Are you always hungry, but not gaining weight? You might have polyphagia.

Polyphagia is a compound word which literally means "eating too much". In medicine, sometimes called hyperphagia is a medical sign meaning excessive hunger and abnormally large intake of solids by mouth.

Secondly, it could be a psychological reason for excessive eating such as bulimia or anorexia.

This disorder and symptom in diabetics is caused by the lack of glucose in your body's cells. When your body is lacking insulin or you are resistant to it, sugar builds up in your blood.

When this happens the cells in your body think they are starving, hence you feel hungry. This causes you to want to eat more, causing the sugar levels in your blood to rise more. Yet the sugar is still not getting into the cells.

In type 1 this becomes a cycle in which you eat more, your blood sugar rises, you are using the restroom more and you are not gaining weight or maybe even losing weight. When this happens the body starts burning fat and muscle tissue for fuel because it cannot use the sugar. This can lead to ketoacidosis.

In type 2 the same cycle happens, but your body keeps producing more insulin. When this happens your body converts as much of the excess sugar it can into fat. This is why type 2 diabetics gain a lot of weight.

After you have been diagnosed and are taking medications to control your diabetes you can have low blood sugars. This can trigger your automatic nervous system to produce symptoms of hunger, shakiness, ketoacidosis and possibly a nausea's feeling.

Treatment of polyphagia is directed at its cause. For instance, for a type 1 insulin can be administered by syringe, pump or the new inhaler. For a type 2 anti diabetic agents and insulin may be prescribed. These will help move the sugar into your cells and your abnormal hunger will decrease.

There are other causes of polyphagia which include gestational diabetes, anxiety, depression, growth spurts, bipolar disorder, bulimia, premenstrual syndrome, pregnancy and some drugs;Including corticosteroids, antidepressants, anti diabetic agents (e.g., sulfonylurea’s), antibiotics, anticonvulsants (sometimes used to treat diabetic neuropathy), antihistamines and cholesterol drugs.

Some other things that may cause polyphagia are intestinal parasites, damage to the hypothalamus (the part of your brain that controls hunger), hyperadrenalism (high levels of adrenaline) and hyperthyroidism (a high level of thethyroid hormone).

The only way to be sure of what the cause is in you is to seek out a competent doctor. He will run numerous tests to determine what the cause is including blood tests, urine tests, toxicology screening and possibly a CAT scan. Be prepared when you see your doctor he will have many questions to ask you, such as;