Craving Carbs

Hey all! I am new to the site and to Lyme Disease. I've been sick for 4 years, but just got diagnosed on New Year's Eve. I started my first round of oral antibiotics January 2 and unfortunately two hours later learned the joy of the herx reaction. So with all the usual herxing fun, I've had pretty severe nausea, vomiting at times and a complete lack of appetite. I eat twice a day so I'm able to take my meds, but if I didn't have to take them with food, I wouldn't eat at all. So, I've been trying to do a meal replacement shake and a cleansing soup that is packed full of nutrients and anti-inflammatory goodies. The problem is that when I do have a wave of appetite (which usually last 10-20 minutes) all I want to eat is carbs. Rice, pasta, toast, potatoes, etc and they seem to be the only things that don't make me feel instantly sick to my stomach or induce vomiting.

Does anybody else have this issue?
If so, what do you do to help with the cravings, and what other foods have helped settle your stomach?

I know it can also be secondary to candida die off, which I've gone through in the past, but now my focus is more on Lyme (obviously). So, I'm wondering if this carb craving/belly settling is one of those random things that comes with herxing.

I just received my Lyme Diet book and am working on cutting out gluten, dairy, sugar and anything processed. Since I first got sick in 2011 I have changed my diet drastically, so adjusting again will be easy. Only one I started to eat again in the past year is gluten. I cut it out for 1.5 years and felt no difference, so my dr at that time told me to add it back in slowly, but that was before i got my Lyme diagnosis.

Sorry to ramble, but just wanted to give everybody a little background information.

Thanks guys and hope to get a response! This is my first time writing a post on a site like this so I'm not sure exactly how it all works yet.

Thanks for the reply!
I have looked through the "new to lyme" posts, but could definitely look through it closer now that I'm feeling a little less overwhelmed by everything.

I am currently taking 2 oral antibiotics daily, twice and day and pulsing with a third 2 days a week, twice a day.

Thank you for the tips! I will definitely try them out. I'll try anything that might help!

Just hate craving carbs because I know I should be eating nutrient dense snacks and meals when I do eat, but so far I just haven't had much luck! Plus, I love, love, love food so I really miss my appetite!

Thanks again!

Welcome, kkarcher14!

I was also new a few months ago; when I first began the antibiotics the carb cravings were intense. At first i craved refined sugar like a crazy person--eating bags of candy even though it was making me feel sick. I started replacing the bags of candy with dried fruit, and then fresh fruit, and finally the cravings for straight sugar went away after a couple of weeks.

The craving for other refined carbs followed after my first herx 5 weeks after starting treatment.

I just had my second round of herxing right at the new year for 10 days (at the end of another bacteria life-cycle, I believe) and the sugar cravings are back, albeit less insanely intense than when treatment first started. I lost my appetite for awhile too in the first month of treatment, but with this recent round of cravings I am like a bottomless pit for all foods. Trying to eat complex carbs to stay full and be diligent with the healthy eating plan until this subsides, which I know it will. Hopefully this is just a phase for you as well....

Taking doxy and amoxy plus herbs now. The doxy will randomly work fine--especially when taken with food, but then at unpredictable times it will have me laid out in bed with nausea or throwing up until it's out of my system. This is especially true if I take in any hot beverages or take a detox bath close to dosing time. Doxy + heat is a big no-no for my body, apparently.

Good luck with everything you are doing, and hope to see more posts from you!

Maui

Welcome, kk!

decent carbs: try beans, kale. a lot of things have carbs in them but beans help with detox, so those are the "good" carbs. If you want to have rice, at least use the brown rice. Want something sweet: Have a green apple high in vit C or make a pie with green apples.

Use cilantro in the beans, onions, and garlic: all 4 are your good ingredients :)

There is low carb pasta available but it's so bad, I thought I would throw up from it, lol

also: try to make bread or pancakes with almond or coconut flour. I made tacos with low carb flour too. If you have the energy, you will find recipes on line. You can eat everything you want if you change the flour and the syrups.

There will be bad days, but keep the attitude you have today and you will beat it! Don't let it get bigger than you!

Simela- thanks for the list. I will definitely try and incorporate more good carbs into my diet and see if that helps. My fiancé made a lentil, bean and vegetable, including kale soup. for me for the week, so hopefully that will curb some of my cravings and give me lots of good nutrients!

Pirouette- thank you for the links! I will definitely look into them. As for probiotics, yes. I take two different kinds every day. Oral Nystatin three times a day is also part of my treatment regimen since I was prone to yeast infections and overgrowth prior to starting antibiotics. So, if i resist my carb cravings my body will eventually stop craving them? I am definitely trying to ignore my cravings for carbs and my occasional sugar cravings, but sometimes carbs are all I can stomach :(

Kk—

If you are craving carbs due to a yeast/fungal overgrowth, yes—getting the overgrowth under control will stop the cravings. It's a great feeling. ;)

If you are taking the pill form of Nystatin you might want to upgrade to the pure powder form of Nystatin. Manufacturers crammed all sorts of fillers and other stuff into the pills so they are far less potent—and a lot more expensive than the pure powder form. I shared about the powder in the link I posted above… it is WELL WORTH switching.

-p

Hang in there!! Keep posting about your progress…

-p

Astroman- sorry for the confusion, my brain fog has been absolutely awful since I started my antibiotics and I see no end in site.
To answer your question... it is definitely seems like it's my body craving the carbs. I usually do not eat a lot of carbs and the only other time I've felt cravings like this for them is when I was being treated for Candida overgrowth in my gut.
Since these carb cravings have started I've tried to ignore them and eat other things, but when I do I'm still nauseas. When I eat carbs like toast, pasta, crackers etc my nausea is gone for a short time.

I am not hypoglycemic, but I'm sure my blood sugar isn't very stable right now since I have no appetite and only eat when I take my meds because I have to.