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Why am I losing weight?

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Ulcerative Colitis
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Posted 9/8/2014 12:40 PM (GMT 0)
I am currently going through a mild flare up. My symptoms include 1-2 BM per day. The stools are loose and pass very easily. The stools occasionally have a little blood and mucus but not every BM. I have ongoing left sided abdominal pain throughout the day and weird tummy rumblings. I am taking 125mg Imuran and Asacol. Even though my GI doctor has stated that the flare is mild and after a recent colonoscopy, this was confirmed, my calprotectin level is still high at >1800.

I don't understand why I am losing weight though?? It's not as if I am running to the toilet every 5 minutes and I do have formed stools which are looser but still formed. I know I am flaring because when I am not I don't have any symptoms. So I do not understand why I am losing weight. I have lost about 5kg in a few weeks. It's not a huge amount but does it have something to do with the flare. Am I not absorbing food properly?
Posted 9/8/2014 12:48 PM (GMT 0)
" Why am I losing weight?"


" I know I am flaring "


;-)
Posted 9/8/2014 12:58 PM (GMT 0)
Flares make you loose weight due to several things: your appetite drops due to flare symptoms (abdominal discomfort, etc.), flares speed up your intestinal tract so you cannot absorb as much nutrients from your food, an inflamed intestine is not as good at absorbing water as a normal one so you can loose water weight due to dehydration even if you are not having a lot of diarrhea (a liter of water weighs a kilogram) but it is a lot more pronounced with diarrhea. Keep hydrated, eat extra snacks and food to help slow the weight loss process, and get your flare under control as quickly as you can as that's the best solution to weight loss. It is not unusual to loose 9-10kgs (20-22lbs) or more rather quickly during a flareup. Good luck,
Posted 9/8/2014 1:22 PM (GMT 0)
In the end it all boils down to how many calories you take in compared to how many you burn. There can be a lot of variables as ipoop mentioned but this is always the bottom line. My personal opinion is that you are either consciously or subconsciously eating less than you should be. If you eat more you may experience more BM's per day but that is only because that is where you should be given your current condition as evidenced by the CRP level. In other words, you are only having 1-2 BM's per day because you aren't eating enough. Unfortunately, constantly losing 5kgs every few weeks to only have a couple of BM's per day can't go on forever. Sounds to me like you need a better treatment plan so you can eat more.
Posted 9/8/2014 2:30 PM (GMT 0)
"Am I not absorbing food properly?"

Ya think ?
Posted 9/8/2014 2:33 PM (GMT 0)
Gary Louis I like your theory but I am not sure if it is correct. I am making sure that I eat three meals a day and have snacks too. The only thing I have noticed is that my appetite has diminished ever so slightly as I am eating smaller portions. I used to get really hungry just before lunch time and dinner time but now I don't feel like that. I still eat but I don't feel like I am starving like I used to be! I do exercise a lot (I run four times a week and do free weights and pull ups and running after a one year old!) so that may also be contributing to the weight loss. Even when I eat my meals and have a few snacks in the day, I still only have two BM's per day.
Posted 9/8/2014 2:37 PM (GMT 0)
ipoop - I always thought nutrients were absorbed in the small intestine and water, potassium and salt are absorbed from the large intestine. As UC sufferers do not have any issue with their small intestines then absorbtion of vitamins/nutrients should not be an issue for us. The water weight comment seems correct though as I guess I am losing more fluid because my stools are looser.
Posted 9/8/2014 2:52 PM (GMT 0)
Happychick, yes the small intestine absorbs nutrients, however, your transit time is sped up throughout your whole gasterointestinal tract during uc flareups (both healthy and unhealthy parts of it). So even though your small intestine is normal, it is moving things far faster than it would normally thus less nutrients are absorbed. At the worst of my yearlong flareup, I had about a 4 hour transit time from mouth to bm (normal is about 24 hours), and I saw recognizable, not fully-digested greens, cheeses, and meat within my bms.
Posted 9/8/2014 4:13 PM (GMT 0)

