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Just wondering, has anyone else had a child to have a compulsion with eating? I know my son will be 13 in March and it is normal at this age for them to have a big appetite. However, he is litterally obsessed with food right now. He wants to stick something in his face constantly.

Example: This evening when he came home from school, he put his bookbag in his room and went straight to the fridge and got a soda. Then to the cabinet and got a snack cake. Not 5 minutes later he was eating cheese nabs. I told him I had spagetti on and it would be ready in a few minutes. When I gave him the spagetti he handed me the cheese nabs back. My husband will not eat spagetti, he had salsberry steak and mashed potatoes. Before you couldnot have made Harley eat salsberry steak. Anyways as soon as he finished his bowl of spagetti he asked his dad if he could have some salsberry steak and mashed potatoes. When he finished this he got a bottle of water and drank it straight down. About 10 minutes later he eat a cup of apple sauce and grabbed a banana off the table. All of this was between 4 and 6 this evening. When he got the banana I dared him to get anything else for a while. I told him his belly needed a break. At 6:40 he was back in the kitchen, got another water and a pack of peanutbutter and chees crackers. I told him he wasn't allowed to have anything else tonight. Of course he tried and I made him stop. But if he could have snuck and got something he would have. This has been going on for the last few months. If I buy snack packs of candy bars, I have to put them up and give them to him one at a time, because he will grab the whole pack and run to his room and set and eat everyone of them. I couldn't tell you how many empty cracker wrappers and candy wrappers I have found stuffed away in his room. And if he's not eating, he wants to be drinking something. I know he is growing. Grew 3 inches in the last 5 months, but he also put on 20 pounds in the last 5 months. Has anyone else seen this compulsion out of there child.?

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Is he on a steroid? It may be an oral fixation. Will he chew a sugar free gum instead? But don't get gum with splenda or aspartame as a sugar substitute.

 

Also, if he wants to eat a lot right now, it may be time to do an overhaul on the fridge and cabinets. All the high fructose corn syrup (hfcs), food dyes, etc will make him hyper. If you eat enough of it, you almost get addicted to it.

 

Don't replace soda, with diet, but they do have all natural carbonated drinks for kids so he can still get that fizz. If you want to keep soda on hand as an occassional treat, right now they are producing "throwback" soda w/ sugar instead of hfcs. But limit what is in the fridge, and store the remainder in a backroom. Don't tell him where the rest is. He'll sneak them.

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i agree what you are describing sounds like compulsive activity. . . but. . .

 

when my son first had symptoms, he had outrageous thirst. he's not much of a drinker or eater normally. he was only 4 and at times, he'd cry b/c he was so thirsty - then he'd drink down an 8 oz or more cup of water in 2 seconds - normally, he may drink 2-3 oz at a time. i was able to note this b/c his brother is a huge water drinker and i always thought the contrast was interesting.

 

before we found pandas, we were investigating yeast - i don't know how it's all related but think it is. i believe his major trouble is pandas and strep and possibly had yeast due to the strep causing imbalance.

 

could it have some basis in that he is truly physically hunger/thirsty?

 

i myself love carbonated water with flavoring - be sure to check the label for nothing added but flavor - they often have sugar or HCFS.

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Hi - Since my dd's second episode she has been a picky eater but before then was ok. During both episodes however, her hunger did increase. I couldn't decide if it was true hunger or a kind of comfort/distraction thing 'cos she was having so many intrusive thoughts or if it was indeed a compulsion. It went away when the episode ended and was replaced by picky eating..

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I can't remember, is your son on any medications currently? Many can increase hunger exponentially, plus, as you've noted, he's entering teenage-hood, and to some extent, more eating comes with the territory in our experience. Though I think some of the other folks have made a good point in that regard; it might be time to get the snack cakes and simple carbs out of his reach and put some more fruits and protein options within easy access so that at least he's munching on some healthier stuff.

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We are on the way other end of the spectrum, so can't relate at all, lol.

