20 year old, gained weight rapidly, constant headaches, lack of energy. Please help?

Question

I am 20, female, in college and i work part time. In the past 2 months, i have gained over 25 lbs. I have always been a healthy, skinny girl, mostly from genetics. I dont work out too much, but i try to eat healthy. Not only have i gained so much weight, i have had constant headaches that get so bad that i get nausous, diahrea, and start feeling jittery. I have had to leave school to go home because of my headaches. I crave food constantly, mostly chocolate and any kind of beef. I never feel like i am full, and when i do get stuffed, within an hour i feel starved again. I make myself wait till breakfast, lunch and dinner to eat, but when it gets close to the hour, I start feeling extremely dizzy, and my headache is much more severe than it was before.

My mother seems to think its just depression, Depression does run in my family, and i was recently taken off of Lexapro. I do not think i am depressed anymore. My life is good! I just wish i didnt feel so sick all the time!

Please help. What to you incourage me to do? My roommate thought i was hypoglycemic because i passed out with her once while we were grocery shopping and she is hypoglycemic. She tested my bloodsugar right there, and told me i should see the doctor. My doctor gave me a glucose tolerance blood test and it came back normal. Should i go in and get full bloodwork done? Somebody told me False negatives happen alot. Please help me feel better! I really want to make these headaches stop!

No, i cannot be pregnant. My boyfriend and i are sexually active, but i am on the pill and i havent missed any of my periods. I really havent worried about that, we are careful!

Answer 1

Sounds as though you need a thyroid test. Tell your doc or the student health services your symptoms and ask for a blood test for your thyroid.

Also, it's not good to limit yourself to 3 large meals a day. It's important to have healthy snacks between 3 light to moderate meals. You're getting into a vicious cycle of eating and starving. When you start to feel jittery, or if it's been a few hours since you ate, have a glass of skim milk and some graham crackers; or some celery and peanut butter; or some whole grain crackers and cheese; or cheese and a piece of fruit. A small snack containing a protein and complex carbohydrate will help keep your blood sugars more even. The glucose tolerance test was most likely correct; but your eating habits are terrible.

People have the mistaken impression that you must "feel full" to be eating correctly and eating enough. That's not true. There's no reason to 'feel full'. If you're eating a well balanced diet, with 3 meals and snacks, you're getting enough in the way of nutrition. Part of the reason you've gained so much weight is because you think you need to be full and you dn't have a healthy snack when you're hungry, but wait until your starved then gorge.

Try not to think about it so much. Start exercizing, walking more and keeping yourself busy with enjoyable activities. Have your condition checked out, but don't dwell on it. And don't automatically question the results of your medical tests; make positive changes in your life.

Answer 2

I would recommend asking a physician to have thryoid bloodwork taken. You might be hyporthyroid, as it can lead to weight gain,hunger, tiredness, and a variety of other symptoms, including depression.

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000353.htm
http://www.endocrineweb.com/hypo1.html

I also agree with your roommate regarding the possibility of hypoglycemia. I believe low thryoid hormones can also lead to similar symptoms. However once, I had one glucose test come back really low and one with normal not too long after.
I am 22 and I experience a lot of the same symtoms you have. at one point a couple of years ago- weight gain, dizziness, etc. I try to eat more protein to keep myself from being dizzy when I am hungry. One of my blood tests also indicated that I had some abnormal thyroid antibody level a few years ago. I hope my answer helps you some. Feel better!

Answer 3

My 5 year old is 41 pounds and 3 ft 9 inches tall and falls into the 50 percentile for his age group in weight and height but my doctor has never suggested feeding him more or any special diet for that matter. As long as you know your child is eating, then you need to relax. 3 pounds is not a huge concern unless your doctor is one of the "the fatter the baby, the better" kind of people.

Answer 4

Headache is a pain in the head, scalp or neck.
Headaches can be caused by minor problems
like eyestrain, lack of coffee or more serious reasons
like head injury, brain tumors, encephalitis and
meningitis. Taking painkillers continuously can
have harmful side effects, so it is better to
modify your lifestyle. More information available at

Answer 5

Go see your physician. Tell him exactly what you told us. He will do a full workup (bloodwork, tests, etc) to find out whats going on. You could be experiencing a number of different conditions. Good luck and all will go well.

Answer 6

Jes,
I agree go see a doctor today is not normal and if you feel so sick why suffer make sure you let them know that you got out of that medication..that could be the cause but please go today and get a full blood work done....
feel better!

Answer 7

Chance of pregnancy?

Answer 8

Just vist my yahoo answer below as long as you are not pregnet

http://ca.answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AsdQpRrgNPEjTAkjd0EuEdXAFQx.?qid=20070218004602AAhtUkx&show=7#profile-info-2d60119dfd8c7b35dde3b4774eb567a6aa

Answer 9

you may be pregnant , or have a low potassium level

Answer 10

Please go see a doctor. You need one right now. Good luck honey!