Question about future hunger
Another recent post got me to start thinking about this. Most people seem to think that because most of our stomachs are removed, the hunger hormone ghrelin goes with it, and we will never feel true hunger again. Still, lots of people do seem to feel true hunger, not just "head hunger."
But my surgeon explained that hunger will start to come back between 6 and 9 months out. Even though we are missing most of our ghrelin, we still have some, and there are other hormones such as leptin that are also responsible for hunger.
What do you folks who are a year or more out feel about this? Are we more affected by the remaining ghrelin and leptin over time? Has your true hunger stayed away, or did it come back, and when?
And I wish I could get this ticker to update.
This might have been inspired by my post :) While I was fighting head hunger, I do also have real hunger.
I find that real hunger is much easier to satiate than head hunger. A solid portion of protein and veggies and my stomach is full and the hunger is gone. The head hunger is the real demon as the stuff that feeds that will never satiate us.
VSG: 12/12/13, LBL, small TL, BL/BA: 11/7/14 Twins 12/9/18 HW after Twins 260. 5'10 37 years old - Stacy_WLS (MFP)
It was your post that inspired this. I was just looking for more opinions, since there seem to be lots of different ideas out there. Some people seem to think that losing ghrelin is some kind of magic cure.
While I think maybe it's true some think it's a magic cure, I didn't read Stacy's post that inspired you to imply that at all. I think it may cause a little panic in many to feel those urges coming back.
Edited for auto correct of nits to it's
Vsg on 8/6/14 5'8" HW 266 SW 243 CW 169 GW 155. 
I freaked out a little when I felt no hunger at all for a while. It's odd to go from feeling constantly ravenous to not being hungry in the least. I did panic slightly when hunger started coming back, although I was prepared for it.
There was someone several months back on OH that paniced and went to the ER, just to tell them that she was suddenly hungry. True story.
I don't think the OP was saying that Stacy acted is if she would never be hungry again.
6'3" tall, male.
Highest weight was 475. RNY on 08/21/12. Current weight: 198.
M1 -24; M2 -21; M3 -19; M4 -21; M5 -13; M6 -21; M7 -10; M8 -16; M9 -10; M10 -8; M11 -6; M12 -5.
My hunger is definitely back. I had no hunger at all for the first 6-9 months, just like your doctor promised, and then it came back. It came back slowly at first, and now it's more or less the same as before surgery except that I no longer have the "starving" moments. I think that each of us will have a different experience with hunger and there are positive and negative aspects of hunger so we have to adjust our food and our heads to meet what our reality is going to be in the end. Many people never get there hunger back, most seem to get most if not all of it back within a few years. Ghrelin is produced in other organs in our body and those organs seem to produce more of it to compensate for the loss of ghrelin from our fundus. There are also other hormones that are responsible for the hunger response like leptin and of course there is head hunger and thirst that can easily be mistaken for hunger.
I don't mind getting a little hungry as I am a foodie and it makes live more interesting for me, but I am happy to not have the feelings of starvation that I had before surgery. I think that if I had no hunger at all, I would find the positives in that too and be quite happy not to have it. We just have to learn to love our new normal.
Thanks, this is pretty much exactly what my doctor said would happen. I just wondered because so many people seemed to think this was a permanent hunger cure. He also said this was pretty much exactly the same, as far as hunger pangs, for the roux-en-y people, 6-9 months of relief from feeling of starvation to lose weight and learn new habits before the hunger demon returns.
