What are the reasons for sudden weight loss

Some people have had this experience, where they lose a lot of weight in a short period of time, their diet remains normal, and many habits are the same as before, which makes some people worried. Sudden weight loss may be a precursor to illness or a family history of genetic disease. Excessive stress and deteriorating living conditions can also affect your physical condition, but the best way is to go to the hospital for a check-up.

1Genetics and family history

People with constitutional wasting often have a family history but no pathological manifestations. These people may have family members who are relatively thin, so their bodies tend to be thin.

2Economic status and eating habits

The reasons for sudden weight loss include whether the calorie intake is sufficient and whether there is enough protein, whether the person has a partial or unusual diet, whether he has the habit of eating raw fish, shrimp, crab, raw vegetables, and raw beef and mutton. For example, eating raw aquatic plants such as water chestnuts and lotus roots can cause fasciocervical disease, which parasitizes the small intestine and causes diarrhea, digestive dysfunction, and malnutrition; eating raw or undercooked fish, shrimp, and crab can cause infection with Chinese fluke disease, and eating raw stream crabs or tobacco can cause infection with lung fluke disease; eating raw or undercooked beef and pork can cause infection with red worm disease; eating vegetables, fruits, and melons with parasite eggs and drinking unclean water can cause infection with cysticercosis, cysticercosis, ascariasis, etc. All of these diseases can cause weight loss.

Reasons for sudden weight loss

3. Occupation

In southern my country, farmers or fishermen with many paddy fields are infected with schistosomiasis due to repeated contact with infected water contaminated by schistosome tails; in pastoral areas, contact with cattle and sheep sheds may cause infection with cysticercosis; hookworm disease and ascariasis are more common in rural areas, and severe infection may cause weight loss.

4 Hyperthyroidism

If your appetite has not decreased but your weight continues to decrease, and you have a thick neck or experience palpitations, insomnia, etc., you may be suffering from hyperthyroidism. Experts say that it is not as easy to identify hyperthyroidism in the elderly as in the young. About one-third of patients do not have an enlarged thyroid gland, and their main symptom is becoming increasingly thinner.

5. Cancer

Such as colorectal cancer, pancreatic cancer, etc. The early symptoms of cancer are not obvious, but weight loss is definitely one of them. Gastrointestinal surgery experts point out that colorectal cancer, for example, may also be accompanied by painless blood in the stool, so people over 50 years old should be vigilant.

Generally speaking, once a tumor is diagnosed, it may be in the late stage. Therefore, if you find yourself losing weight for unknown reasons, or if someone around you says so, you should be alert. "Tumors need nutrients to grow, and they compete with other organs in the body for nutrients, which makes it easy to lose weight."

6. Diabetes

According to experts , the early symptoms of diabetes are polyuria, polydipsia, polyphagia, accompanied by emaciation. Experts point out that this is because the patient's body does not have enough insulin and cannot fully utilize the glucose in the blood. The body always needs energy. If it cannot use glucose, it can only consume fat, which causes sudden weight loss.

7Liver cirrhosis, ascites

Sudden weight loss can easily lead people to think of liver problems, but many patients do not seek medical treatment in time due to face concerns or being too busy at work. "I saw a patient like this in the outpatient clinic," said a liver disease specialist. "He lost more than 10 kilograms in two months, his eyes were obviously sunken, and he always suffered from insomnia. Upon examination, it turned out that he had cirrhosis of the liver."

Experts point out that suffering from liver diseases such as cirrhosis and ascites will inevitably cause the body's anabolism to decrease and consumption metabolism to increase, and people will lose weight within a few days. Another sign of cirrhosis is weight loss accompanied by fatigue, diarrhea, etc.

8 Chronic gastrointestinal diseases

Suffering from chronic gastrointestinal diseases such as chronic gastritis, peptic ulcer, duodenitis, chronic nonspecific enteritis, etc., will reduce the digestion and absorption function and cause weight loss.