 

but I'm curious too, if any meds were started in the last few months? that could be a side effect. OR, just being 13 and going thru the spurt of puberty. but 20 lbs in five months? lol, my child has not gained 20 pounds in the last five years!..... :D

 

 

Faith

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Just wondering, has anyone else had a child to have a compulsion with eating? I know my son will be 13 in March and it is normal at this age for them to have a big appetite. However, he is litterally obsessed with food right now. He wants to stick something in his face constantly.

Example: This evening when he came home from school, he put his bookbag in his room and went straight to the fridge and got a soda. Then to the cabinet and got a snack cake. Not 5 minutes later he was eating cheese nabs. I told him I had spagetti on and it would be ready in a few minutes. When I gave him the spagetti he handed me the cheese nabs back. My husband will not eat spagetti, he had salsberry steak and mashed potatoes. Before you couldnot have made Harley eat salsberry steak. Anyways as soon as he finished his bowl of spagetti he asked his dad if he could have some salsberry steak and mashed potatoes. When he finished this he got a bottle of water and drank it straight down. About 10 minutes later he eat a cup of apple sauce and grabbed a banana off the table. All of this was between 4 and 6 this evening. When he got the banana I dared him to get anything else for a while. I told him his belly needed a break. At 6:40 he was back in the kitchen, got another water and a pack of peanutbutter and chees crackers. I told him he wasn't allowed to have anything else tonight. Of course he tried and I made him stop. But if he could have snuck and got something he would have. This has been going on for the last few months. If I buy snack packs of candy bars, I have to put them up and give them to him one at a time, because he will grab the whole pack and run to his room and set and eat everyone of them. I couldn't tell you how many empty cracker wrappers and candy wrappers I have found stuffed away in his room. And if he's not eating, he wants to be drinking something. I know he is growing. Grew 3 inches in the last 5 months, but he also put on 20 pounds in the last 5 months. Has anyone else seen this compulsion out of there child.?

 

 

Mine's 16 and can really put away some food. That's just a teen boy in many ways. I love to see a healthy appetite on him since when he's really struggling, he'll limit the amount of food he allows himself to eat. Since boys at that age tend to pack away a lot of food, I'm kind of careful about what's in the house. Soda only comes in 2 liter bottles and even then its only on a night when we have pizza. I always have iced tea and 2 types of juice in the house. Water at all meals. No snack cakes but I do make cupcakes (for portion control)and cookies occasionally. I'm more apt to make an apple crisp using fresh apples and oatmeal or rice krispie treats to cut wheat. I put Yoplait Whips yogurt cups in the freezer for a cold snack. Always have grapes and will move heaven and earth to get my hands on fresh blueberries regardless of the season (and often price). I've found that if I slowly narrow his options, he manages to find a string of suitable substitutes.

 

Gat's mom.

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I certainly remember my brother and cousins eating like that at his age and it seems that it could be normal, though it's slightly suspicious that he is choosing primarily junk food, it sounds like. Real "compulsive eating" is generally done furtively and in kind of a frenzied manner. Was he depressed or in some way restricting food or very "fussy" about food before this? If so, he may be making up for lost time and weight and it may settle down after a while. Once my anorexia "went away" suddenly when I was a teen, I could not stop eating, especially high calorie foods, and I put on weight at a scary rate. It did look like compulsive eating just based on the volume I took in and the fact that my appetite never ceased - but it leveled off when I got to where I was supposed to be. If he is becoming significantly overweight that is one thing, but if he is going from too skinny to regular or is just "filling out" like teens do, then he may well just be following his body's signals and I would be reluctant to try to quash it, though if it were me I would be a limit on the candy etc!.

 

Just wondering, has anyone else had a child to have a compulsion with eating? I know my son will be 13 in March and it is normal at this age for them to have a big appetite. However, he is litterally obsessed with food right now. He wants to stick something in his face constantly.

