Gastrointestinal conditions like inflammatory bowel disease and celiac disease cause weight loss as well - in addition to symptoms such as diarrhea and abdominal pain.ĭepression and other psychiatric conditions could be to blame, too. If your weight loss is accompanied by extreme thirst or hunger, fatigue and frequent urination, it could be a sign of diabetes.
The condition also triggers restlessness, sweating, increased appetite and difficulty concentrating. Of those with an endocrine disorder (especially hyperthyroidism, an overactive thyroid), up to 11 percent experience weight loss. What else it might be: Endocrine disorders are a common cause of unintentional weight loss. "If you or a family member is suddenly losing weight after trying 400 times before, you have to ask, 'Why is this time the charm?' " says Lichtenfeld. The big worries: Losing more than 5 percent of your body weight - without trying - over a period of six months could mean cancer: Weight loss is a symptom in up to 36 percent of cancers in older people. Both conditions can be treated with medications, but it's always wise to go to the ER: "It's a heart attack or angina until proven otherwise," Topol says. Rarely, it could also signal esophageal spasm, an abnormal contraction of the muscles in the esophagus, which carries food from the throat to the stomach. What else it might be: "Perhaps 10 to 20 percent of cases of intense chest pain are due not to heart trouble but to gastroesophageal reflux disease ," says Topol. Fortunately, this life-threatening condition occurs in only about three out of 100,000 people. Sudden severe chest or upper-back pain (often described as a ripping sensation) can be caused by a tear in the aorta, known as aortic dissection, which requires immediate attention. If these symptoms occur only during exertion, it could also be angina, which happens when the heart muscle temporarily doesn't get enough blood. "If it is a heart attack, a delay could cause the heart muscle to be damaged," says Eric Topol, M.D., a cardiologist at the Scripps Clinic in La Jolla, California. Women can experience more subtle symptoms, like fatigue, a burning sensation or upper abdominal pain. It may be combined with pain radiating down an arm, nausea and vomiting, sweating, and shortness of breath. The big worries: Any intense discomfort, heaviness or pressure - like an elephant sitting on your chest - could spell heart attack. Steroids usually take care of the problem if treatment is prompt. "The reason temporal arteritis is such a concern is that it can result in the temporary or permanent loss of vision in one or both eyes," says Brian Grosberg, M.D., codirector of the Montefiore Headache Center in the Bronx, New York. Temporal Arteritis: A rare illness in which a person's immune cells invade the walls of the arteries that carry blood to the head, causing headache, low-grade fever or pain upon speaking or chewing.Meningitis: A headache often accompanied by a stiff neck, fever and confusion or other changes in mental status.
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