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Dramatic and rapid weight loss - Does this happen with UC?

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Posted 6/1/2014 5:23 PM (GMT 0)
I know in Chrohn's and Crohn's-Colitis the weight loss is very dramatic, and fast. Personally have lost 10lbs+ in just over a week in the past when I flare. I'm curious if similar happens with UC. Rapid and dramatic weight loss - or perhaps water/fat weight loss.

I assume, and have read a bit of people talk about this, but wanted to ask others.

Also I'm curious if there are any that have UC that don't have weight loss.
Posted 6/1/2014 5:26 PM (GMT 0)
haha you've seen me mark. i dropped from 130 to 84 lbs within 6 months. i'd say that's pretty fast.

katie (embers) has also dropped a lot of weight very quickly.
Posted 6/1/2014 5:32 PM (GMT 0)
No weight loss. Never any weight loss.

Actually, it is very, very hard for me to lose weight since diagnosis. I had been slowly gaining, despite times when I had a very limited diet. I've been fighting tooth & nail to lose, and I'm finally down 12 pounds after four months. It used to come off so much easier, but I guess I'm also a few years older.
Posted 6/1/2014 5:34 PM (GMT 0)
I personally havent lost any weight from UC (been in a flare for almost 5 years now). That being said I havent been able to put any on either. The weight loss and malnutrition usually comes from a decrease in food intake, so I would assume its proportional to how much you decrease
Posted 6/1/2014 5:54 PM (GMT 0)
Yes, I loose about 20 pounds in a couple weeks at the onset of my uc flareups, before the pred and other meds kick in.
Posted 6/1/2014 5:57 PM (GMT 0)
Flares cause little change in weight. Slows me down and can't/don't want to exercise. Muscle turns into fat. Post flare I gain like crazy. Starving all the time. Age is a factor but my once manageable weight problem isn't anymore. I have been exercising and dieting at a level that would cause me to drop 10 lbs a month in the past. I lost 3 in 3 months. 3 glasses of water worth. Starving Armenian with a pot belly. skull
Posted 6/1/2014 6:34 PM (GMT 0)
Ugh... when I got really sick I went down quick. November to February I went from 165ish (was 172 when UC started in june) to 125 lbs.
honestly the smallest I have been in 15+ years... since Middle School.
Posted 6/1/2014 6:37 PM (GMT 0)
I loose weight all the time. In a few of my bad flares I've gone from 170 to 115 in 3 weeks. Always a struggle with weight for me.
Posted 6/1/2014 6:39 PM (GMT 0)
lost about 35 with my initial flare
Posted 6/1/2014 6:52 PM (GMT 0)
I would always lose weight when things got bad. Last May/June I lost 20 lbs when things started getting bad again, then in September I lost another 15, and by December I was down to 108 lbs. (from a normal weight of 155ish). Seeing yourself waste away on top of the increasing fatigue, loss of muscle (I was alway pretty in shape and worked out), and the increasing weakness that came with it was definitely one of the worst and most mentally challenging things for me to deal with.
Posted 6/1/2014 7:07 PM (GMT 0)
My best guess is that rapid weight loss is associated with pancolitis and especially backwash ileitis in UC patients. Aside from the weight loss that arises from voluntary dietary restrictions to control symptoms (which -- don't get me wrong -- can be significant), weight loss from a flare is going to come from calories not being absorbed properly in the small intestine. The further away from the small intestine the inflammation, the less likely you are to face that problem.

When I was diagnosed only about 2/3 of the my colon was inflamed (and the scope did go through to the TI), and I hadn't really lost any weight. Colonoscopy about five months later showed total pancolitis as well as backwash ileitis, and that was when the weight loss became relentless for me -- I lost about 35 lb in a few weeks, went back on prednisone, and continued to lose slowly (a pound a week or so) until I had surgery.
Posted 6/1/2014 7:09 PM (GMT 0)
I lost 30lbs the first year I was diagnosed with UC
Have not been able to gain it bac.
Now weigh 98lbs!! turn
Posted 6/1/2014 7:19 PM (GMT 0)
I was always skin and bones when I flared.
Posted 6/1/2014 7:26 PM (GMT 0)
Dramatic and rapid weight loss - Does this happen with UC?

Not everybody loses weight, some actually gain weight from prednisone. But I sure lost weight during my last flare: 5 lbs a week for a total loss of 50 pounds before my flare ended.
Posted 6/1/2014 7:33 PM (GMT 0)

Canada Mark said...
I know in Chrohn's and Crohn's-Colitis the weight loss is very dramatic, and fast. Personally have lost 10lbs+ in just over a week in the past when I flare. I'm curious if similar happens with UC. Rapid and dramatic weight loss - or perhaps water/fat weight loss.

I assume, and have read a bit of people talk about this, but wanted to ask others.

Also I'm curious if there are any that have UC that don't have weight loss.

No, it isn't, not always.

Never had dramatic weight loss of the sort you describe. And my Crohn's colitis was about as severe as it got.