iPoop said...
Flares make you loose weight due to several things: your appetite drops due to flare symptoms (abdominal discomfort, etc.), flares speed up your intestinal tract so you cannot absorb as much nutrients from your food, an inflamed intestine is not as good at absorbing water as a normal one so you can loose water weight due to dehydration even if you are not having a lot of diarrhea (a liter of water weighs a kilogram) but it is a lot more pronounced with diarrhea. Keep hydrated, eat extra snacks and food to help slow the weight loss process, and get your flare under control as quickly as you can as that's the best solution to weight loss. It is not unusual to loose 9-10kgs (20-22lbs) or more rather quickly during a flareup. Good luck,

I completely agree. I began adding 'waxy maize starch' into each protein shake to keep a stead supply of carbs and boost calories in an effort to stop weight loss. Sugars just spike and make you fat.

So many pills for constipated Americans, so few pills for rapid transit slowdown.
Posted 9/8/2014 4:22 PM (GMT 0)
Has anyone taken protein shakes to help their uc?
Posted 9/8/2014 4:59 PM (GMT 0)

Happychick said...
Has anyone taken protein shakes to help their uc?

Of course but protein shakes wont 'help' your UC they help with weight loss.

I only use 'Hydrolyzed' whey protein because its already broken down and easily absorbed, NOW brand chocolate is very easy on my system.

www.luckyvitamin.com/p-552089-now-foods-whey-protein-hydrolysate-creamy-chocolate-2-lbs?utm_source=googlebase&utm_medium=fpl&utm_term=NOWFoodsWheyProteinHydrolysateCreamyChocolate2lbs&utm_content=132527&utm_campaign=googlebase&site=google_base&scid=scplp6423576&gclid=CIDf756M0sACFeRj7Aod3HAAjQ&

I also dump in a full scoop of Prima Force Waxy Maize Starch for added slow burning calories.


www.dpsnutrition.net/i/15056/primaforce-carb-slam-waxy-maize-starch-unflavored-5.95-lb.htm?sc=GOOGLEBASE&k=PE082&utm_source=GOOGLEBASE&utm_medium=datafeed&utm_campaign=PE082&gclid=CKCR3oqM0sACFUVo7AodPAUAYQ


I consume this upon rising, before/after heavy lifting, before bed and in the middle of the night. I consume a few psyllium husk pills with each serving to keep fiber up.
Posted 9/8/2014 11:32 PM (GMT 0)
To check your digestive transit try swallowing a couple of charcoal tablets and see how long it is before you poo is black then you can have an idea where your at.
Rage
Posted 9/9/2014 1:04 AM (GMT 0)
I lost 25 KG in three months during my last flare. That was fine by me as I was overweight by about 25 KG anyway. Happily I've been able to keep it off, but I can't really afford to lose more.
Posted 9/9/2014 3:58 AM (GMT 0)
RE Protein Shakes: I found that the protein shakes made my urgency issues worse when flaring. I tried both protein powders mixed in milk, water, or rice milk... and also generic ensure. It all made me need to hit the ground running towards the pot. Wasn't fun.

I saw a nutritionist to try to gain weight while I was still having symptoms. I averaged 3,500+ calories a day between meetings one time and lost weight. It's just tricky to manage sometimes.

I found high calorie foods like peanut butter (smooth) helped. I kept drinking the ensures (the plus ones that were 350 calories each) every day anyway to try to gain weight.

I'm too tired to make sense of the forum much more tonight. Ask with any questions and I'll try to respond tomorrow evening.
Posted 9/9/2014 10:51 AM (GMT 0)
In terms of my digestive transit, I have a BM around 7.30am when I wake up and then another about three hours later. Then after that I do not have another BM until the following morning. So between my second BM and my following BM there is a good 24 hour gap. So surely my transit time is good for a UC patient??
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