To ask how to manage this insatiable steroid hunger

[Sleepersausage]

I am on a course of steroids, have another five weeks left. I am starving, I have never been so consistently hungry. I am planning out my main meals to ensure high protein, good portions without going crazy, and manage to get to late afternoon before I just start eating everything in sight. Dinner does not satisfy me no matter what it is. I am thinking about my stomach constantly, weight is piling on.

I'm not massively worried about the weight as I know it's temporary and can fix this afterwards (annoying that it's in the height of summer and before going on holiday though) but I am struggling to get through the day being so hungry and obsessed with food. I am already daydreaming about the fact I'm in the office tomorrow and can go out to get lunch.

Are there any secret tips to curb this or do I just have to embrace it? Clothes still fit at this point but not sure how much longer that will last.

My dad was on a long course and he was up during the night eating cereal or toast he was always starving, his consultant recommended little meals and often so he was eating every 3 hours,

I was on steroids for the best part of 9 months about 15 years ago, I could not stop eating!! If there’s a way to curb the cravings, I didn’t find it!! Any weight gain will come off easily after you stop taking them, try to get some exercise in the meantime. The steroids made me an exercising machine!!

Yeah I'm on and off them constantly and longest stretch was around 6 months it was soo hard! I did little and often meals. Lots of protein / nuts / eggs and smaller meals throughout the day.

(Tho I do recall the odd cheese sandwich at 2am when I was just WIDE AWAKE)

Thank you. luckily I am already quite in to my exercise so keeping up the same routine. I've just had my dinner bulked up with garlic bread but I'm not full in the slightest

I am so relieved that my sleep hasn't been affected, I was very worried about that when I first started. The only real side effect seems to be the hunger

I've done a few 8 week courses and I embraced the hunger. I tend to be at low end of a healthy weight though.

I would be eating and then thinking of what to eat next. Looking back at photos though, I did get a bit of a fat face.

God, it’s hard!

I think trying to eat volume/high protein is a good combination. Avoid to the best of your ability the addictive high sugar/high carb that will also give the sugar spikes of bread, potatoes and biscuits etc.

When I’m trying to distract from hunger I’ve made a big bowl (or two) of the sugar free jelly packets. It’s about 50 calories in a portion made up of a litre of liquid, and I’ll just go to the fridge and scoop away at it.

Snacking on raw carrots, pickled veg, cucumber, celery. Then chicken, ham, eggs, babybels. Never bread or crackers, cereals, pasta.

I think the round face is the steroids it's a side effect.

Jelly is a good idea! I roasted a chicken today so have that in the fridge for picking. I'm going through a sourdough making phase so at least I have some vaguely healthy bread. I am getting sweet cravings though, and I'm not usually a sweet tooth person

On and off them for years - Crohns Disease. Eventually I just realised it didn’t matter how much I ate I was still going to be hungry and fatter so I meal planned and stuck to it. Willpower really 🤔

Willpower is not my strongest skill 😂 hopefully I won't be on them for a long period but I am being investigated for autoimmune disease

It depends on the steroid and dose. Low dose of prednisolone had no effect on me.
Dexamethasone on the other hand..
I was on it while having chemo for breast cancer, fortunately only once a week as it kept me awake all night as well as hungry.

The worst was covid. I was very ill with covid in 2021 and put on dexamethasone while in hospital and after discharge. I lived from meal to meal and fantasised about food.

It made me wonder if that's how very obese people feel about food. Was quite an eye opener. I just gave in to it and enjoyed all the food. It was short term and I had lost a stone while ill.

How would you cope long term? I guess finding food that's filling but not too stodgy.

I’m on them long term and it is hard. I get very thirsty so have to be careful to ensure I drink enough because I think I’m hungry when I’m thirsty. Loads of chopped up fruit and veg to grab - when hunger hits, it’s immediate! Veggie soups and iced drinks help too.

Steroid hunger is awful. I had two long courses in the early days of having Crohns and refused them a third time as I hated feeling ravenously hungry all the time (and the weight gain / moon face).

Knowing that you could eat that three course meal all over again and the effect it would have on your weight was just terrible.

Feel for you, affected my sleep too.
Rice cakes with peanut butter, low cal jelly, I made a giant bowl of salad with crunchy things in it so I was having to chew, Hummous and carrot sticks and peppers, roast chicken already cooked in the fridge, healthy soups made with veg, popcorn with nothing on it.

If it's a rheumatological autoimmune condition they will establish you on a disease-modifying drug and wean you off the steroids. I can't answer for any other autoimmune conditions the doctors don't like you to be on steroids for too long, especially not at high doses, due to all the side effects long term.

Like @YOYOK I am on them long-term - will be for the rest of my life. I have to religiously meal plan really healthy meals, bordering on orthorexia. Then the rest is distraction, distraction, distraction. I can barely contain the hunger rage if I don't eat lunch by 12:30! I try to squeeze in as much fruit and veg at each meal to edge out the more unhealthy stuff.

Thankfully, though I have been on them 10 years, my weight stabilised after the first year - though I went from 7.5 to 9 stone.

I should probably drink more water actually to curb the hunger.

I feel like that all the time🥲

This is just a course of steroids before starting immunosuppressants, so my understanding is I won't be on them long term but still a bit unknown. I have also been in touch with a private nutritionist to look at anti inflammatory diets, which gives me hope that I'll be able to sort out the weight gain with professional support once the steroids are finished

I thought I did but this is something else!

Red apples cut up and cut andchilled in fridge, also melon, water melon is triathlon low cal but sweet and fulfils the desire to eat sweet thing and also gives you the waking to the Frisbee to eat sensation. Eat it away from what you are doing to prolong the eating boy before going back to feel etc. If psychology effect.
Might help. Might not.
Mine stern straight steroids but short l shoe dig with them in which caused the same result. the steroid are a cause as it the other component said I the consultant but the other drug was far worse. I'm not really into food in that I neve and was roll workout obsessed with food every waking hour. It was h9rribl religion had its downsides. Thus post week have BFF. 😊

Once you are on an immunosuppressant that works for you and you've been on it a few months you will feel so much better. I was so worried about starting it but my daily life is so much better. Anything is better than steroids in my opinions 😂 hoping you feel better soon

Just to add, 3 meals a day doesn’t cut it when you’ve got the steroid hangry monster around. I eat 5 to 6 smaller meals per day. It helps to know there will be more food coming!

Try sugar free fizzy drinks. They tend to give you a feeling of being full.

No tips but plenty of sympathy. Long term steroids needed after side effects from cancer treatment led to me gaining 24 kg. Still haven’t lost it.
The insatiable hunger plus never being able to relax or sleep is just horrible.