The word polyphagia, is a medical terminology that serves to indicate the increase in the sensation of eating, this is a pathological symptom that increases the intake of food without reaching the satisfaction of fullness, in other words, it is the need completely out of the normality of ingesting any edible material; A disorder like this can be caused by different pathologies that increase the patient's metabolism, as well as it can be a symptom of a psychological illness. Increased appetiteExcessive can be classified according to the time of duration, in this sense it is considered intermittent in situations that occur in episodes (it appears and disappears for periods of time), as well as it can last for long periods of time.
The causes of polyphagia can be of different kinds, which means that it is not a distinctive symptom of a specific pathology, some that can be mentioned are: anxiety states, it can be an adverse effect of prolonged treatments with therapeutic drugs such as corytosteroids or antidepressants, these eating disorders can be observed in bulimia, where the person has an excessive intake of food and then the emetic reflex (vomiting) is induced, it is mostly observed in age groups that are between 18 and 30 years old, another pathology in which polyphagia is seen is diabetes Mellitus always accompanied by polydipsia (increased thirst).
In turn, polyphagia is seen in immunological pathologies such as grave disease, in this pathology the antibodies act as false TSH (thyrotropin hormone), to generate the hyperproduction of hormones such as T3 / T4 producing hyperthyroidism; it is also seen in premenstrual syndromes and in cases of hypoglycemia.
The treatment of polyphagia will be directly related to the cause of this symptom, so in diabetics it can be eradicated simply by controlling glycemic values, either through food or by medication, in the event that polyphagia occurs due to Psychological disorders such as depression or bulimia, anxiolytic drugs will be indicated that will progressively decrease the need to eat, if drug treatment is interrupted, polyphagia will reappear, for this reason constant medical control is needed.
