Losing a little bit of weight during acute illnesses such as a viral infection or gastroenteritis is common - if you place on the weight again once the illness settles, you've nothing to worry about. However, if you slim down over weeks or months with no apparent reason, you might be potentially suffering from a fundamental illness that requires further assessment by your doctor. Compare your situation with the following list of potential causes, which works from the more to the less frequent:
Lifestyle: A big change to your diet can easily lead to weight loss, particularly if you reduce your overall calorie consumption. Other lifestyle changes for example moving from office to manual work or cycling to operate instead of while using car may in themselves result in weight loss, unless you match them when you eat more to compensate.
Medication: If you take medication regularly, some of your drugs may cause you to definitely lose your appetite. Check the drug information sheet and see your pharmacist or doctor if you suspect that your loss of appetite are closely related to some drug side-effect.
Mouth problems: Painful mouth conditions or teeth problems can lead you to consume less food, and slim down.
Mental health problems: Numerous mental health conditions such as anxiety and depression, or excessive stress - perhaps due to acute life events such as divorce or bereavement - can all cause lack of appetite and weight reduction.
Consult your doctor if you feel you are afflicted by any of these conditions.
Infection: Acute infections (caused by viruses like influenza, for instance) and other more chronic but less common conditions for example HIV or tuberculosis (TB) can cause weight reduction - however, you will often have other symptoms as well, such as fever and feeling generally unwell. Consult your doctor if you think that you may be at risk of HIV or TB: the latter isn't all that common in the UK but is a type of condition in other parts of the world.
Gastrointestinal causes: Problems with your stomach or bowels, for example not absorbing food well (referred to as malabsorption), can be brought on by various conditions and result in weight reduction. If you also provide loose stools, you might have a bowel inflammation or infection. See your doctor for more assessment if you think that you might are afflicted by a bowel-related condition.
Cancer: Unexplained and persistent weight reduction is one of the common presenting the signs of cancer. See your doctor if you are losing weight without any obvious reason, particularly when you also show other potential the signs of cancer.
Chronic disease: Numerous chronic medical conditions may cause weight loss. For instance, high sugar (or diabetes) also causes tiredness and excessive thirst. Occasionally, an overactive thyroid gland (or hyperthyroidism) can lead to weight reduction - but you can also have a much other symptoms like a fine shaking of your fingers, increased sweating, diarrhoea and never being in a position to tolerate warmer environments. Visit your doctor to have an assessment if you suspect that you may are afflicted by a chronic medical problem, or if you've already been diagnosed and feel that the actual problem might be responsible for your weight loss.
Eating disorders: Eating disorders for example anorexia nervosa or bulimia may lead to weight loss, which may be severe, quite dramatic and lifethreatening in the case of anorexia.
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