Edit: Maybe it's 'cos in the last couple of years I was on Pred nearly all the time and could eat well on that. I seem to be the only person on this board who responded well to Pred and yet ended up needing surgery. That sucks harder than a black hole.

Post Edited (NiceCupOfTea) : 6/1/2014 1:37:54 PM (GMT-6)

Posted 6/1/2014 8:53 PM (GMT 0)
You're right NCOT - I recall now long ago sitting beside a girl with Crohn's during a Remicade infusion and she was talking about how she gained a lot of weight at the onset of her disease. I remember the other four or so people were laughing because we were all skin and bones compared.

For the record even though I responded wonderfully to Pred as well, I was according to my GI back then heading for surgery regardless. First appointment she even said get comfortable with this thought as she said I have a very aggressive case. I think for me it's well above 20mg/daily which was needed, 20 sort of get's me by. Which cannot be maintained long term... obviously.
Posted 6/1/2014 9:28 PM (GMT 0)
I lost about 30 pounds in the first month. I was thin to begin with so 30 pounds made me look emaciated. I'm indeterminate though, so can't say if its UC or Crohns that did me in. It's a struggle to put the weight back on.
Posted 6/1/2014 9:30 PM (GMT 0)
In the last 14 years I've had both weight loss and weight gain during flaring.
The weight loss was during the worst flare, almost constant diarrhea.
Weight gain was also during bad symptoms, nearly as bad as during weight loss and I've never had prednisone, just Entocort (no loss or gain).

I've not found rhyme or reason for loss/gain. Remission has brought slow weight gain that I'd like to lose but my body is determined to keep it no matter how much I go to the gym or have no desserts. Oh well.

This disease is weird.

Post Edited (imagardener2) : 6/1/2014 3:43:52 PM (GMT-6)

Posted 6/1/2014 9:32 PM (GMT 0)
I never lost weight, not even at my worst. I'm a typical middle aged American who can gain weight by just looking at food. I weigh myself every day and if I gain a few pounds then I know I have to cut back and lose it before I turn into a hippo.
Posted 6/1/2014 9:47 PM (GMT 0)
It was really after diagnosis that I gained weight, probably about fifteen pounds. That was the first time I've ever been on steroids, and I found that 'steroid weight' very, very hard to get rid of. I was off of oral steroids for six months before I lost a pound. I am about back down to what I weighed at diagnosis (with severe pancolitis, while hospitalized.)

I think my body is just really good at panic mode. :-/
Posted 6/1/2014 10:52 PM (GMT 0)
I don't think weight loss has much, if anything, to do with the severity of your disease.

I did lose a lot of weight, but only gradually, over the course of a few years. And most of that weight loss came about through hardly eating anything; I ate less partly to control my symptoms and partly because I'd become rather anorexic in my thinking.

Was never a natural waif, though, so the moment I started eating more, my body packed it on. Again, nothing to do with disease severity, 'cos my disease was severe. Steroids were masking the symptoms, but not healing my colon, and I was having repeated hospitalisations whenever I came off the steroids.
Posted 6/1/2014 11:10 PM (GMT 0)
Yes. Even when in remission, I have to eat quite a bit to maintain.

I'm a worrier about almost everything; I'll never worry about possibly being fat.
Posted 6/1/2014 11:51 PM (GMT 0)
Last summer I went from 92 pounds to 85 in about 3 weeks and it took me six months to gain back that weight. I seem to keep gaining these days, I am now up to 95 pounds. I haven't weighed that much since I was pregnant! I am not actively flaring now, but I don't feel as though I have achieved remission yet, either.
Posted 6/2/2014 12:08 AM (GMT 0)
From personal experience, weight gain is a sign of healing. After receiving my UC diagnosis, the old-school doc I initially saw made sure to check my weight first and then we'd talk about it. He was immediately able to tell if I was flaring based on weight loss. Guess he saw some kind of pattern with his patients.

For him weight gain was always a good sign, and I'm beginning to see why.

Of course there are healthy and unhealthy ways to gain weight, but that's for a different topic.
Posted 6/2/2014 1:50 AM (GMT 0)
Some of the weight loss is crazy. Like banana, pluot, charlie, tomuchpoopin and soy stud etc... all 30+pounds ! That's just a little less than 1/3 of ME!

Pluot said...
The further away from the small intestine the inflammation, the less likely you are to face that problem.

This is what got me curious about weight loss and UC in the first place: Someone like ConquerUC might know better being a nutritionist...

Although UC is isolated to the colon, primary or major nutrient absorption I assume (but don't really know) is completed in the small intestine. The left overs basically get fermented or putrified in the colon along with water absorption - but don't know this for sure either.

I was curious if there is weight loss upon flaring in UC - then why? It is fat and water weight loss? Is it like Pluot suggests from dietary restriction and/or disease location... or is there a strong connection where contents are passed through the small intestine to fast? - or is there a global change in mucus or something that interferes with nutrient absorption?

Just wondering out loud... curious.

In any case I had no idea the weight loss could be so severe in UC as well.

@Banana - you look awesome very thin though ;) I on the other hand looked "emaciated" back then!
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