Example: This evening when he came home from school, he put his bookbag in his room and went straight to the fridge and got a soda. Then to the cabinet and got a snack cake. Not 5 minutes later he was eating cheese nabs. I told him I had spagetti on and it would be ready in a few minutes. When I gave him the spagetti he handed me the cheese nabs back. My husband will not eat spagetti, he had salsberry steak and mashed potatoes. Before you couldnot have made Harley eat salsberry steak. Anyways as soon as he finished his bowl of spagetti he asked his dad if he could have some salsberry steak and mashed potatoes. When he finished this he got a bottle of water and drank it straight down. About 10 minutes later he eat a cup of apple sauce and grabbed a banana off the table. All of this was between 4 and 6 this evening. When he got the banana I dared him to get anything else for a while. I told him his belly needed a break. At 6:40 he was back in the kitchen, got another water and a pack of peanutbutter and chees crackers. I told him he wasn't allowed to have anything else tonight. Of course he tried and I made him stop. But if he could have snuck and got something he would have. This has been going on for the last few months. If I buy snack packs of candy bars, I have to put them up and give them to him one at a time, because he will grab the whole pack and run to his room and set and eat everyone of them. I couldn't tell you how many empty cracker wrappers and candy wrappers I have found stuffed away in his room. And if he's not eating, he wants to be drinking something. I know he is growing. Grew 3 inches in the last 5 months, but he also put on 20 pounds in the last 5 months. Has anyone else seen this compulsion out of there child.?

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Thanks for everyones replies!

He is not on any medication at this time. He use to be very, very, picky and underweight. However, he is making up for it now.LOL He's not overweight at the moment. I'm just afraid that if he doesn't slow down, we are headed in that direction.

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It sounds to me like what you're seeing may be improvement! If he is going from underweight and way too "picky" or restrictive to eating a wider range of foods and growing into a more normal physique, I wouldn't worry about it for now, personally. His body probably is truly ravenous if that's the case and maybe his mind is finally getting out of the way. Like I said, my experience was that the crazy appetite and non-stop eating leveled off after my body caught up. If he starts to get fat or to be very secretive and weird about his eating (middle of the night binges, etc.), or to obsess about food even when he's sated or to the point where it interferes with e.g. sleep, concentrating at school, etc., then I would start to worry, but it doesn't sound like you're quite there, to me, based on what you wrote.

 

Just my 2 cents!

 

Thanks for everyones replies!

He is not on any medication at this time. He use to be very, very, picky and underweight. However, he is making up for it now.LOL He's not overweight at the moment. I'm just afraid that if he doesn't slow down, we are headed in that direction.

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Mrigsby,

 

I'm envious. I'm waiting for my limited eater to hit that stage. I do understand the worry of it swinging too far in the other direction tho, too.

 

A gastro dr. recently told us that she felt my oldest son (not the picky eater) had a virus that affected the nerves in his stomach. As I was snooping around trying to fit that in the equation, I ran into some info on "CCK," and anxiety (we had some panic attacks in the middle of the night that I haven't seen in years). This is wiki info that I thought you might want to read thru.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghrelin

 

Ghrelin

 

Ghrelin levels in the plasma of obese individuals are lower than those in leaner individuals[19] except in the case of Prader-Willi syndrome-induced obesity. Those suffering from the eating disorder anorexia nervosa have high plasma levels of ghrelin compared to both the constitutionally thin and normal-weight controls.[20] These findings suggest that ghrelin plays a role in both anorexia and obesity.

 

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cholecystokinin

 

Cholecystokinin

 

Neurobiology

As a neuropeptide, CCK mediates satiety by acting on the CCK receptors distributed widely throughout the central nervous system. In humans, it has been suggested that CCK administration causes nausea and anxiety, and induces a satiating effect. Some studies have given a strong correlation for the satiating effect, but have not proven or disproven that CCK administration causes nausea or anxiety.[3] The mechanism for this hunger suppression is thought to be a decrease in the rate of gastric emptying.[4]

 

CCK also has stimulatory effects on the vagus nerve, effects that can be inhibited by capsaicin.[citation needed] The stimulatory effects of CCK oppose those of ghrelin, which has been shown to inhibit the vagus nerve.[citation needed] The CCK tetrapeptide fragment CCK-4 (Trp-Met-Asp-Phe-NH2) reliably causes anxiety when administered to humans, and is commonly used in scientific research to induce panic attacks for the purpose of testing new anxiolytic drugs.[5]

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