When is losing weight a concern

Medications include disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs, corticosteroids, biologics, and Janus associated kinase inhibitors.

Another cause of unwanted weight loss is type 1 diabetes. If you have type 1 diabetes, your immune system attacks cells in your pancreas that make insulin. This causes high blood glucose. Treatment of type 1 diabetes includes insulin, blood sugar monitoring, diet modifications, and exercise.

Weight loss may be a side effect of depression , which is defined as feeling sad, lost, or empty for at least two weeks. These emotions interfere with daily activities, such as going to work or school.

Depression affects the same parts of the brain that control appetite. This can lead to poor appetite, and eventually, weight loss. In some people, depression may increase appetite. The symptoms vary from person to person.

Other symptoms of depression include:. Behavioral therapy , psychotherapy, and antidepressants are used to treat depression. Unexpected weight loss may be a symptom of inflammatory bowel disease IBD. IBD is a term that encompasses several chronic inflammatory disorders of the digestive tract.

IBD also disrupts ghrelin, the hunger hormone, and leptin, the satiety hormone. This results in decreased appetite and weight loss. These symptoms are triggered by certain foods. If you have IBD, you might be hesitant to eat. Treatment of IBD usually consists of nutritional support, medication, and in some cases, surgery. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease COPD is a progressive lung disease. This includes emphysema and chronic bronchitis.

Many people with COPD have both. Emphysema slowly damages the air sacs in your lungs, making it hard to breathe. Chronic bronchitis causes inflammation of the airways that bring air to your lungs. This produces mucus, coughing, and breathing issues. In later stages, COPD can cause weight loss. Labored breathing burns a lot of calories. It can also feel uncomfortable to eat and breathe at the same time. The main cause of COPD is cigarette smoking. Long-term exposure to irritants such as air pollution and dust can also lead to COPD.

Treatment includes medications, such as bronchodilators, and lung therapies, like oxygen therapy. It develops when germs —usually bacteria — enter the bloodstream and collect in your heart.

Most people with endocarditis have a fever. This may come along with a poor appetite. Elevated body temperature also increases metabolism and burns fat, causing weight loss.

Endocarditis is rare in healthy hearts. Treatment of endocarditis includes antibiotics and surgery. Another cause of unexplained weight loss is tuberculosis TB , a contagious condition that usually affects the lungs.

Urine and blood tests, as well as imaging scans, can find signs of cancer or another condition that may be behind your weight loss. Unexplained rapid weight loss can be a sign of cancer, and certain cancer treatments can be the cause of rapid weight loss.

There are many causes of unexplained weight loss. Not all weight loss is serious, but it could also…. Sometimes cancer can develop without warning, but many cases have warning signs. Discover those warning signs of cancer here. The earlier you detect…. People often associate night sweats with cancer, but a number of other things can cause them. Learn more about the causes and treatments.

Stress can have a direct impact on your weight. Whether it causes weight loss or gain can vary from situation to situation. In some cases, stress may…. Research on whether talcum powder causes cancer is mixed, with some studies demonstrating only a small increase in risk of certain cancers. Learn more.

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We take a look at anthracycline drugs. Experts say new blood tests may dramatically change cancer diagnostics, although more research is needed. There are lots of possible symptoms such as:. Another typical symptom is losing weight despite an increased appetite. This may be a first symptom. However, again, some of the other symptoms that may occur, such as being restless, nervous, emotional or irritable, may just be put down to a stressful time of life or to your personality.

In the early stages of hyperthyroidism some people actually feel well and full of energy and don't realise they have a problem but lose weight.

It would be unusual not to have other symptoms with a chronic infection. But, occasionally, the first symptom that is noticed with infections such as tuberculosis or HIV is weight loss. Hookworm infection of the gut is another example where weight loss may be the first indication of disease. Hookworm is a very common problem worldwide but rare in the UK.

Likewise, there are various conditions that cause persistent inflammation of a part or parts of the body. Again, other symptoms would be usual.

However, sometimes an inflammatory condition such as polymyalgia rheumatica may just make you feel unwell and lose weight prior to other symptoms developing. There are various diseases that can affect the way food is absorbed and taken into the body from the gut. These would normally cause symptoms such as diarrhoea. However, weight loss may be the first symptom noticed. Examples include coeliac disease , Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis.

People in the early stages of dementia may appear to get by reasonably well but, in fact, they are not able to look after themselves very well. They may have a poor diet but appear happy in themselves. Again, it is sometimes friends or family who may first notice that a person is not right and has lost weight and it then turns out to be the early stages of dementia. In conditions such as anorexia , a person usually knows they are tightly controlling their diet and exercise and are actively trying to lose weight.

However, this may be hidden from friends and family and may not be divulged even to the doctor. Sometimes medication may cause side-effects resulting in weight loss. For example, some pills may cause a loss of appetite, or a dry mouth. Some cause heartburn or give a mild tummy discomfort. Others may affect the sense of taste or smell, or make people feel sick. Any of these side-effects could affect eating habits and result in a loss of weight.

Give yourself a check-up with a general blood profile, now available in Patient Access. If you keep losing weight for no reason, see a doctor. This is because, as a general rule, the earlier a serious problem is diagnosed, the better the chance that treatment may improve the outlook prognosis.

Your doctor is likely to ask various questions. He or she may actually uncover other symptoms that you were either unaware of or did not think were significant. He or she may also examine you.