit to decide if I should have more. I go home with a doggy bag nearly every time I go out to eat.
So, yeah, you are not alone.
I don’t get this but sometimes if I don’t eat, and I know I should, I won’t be able to. Like, if I skip eating for too many hours my blood sugar level will go down and then I’ll feel nauseous/headachey and even if I eat I’ll feel shitty, sometimes for a few days. Damned high metabolism.
I can tell them apart more often than I can’t, but I’d guess a third of the time I have no idea if my stomach hurts because I’m hungry or because I have an upset stomach. Last night was one of those times.
I frequently have trouble telling the difference between nausea and hunger, especially in the morning. Nine times out of 10 it’s hunger because I will have woken up at 2 or 3 a.m. starving and forced myself back to sleep.
For me this is a regular problem. It is worst in the morning and if I don’t have something in my stomach within an hour of waking up more often than not I will have to make a run for the bathroom and I spend about 5 minutes vomiting bile.