# concerned with my recent weight loss



## angrygravel (Feb 1, 2009)

Hi, my name is Juliana, and I am new to this forum. I am posting because I am hoping to speak with others who have unintentionally lost significant weight due to IBS.I am 5'6" and weigh 116 pounds. About 6 months ago I weighed 125 pounds. When I lost the first couple pounds, I was a little surprised, but figured I would put it back on eventually, or that my body would put a cap on weight loss and not let me get down below 120. But I still keep losing weight, and I am afraid that I will lose more. My IBS has gotten significantly worse over the past 6 months. I am almost always in some sort of discomfort which doesn't make eating the most appealing thing. I try as best I can do eat as much as possible per day, always counting my calories so I know how much I am eating, if i need more, etc. But some days it is just hard to eat because of the pain or nausea. I get full extremely fast, which makes it even more difficult. Sometimes I'll just eat two scrambled eggs, for example, and feel as though I have eaten a really large meal. I have found some protein bars that generally sit well with me, and have started taking flax seed oil for extra fat and calories, but I am still worried.Can anyone share their experiences with me?


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## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

If you are having a hard time eating enough calories then the weight loss is probably from not eating enough. If you are eating more than enough calories to maintain weight, or enough you should be gaining it easily and are still losing weight you need to go to the doctor and get checked out.A lot of IBSers find it hard to eat enough because they don't feel well.


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## Meghan_F (Dec 4, 2008)

when my symptoms got worst a year and half ago I was having trouble eating and went from 140 to 125 in about 4 months (given 140 was slightly overweight for my tiny frame) and now I am 118 (I am 5'4"). I've told my doctor and he doesn't seem concerned but if you think you are getting more calories than you need in a day and are still losing weight than I would see your doctor.


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## angrygravel (Feb 1, 2009)

I am really sorry to hear that your doctor isn't concerned with your weight loss. I think any significant weight loss should be some cause for concern. Fortunately both my gastro doctor and primary doctor have expressed that they dont want me to lose any more weight-neither do i! If I dont have a sense of humor about it I will go crazy, so I have to laugh sometimes because I used to be 175 pounds, long before I ever had IBS, and it took me a full year and a half of extreme dedication to get to my ideal weight. Now i am in the complete opposite situation. Never in my life did I think I'd be saying "What more can I eat today? Let's see....how about a whole avocado. But first let me try and attack this jar of peanut butter."What kind of things do you eat to try and maintain your weight? It's too bad IBS'ers can't tolerate junk food, this whole weight loss thing could be very easily solved!


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## ArthurH (Jan 12, 2009)

I can relate very well with this topic and wish I had seen it early February when entries were made.For four and a half months I've felt "sick". It has even caused me to temporarily shut down my business where I am self-employed. I've paraded from one doc to another.Symptoms intially were abdominal, with shortness of breath and feeling of attack of nerves when stressed. 25 pounds lost from my 197 pound frame, but it gets lost quickly each time I feel the most sick, then I can almost maintain weight for weeks until the next burst of sickness. My last week of bad sickness saw another eight pounds of weight loss. Since then I've felt lousy but not as lousy, and I've maintained weight or lost it very slowly...like another pound over past three weeks.My GI doc put the fear in me by stating that IBS doesn't cause weight loss, then he says I may have cancer, which I may because it hasn't been ruled out entirely. However, with my daily abdominal cramping, which does indeed vary in severity,and with some normal bowel movements, but also with diarrhea and constipation, I still entertain the idea that IBS may be my main GI problem. I have developed parasthesia(I just learned this word yesterday to describe feelings of warmth and tingling in varioius parts of body) and sometimes think the same bad problem causes both GI and neurological impairment.I'm also seeing endocrinologist in regards to determining the cause of a somewhat high (30.2) blood cortisol test.What I see here that is encouraging for me is that someone is getting full from small portions as I am, is losing weight,but may well be suffering this way from IBS, contrary to what my GI doc was saying. I should point out he is a doctor who has been med school professor at several schools, but may well not have IBS on his mind or in his library.ANy further comment on the occasional correlation between IBS and unintentional weight loss would be greatly appreciated.


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## momadam (Jan 22, 2009)

Hello ArthurYou sound very concerned about your weight lose, as is normal. I am writing for two reasons. First, to let you know that weight loss and IBS can go together in many people. It just depends on your situation. The other is to encourage you to ask your GI to recommend some procedures to rule out any cancer that he may suspect. That is the only thing that may possibly ease your fears and help you to feel better. About a year and a half ago I started loosing weight. It was sudden and fast. But at the same time I went through a very difficult time and it lasted for a year. My whole body started changing and I was getting sick. All in my digestive system. Stress can destroy the body. I believe that it flaired up my IBS, which hadn't been diagnosed at the time. I am sure that I have had IBS symptoms most of my life, but when the trauma hit me so did the intensified symptoms. On top of all of that stress it elevated my blood pressure and heart rate. I thought for sure that I had cancer but my fear would not allow me to get checked out by having a colonoscopy and endoscopy. I did have an ultrasound which determind that I had multiple, large gallstones. So I had my gallbladder removed, hoping that I dodged the colonoscopy and EDG bullets. The symptoms returned and got worse. Now I was really stressed. I finally caved and got the 2 procedures done and found out that I did not have colon cancer. THat is when IBS was confirmed. But in the meantime my weight had dropped to a dramatically low weight. I used to be 140 lb. I got as low as 110. I am on my way back up slowly, but at least I know that I am most likely ok. Worries have all but ceased and I am seeing a Dr. of Naturopathy to address the lingering issues. She thinks that I suffered from malnutrition because my intestines could not absorb nutrients. But with whole food supplements and carefully sticking to a diet that will not irritate the IBS I am feeling almost 100 %. Hey, I kind of like the new body. I am very thin and my clothes are huge but I am ok with it now because I know that I am ok. Try not to weigh yourself too often. It can cause you to worry way too much. In the meantime go have some procedures done to put your mind at ease. Best wishes for a healthy life,Carolyn


