People who suffer from Crohn’s disease will find that one of the things that happen to them is weight loss. Why does this occur in this condition? Even if the patient is eating well, there is a tendency to lose weight. However, more often than not, someone with Crohn’s does not feel like eating and this lack of appetite is one of the reasons for weight loss.
The other main reason for losing weight is because the food does not get digested and ingested as it should. Two of the symptoms of Crohn’s disease are ulcers and diarrhea and both the soreness or pain as well as the loose motions can contribute to the person losing weight. With so much of the body fluids being lost, there could also be a tendency to deficiencies as so much nutrition is lost as well. What’s more, besides the nutrition being lost, there is less nutrition being absorbed as the food passes through the digestive tract very fast thanks to so much fluid being expelled into the intestine because of the ulceration.
When there is swelling due to the ulceration, there is a feeling of nausea as well and this also makes the person not want to eat. This poor diet coupled with so much nutritional loss especially protein makes for a lot of weight loss in some people. In fact, in children, the nutritional loss could be very great leading to a stunted growth. Being under a doctor’s care is so vital in this disease. If there are no regular check ups, there could just be sudden complications that could endanger the health and maybe even the life of the patient. This is why the patient is usually put on a strict nutritional diet by the doctor so there is enough nutritional food that is taken every day. Regular monitoring is a must and people who suffer from Crohn’s disease cannot take weight loss lightly but must be alert every step of the way especially when the condition triggers off an active phase.