Misterious Night hunger - can it be low stomach acid

Posted by renem97 @renem97, Jun 17, 2023

I have been struggling for the last 3 years with night time hunger.

This has been going on and off. I’m starting to understand what foods make me satisfied and what not, but in general it’s getting worse and harder to manage. Happens almost every day now.

During the day I eat normally, mostly healthy food. I have enough protein and fat in my diet, so I should be full long enough. The problem is, I get very hungry at night. I wake up at 3-5 am and I have to eat something or drink a hot tea, otherwise I just can’t fall asleep again.

For the last 6 months I have been experimenting with different kind of supplements and found out that things like aloe vera, apple cider vinegar and betaine help a lot. I have been using those before every meal and for a while everything was fine. But I developed sore throat, caugh and now it just hurts to swallow. So I had to stop using those supplements, because even though they help with the hunger (it take 650 mg of betaine before bed and everything is fine and I’m not hungry at all). But they burn my esophagus. Just after 1 month of aloe vera 3 times a day I had endoscopy done and the doc told me I have eosinophilic esophagitis, because I had burned esophagus and high eosinophilia (80).

He prescribed me PPIs, high dose - 40mg 2x a day. At that time I had my hunger issues under control but as soon as I started using the PPIs, they came back. I could be full after a meal, then take the PPI and in 15 minutes feel like there is hole in my stomach and it’s completely empty. So I stopped using those, but the hunger continues to this day.

My theory is this - I developed low stomach acid from PPIs (have been taking before), and betaine, ACV and aloe Vera get things back to normal. But for some reason they irritate my esophagus a lot. So I cannot use them anymore.

Please share your thoughts, I’m desperate. I can’t get any sleep, I’m usually awake every night between 3-5am, then not being able to function during the day. I had also colonoscopy, blood work - everything normal.

The main issue is the night hunger. Can it be low stomach acid or GERD? What are your tips?

If you need any more info, I will be happy to share

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jojo | @jord | Jun 22, 2023

I have Gerd and sometimes when I eat, pain goes away. You can have high or low acid or get tested for SIBO. People who take PPIs and H2 Blockers, like me, get Sibo. Tagement did miracle for my Gerd, but after two weeks I got Sibo si can't take them. SIBO symptoms are weird. They say if you have SIBO, you have lower ab bloating and paint. I did not. My symptoms were on upper GI and was tested positive. You can just go on Biotics and try it for 42-46 weeks see if gets better. Amazon sells them...FC Cidal and Dysbiocide.