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## angrygravel (Feb 1, 2009)

hi carolyn,I Know your reply was meant for arthur but it actually helped me to read it too. I think that doctors are trained to be concerned with unintentional weight loss because of course it can often signal a more serious underlying problem. But to tell a patient that weight loss is not connected to IBS can be wrong in many cases, not to mention alarming. (I do have thought, "Oh my god, do I have cancer?!) But if a person is not eating enough calories because he/she is in pain, well, of course this can lead to an unintentional weight loss. My problem is that when I started losing weight I didn't think anything of it. I didn't realize how much I had avoided eating until I had lost too much. Now I have to be very conscious of taking in enough calories everyday, which I wasn't before. It is not too late though, I feel I can still stay healthy at this weight and have hopes to gain at least a few pounds eventually.My problem is that my doctor does want me to have a colonoscopy/endoscopy just to rule out anything else, and I am terrified. I had one scheduled a month ago, and cancelled it. I am afraid of the prep, and the procedure. Being thin as it is, it is not appealing to me at all to have to not only fast but induce diarrhea, when I feel like i am just recovering from getting back on my feet after having the flu and nearly fainting from dehydration last month. I wish there was something less invasive. I feel like i'm damned if i do, damned if i don't!! Juliana


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## ArthurH (Jan 12, 2009)

Hi Carolyn and Juliana,I very much appreciate your replies. I too am trying to put back on some weight to prove to myself that I don't have cancer.Yet I'm unsure that it would be proof of that. ALso I was diagnosed with Barrett's esophagus after an upper endoscopy, which caused me then to have to go on GERD diet. But major weight loss occurred during three bouts of intense sickness, with just feeling lousy and weak in between...during four months...where like you during bad bouts I was sure I had cancer, and even not too long to live! It doesn't help that pancreatic cancer killed both my brother and mother, brother at age 40 and mother at 70. I'm 50. Knowing that IBS can yield weight loss makes sense, in that if the digestive tract is irritated one may not be excited about eating. In fact after eating I've often felt irritated within and at times worse than before eating. But if there's no terminal illness going on, then I too will be all right with the new weight that has come so effortlessly, though not without great suffering.Arthur


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## momadam (Jan 22, 2009)

To JulianaI am glad that I helped you somewhat. My encouragement to you is to go have those procedures done as soon as you feel recovered from your illness. I just had both procedures done and really was surprised how well I did. I was terrified also, and if I had done it before all of the stress set in I would have been much better off in so many ways. One thing I did was research the different preps to find which one would suit me best. My GI gave me a Rx for an awful salty drink that you have to drink a whole gallon of. I knew that wouldn't work for me so I asked him if I could do the Miralax prep. He said it would be ok, so that is what I did. It went amazingly well. You only need to drink half the amount as the other prep and a big plus is that it is literally tasteless! I kid you not. You mix it in gatorade and drink 8 oz. every 20-30 minutes until it is gone. You do need to take 2-4 little Dulcolax tabs a couple hours before you start the Miralax though. A personal suggestion is that you eat a low residue diet and lots of fluids for a couple days before you start the prep. I think that helped allot with less stools to pass. I had literally no pain, gas, cramping, nausea or even hemmorroids because everything was so easy. You know the prep was the thing that terrified me also. I swear by this prep. Look it up in the internet and check out the instructions. The other thing that I was fearful of was the procedure itself. Fearing that I would be awake etc. My GI and the facility was wonderful. I was sedated by an Anesthesiologist and slept through both procedures. I realize some facilities do it differently so you need to check that out. It is NOT general anesthisia. All in all it was a very tolerable experience and I would have absolutely no fear in doing it again if I had to. To ArthurGo get checked. If you have pancreatic problems in your family you should have some type of tests to check your pancreas if you haven't already. I don't know what kind of testing that would be but it is worth checking into. I think it would just be an ultrasound. Don't know for sure, but when I had my ultrasound it did check all those organs.In the meantime try to relax. Stress is your enemy. Maybe do some prayer and meditation, listen to some soothing music and start thinking and speaking positive words to over ride the fear. Take your mind off of the sickness as much as you can. I know it is hard when you are in pain. But most of my pain left when I found out that I was ok.Peace,Carolyn


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## Maudlin (Mar 20, 2017)

I have problems with my weight as well due to IBS. I fluctuate between a BMI of 20 and 17 (highest I've been in my life is 24 and lowest 14 due to stomach virus and my phobia vomiting which worsened it).

As much as I hate having IBS and its bitter symptoms, I'd still rather prefer to look 'good' and thus endure the worst of IBS flares (and I do experience those) than have a strict diet and consequently look emaciated and unattractive. I already have a body dysmorphic disorder. And losing weight makes it worse.


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