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The original was posted on /r/cfs by /u/dinapalikadd on 2023-11-06 02:35:01.

Hi there, just had a question about if anyone else suffered from extreme hunger/overeating/sugar cravings when they first got CFS.

Basically, when I first really crashed and had no energy (before I went to various doctors who ruled out everything else and found out I had CFS), I couldn’t accept it. I was such an active person before and took a lot of pride in that: exercising most days a week, going on long walks, waking up early, etc. So to accept the fact that my body was shutting down or needed some extreme rest was too hard. Basically, in order to do even an hour of light cleaning was so draining I felt like I had to crawl back to my room after.

Around this time I also started getting wild sugar cravings, and thinking maybe I was just undereating (I had had a mild eating disorder a few years prior so I thought maybe I just wasn’t taking in enough calories). But as I started eating more, I would get a bit more energy followed by hard crashes… which led me to eat again/eat more/eat things high in carbs for energy, and the cycle continued. I just didn’t want to stop the pace I was going at, therefore I kept having to eat just to keep my energy levels up. Even to the point of binging sometimes just to feel better, gain energy, and at least feel normal for a while. Fast forward a year and a half and I’ve gained probably 30lbs.

My quetions is: has anyone else expereienced this? That they just started eating to cope with the lack of energy? Or started having uncontrollable cravings for sweets/carbs when they were really tired?

I see a lot of post for people with CFS that they don’t have energy to eat, therefore they become overweight, but rarely the opposite. Is this because they just accepted that they didn’t have energy and adjusted their life accordingly. What about those of us who just kept pushing on at the same pace (or at least tried to)?

Looking forward to hearing from you all!