What process signals when you have eaten enough, and how do some medications blo!
Question: What process signals when you have eaten enough, and how do some medications block that process?
I take Seroquel for bipolar maintenance and have taken it for years. One of the most common side effects is increased appetite. It doesn't make me extra hungry all day, but it makes me absolutely ravenous about an hour or so after I take it. Because of this, I don't keep much food in the house generally, because I know if something is there, I'm going to eat it.
Anyway, we had a party last night for a friend's birthday, and there was a lot of food left over, so I have a ton of food in the house. I started eating and just didn't stop. I got full, and still didn't stop. I ate so much it was painful. I mean, I was absolutely miserable. Not uncomfortably full, but in actual pain. So much so that I, for the first time in my life, made myself throw up.
What is it that signals that you have eaten enough? It seems like if a medication can disable that mechanism, it has to be more than just physically having food in your stomach. I could tell there was enough food in my stomach, but I didn't have the psychological satisfaction of having eaten enough food.
Mostly I'm just curious how this works. How do certain medications increase your appetite and keep you from feeling satisfied even when you have the physical sensation of being full?
And just for the laughter, wanna know the funny part? Now that I've purged, I'm definitely hungry again haha. Don't worry, I'm finished eating for the night. Lesson learned.
Anyway, we had a party last night for a friend's birthday, and there was a lot of food left over, so I have a ton of food in the house. I started eating and just didn't stop. I got full, and still didn't stop. I ate so much it was painful. I mean, I was absolutely miserable. Not uncomfortably full, but in actual pain. So much so that I, for the first time in my life, made myself throw up.
What is it that signals that you have eaten enough? It seems like if a medication can disable that mechanism, it has to be more than just physically having food in your stomach. I could tell there was enough food in my stomach, but I didn't have the psychological satisfaction of having eaten enough food.
Mostly I'm just curious how this works. How do certain medications increase your appetite and keep you from feeling satisfied even when you have the physical sensation of being full?
And just for the laughter, wanna know the funny part? Now that I've purged, I'm definitely hungry again haha. Don't worry, I'm finished eating for the night. Lesson learned.
Answers:
After eating, leptin levels increase and inhibit the firing of NPY, so you feel full. If it has been a while since you’ve eaten, your blood levels of glucose are low and therefore leptin is low, and ghrelin is high.
The circulating levels of ghrelin peak at different times depending on when you have your heaviest meal. People who eat big lunches show ghrelin peaks at a different time than people whose main meal is at night.
Seroquel tends to inhibit the firing of neurons and would affect this action as well.