Hunger Pains and Feeling of an Empty Stomach

Hi Victoria,
I've had that before. It's really only happened to me when I was having issues with heartburn. Contrary to what people say, I'm the type of person that can drink a glass of milk to cure my heartburn (usually). So, when that empty pit feeling of hunger arose, when I knew I wasn't hungry, I'd chug a glass of milk. I could feel the milk coat everything as it went down. As soon as it hit my stomach that feeling would leave me. It may sound odd, but that's what worked for me.
I know lots of people can't have milk... And maybe were not even experiencing the same feeling.     How long does it take for your stomach to stop feeling this way? Usually it takes the brain like 20 minutes to register that it has food in it.

Do you still have a gall bladder? Someone at work told me that she had read that gall bladders help regulate our feelings of fullness and that when they're gone, we have problems regulating our appetites. Sometimes I can eat and eat and eat and not feel full, or even still feel hungry. And sometimes I'm not hungry at all. Unfortunately, I have a lot more hungry days than non-hungry days (my co-worker eats like a bird and is about the size of one, so she apparently gets more of the not-hungry days than the other way around).

The other thing to look into (besides what Lil mentioned) is stomach transit time. Maybe you are having gastric dumping? If you look it up online, you'll find that it's mostly associated with people who have had gastric bypass or even the lap band, but it can occur naturally too. Even if you're not dumping, you can have a transit time that is still too fast. This can happen naturally, or medicines can cause it. Reglen, for one, is made to empty the stomach, and someone was telling me recently that it's also prescribed to people whose bowels move too slowly too. I don't know how Zelnorm works, but it may also speed up digestion in the stomach, as well as in the intestines.

I have the exact same problem... What is the answer? :(

I have had this on and off for 5 years! I also have burning sometimes in my stomach and the hunger/gnawing pain is worse then. I found out I had some gastritis in an endoscopy last year. That could be it, or I also thinking I'm suffering from some functional dyspepsia condition. The gnawing pain happens before, during, and after meals. It really annoying!

Like G k bhatnagar, I too have experienced similar, mine was related to HSV2. IBS diagnosed originally, but in actuality, Herpes Colitis, diagnosis required a biopsy that was tested specifically for Herpes. The severe, systemic reaction, in my case, due to HCP, a type of porphyria ( this one required a DNA test) gets "triggered" by assaults to the neurological/immune system. Needless to say, it really didn't care for an incurable neurological virus! It took years of searching and advocating, the best medical specialists in America, and probably divine help to finally get all the right tests to answer the underlying "why" to the symptoms I was experiencing. I totally altered my eating, and tweak my foods to fit what is happening. My system gets disrupted every time I am exposed to a cold, whether I have immunity or not. And if I catch a bad cold, look out! My system flares up with every HSV type, shingles rash, mouth sores, neurological pain, and my entire gastrointestinal system is a total mess! All from HSV2, infection was almost 10 years ago!

Hi i too suffer from hunger pain before..i ate rice and drink pro biotics like yakult and i works for mo now the hunger pain is gone i thinks rice really ease the hunger feeling cause i takes time to digest in our stomach..

One other possibility is that you're getting dehydrated and the signal is hunger rather than thirst. Especially, if you've had diarrhea. I'm not sure if I can post a link here but look it up. You'd be amazed at all the problems it can cause.