Inflammatory bowel disease is a condition which affects many thousands of people throughout the United States each year. This condition can be acute, meaning that it comes about for a short period of time and for a specific reason which is temporary, or it may also be chronic, meaning that it continues to persist for months.
Inflammatory bowel disease is also often referred to as irritable bowel syndrome. It generally refers to persistent upset of the digestive system and can make for a number of difficulties in gaining the proper nutrition. There are some potentially harmful effects on weight that are associated with this condition as well. Read on for a brief guide on how inflammatory bowel disease can affect your weight.
Inflammatory Bowel Disease and Nutrition
Whatever the exact cause of your inflammatory bowel disease, the result will be that your digestive tract will be less able to properly break down food into its constituent parts. When you are not able to do this, your body tends to push the food that you eat through your system quickly and without breaking it down. As this happens, nutrients in the food are left unfiltered and unused when you evacuate the food waste from your system. As a result, you don’t receive the nutrients that you normally would from the food, and you go undernourished.
The immediate result of this process is that you’ll begin to lose weight. Unfortunately, this is not a healthy way of losing weight, because it will compromise a number of your other bodily functions. Inflammatory bowel disease that persists for a great deal of time can actually cause serious risks in terms of malnutrition, so it’s crucial that you monitor your health closely and take proper measures to reduce the symptoms of this disease.
Inflammatory Bowel Disease and Hydration
Inflammatory bowel disease leads to a variety of symptoms, but one of the most common is diarrhea. Diarrhea occurs as a result of your digestive system not being able to properly digest the food that you eat. When you have diarrhea you tend to lose more fluid than you normally would through bowel movements. This process results in dehydration.
One of the results of the process of dehydration that can occur when you suffer from chronic or persistent diarrhea is weight loss. This happens as the fluid levels in your body go down. It’s not likely that you’ll continue to lose a great deal of weight for this reason, but you may find that your energy levels continue to drop. Left unchecked, dehydration due to diarrhea can become a serious medical concern very quickly.
If you suspect that you have inflammatory bowel disease, visit a doctor for an examination as quickly as you can so that you can begin treatment procedures.
