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Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Pennsylvania
Posts: 23
My Mood:  Points: 3,725.60 Bank: 0.00 Total Points: 3,725.60 |  Intense Sugar Cravings -- This Could Help (Long)
I want to tell you all about my experience because I think it might help those of you who are battling intense sugar cravings. First some background. I was diagnosed in '04 and put on Metformin. I stopped taking it in '07 because I was sick of how it made me feel. My stomach was always bothering me, and I hated feeling like I needed to be on medication to function. In the months that followed, I slowly started to fall back to my pre-diagnosis state of all out sugar addiction. By the end of October of last year, I could not function AT ALL. I had just been laid off from my job and I slept constantly, I was in a constant fog and I couldn't pull myself together long enough to gain control. I was a mess. I was so sick and wiped out and depressed that I was afraid that I might need to be hospitalized. It was that bad. I made the choice to go back on Metformin and cut sugar out of my diet completely. It wasn't a hard decision to make because I was so sick. I had read in a book called The Diet Cure about an amino acid called L-Glutamine that could be used to help sugar cravings and I bought some and took it. It was Solgar, free form 500mgs and I would literally pop one every time I had the urge to eat sugar. On my worst day, that amounted to three pills. But here's the thing, after a few days I stopped taking it because my sugar cravings were gone. I managed to shed thirty-seven pounds doing a modified form of the Insulin Resistance Diet.
Fast forward eight months to last week. My sugar cravings were coming back and gaining in intensity. I had no idea why. For some reason, I had gotten a period last month, which is now unusual for me. Met only restores my periods for a few months when I first start taking it and then my periods stop. I figured that the sugar cravings might be connected to my menstrual cycle. Last week would have been my PMS week if I were on a normal 28 day cycle. I lost all control of myself and began bingeing like a madwoman. It didn't matter that I had no sugar or sweet things in the house; I was so obsessed with cakes, cookies and ice cream that I would have to venture out to get these things, each time vowing that tomorrow I would cut it out. But the next day, the same thing would happen. Always at night.
I took a look at my bottle of Metformin. When I bought it this time, the price had been lower and I should have thought to ask why then. I realized that my doctor had called in a refill for regular Metformin instead of the Metformin extended release that I had been on that was supposed to be gentler for my stomach. I have to wonder now if that isn't the root of the problem with the sugar cravings. I'm thinking that without the extended release action of the Metformin, my blood sugar is not as well controlled and my sugar cravings are the result. I decided to come off Metformin -- my hair is falling out and I'm sick of the nausea. I'm going to transition onto Hyponidd. In the meantime, I resolved that Monday would bring an end to the sugar orgy. So...I went back to L-Glutamine. This time, a single capsule was not enough. I had to take two to fight the cravings. And early evening was the worst. I decided to take two L-Glutamine at 4pm to combat the overwhelming cravings that I knew would hit me when I left work tonight. It's incredible stuff. The cravings go away, and when you do eat you actually can feel yourself getting full. I don't know about any of you, but that's never the case for me. I only ever feel full after I've gorged myself, and then I'm too full. I went to class tonight and towards the end, I started thinking about those disgusting sugar cookies that have that thick, cloying icing and sprinkles on top. I became so obsessed with them that I drove to Walmart to pick some up. I have to mention here that on nights that I have class, I take my Met a bit later than usual. But I had taken the L-Glutamine at 4pm and had dinner at 5pm. I gave myself permission to buy any kind of crap I wanted; I didn't want to fight. I just needed the obsession to end. I walked around the bakery at Walmart, and I couldn't bring myself to buy anything. Nothing looked good, I didn't want any of it. I faced the obsession and killed it stone-cold dead. I realize now that this is not a case of willpower or making an intellectual decision to cheat; it is biology, pure and simple. Something in my biology has been causing me to gorge myself on sugar even though every night I've done so, I've gotten sick from it -- Sunday morning, I woke up and vomitted. Whatever it is that's screwed up, L-Glutamine has helped me and it might help you, too. I wouldn't wish that awful out of control obsessive feeling on anyone, so if you know what I'm talking about here, give it a try. It's not expensive, and I'm amazed at how effective it really is. I'm thinking of upping my supplementation of chromium in order to keep my blood sugar level throughout the day because I take Tums for the calcium. Doing so makes it possible for a person to absorb vitamin B12 if they are taking Metformin. The problem is that antacids deplete chromium. That, too, might be a factor in the re-emergence of my sugar cravings. In any case, I'm not going down without a fight. I've lived for eight months without being a slave to sugar so I know that it's possible, and today is the end of day two, me=2, sugar=0. With any luck I won't need to keep taking the L-Glutamine for much longer, but I just wanted to share my story in case trying L-Glutamine can help someone else. Right now I use Twin Labs free form L-Glutamine, 500mgs per capsule, and I've been taking two at a time to combat sugar cravings, once a day. If you decide to take it, be sure to do it on an empty stomach so that the amino acid does not have to compete with any proteins for absorption.
And in the spirit of being helpful, I'd like to add that I take 200mcg of GTF Chromium by Country Life each night before bed. Doing so allows me to get a decent night's rest and sleep all the way through the night, and I've tried everything, even heavy-duty painkillers and sleep aids that didn't work. Apparently, the Chromium keeps your sugar from dropping too low when you're asleep and you wake up early because your body is signaling you to go and eat something. So if any of you happen to supplement with chromium anyhow and notice that your sleep isn't great, taking some before bedtime might help you like it helped me. |
