Weight dropping rapidly, food not absorbing

[nogutsnoglory]

I am having a lot of diarrhea and I have lost 50 pounds in the last few months. Keep in mind I was a normal weight before. I am very underweight and eat fatty food but nothing helps.

What needs to be done to force the body to absorb food?

 

[Beatit]

If your body mass index weight was normal and this sudden drop is very low compared to other factors then I would call up the doc. Do a pressure test on your sides and below your belly button if you feel tender or pain start a cold food meal till you see your doc.

 

[Beatit]

Thing with crohns your body does not absorb the fats most of them and the water and vitamins which means anemic. The little hairs on normal intestines are not sucking the stuff into the blood stream. The immune system sees something in your own tissue and attacks it. Bacteria in the gut to the tissue linning getting attacked by the immune system.

 

[mnsun]

I would maybe seek alternative sources of fat/energy that may be easily digested so as to stop your body from burning your reserves (fat deposits etc). Not sure the dosage, but--if it were me--I would take a lot of extra virgin coconut oil (3-5 tbls) or a MCT supplement (medium chain triglycerides) from an online mega retailer at 30+% off (brand I would try: NOW)--again, not too sure on dosage but at least six caps of those for your situation. I am in no way qualified to tell you how much, but you cannot overdose or anything.

From there, I would ask people their thoughts on the easiest/effective liquid nutrition protocol (elemental, enteral nutrition etc.) or at least get most of your nutrition from liquids/smoothies. I personally like the green goodness bolthouse farms juice or the carrot juice or a vege-mix (tomato base mix) in conjunction with plain kefir milk or plain yogurt. Aside from those, I would eat easily digested proteins like hard boiled eggs. When I exclusively follow that food regime, I personally don't have any problems whatsoever, as long as I take my daily enteric coated fish oil (nearly 4 grams actual omega 3) and mix up my probios (taken 3 times daily, I like Jarrow EPS or livingstreamsmission.com liquid probiotic which I alternate). I have no scientific basis, it just works for me.

My extreme protocol involves practically fasting for a day and a half starting the morning with Sonnes #7 1tbls of bentonite clay. From there, as best I can I only eat coco oil/MCTs along with a greens supplement like garden of life's Perfect Food, twice a day, along with forementioned probios/fish oil and basically empty/reset my bowels while perhaps adding a prebio fiber like acacia root or NOW Pau D'Arco. Lots of water too. Then start the above liquids/eggs routine.

Not sure if this applies but I would maybe scan my summary of a todaysdietician article below for pointers, especially consider taking pancreatin and/or an ox bile supplement as well as fat soluble vitamins/supplements (maybe digestive enzyme complex also):
From todaysdietician: "FODMAPs to avoid include fructose (eg, high-fructose corn syrup, agave syrup, honey, apples, pears); lactose (milk, yogurt); fructans (wheat, barley, ry, onions, garlic); galactans (legumes); and polyols (sugar alcohols, mushrooms, cauliflower, avocados, stone fruits)."

"In cases of steatorrhea, the presence of excess fat in the stool, the use of medium-chain triglycerides (MCTs) from coconut oil and MCT oil or supplementation with ox bile can facilitate the digestion and absorption of fatty acids and liposoluble nutrients."--not sure if ox bile is similar to animal sourced pancreatin, my comment.

The article,"Treatment and Management of SIBO", by Aglaee Jacob is pretty good. They say small intest bacteria overgrowth interferes with absorption of all fat soluble vitamins (a, d, e, k) as well as omega 3s, coQ10, B12, iron and beta carotene.

They offer supplemention with MCTs, ox bile, Omega 3s, L-glutamine, zinc, and vitamin A, as well as avoiding gluten/gliandin, starches and sugars, as ways to heal the intestines while avoiding FODMAPs above.

--I am in no way saying do any or all the above, just adding my two cents for you to parse through. Good luck.

 

[hugh]

Keep your doc in the loop, and consider EN, a few seem to heal up on that
If you are loosing weight and it's all just going through you i'd consider white rice and starchy tubers and ease up on the fat.

All my flares are a couple of weeks after i go off the diet.
Did you eat anything in the last three weeks that might have bought this on?
I'd be interested in everything you ate, especially anything out of a packet.
Any chance of posting that?

 

[Ya noy]

I second the starchy food such as rice, potatoes, etc.

Don't forget that the reason low carb diets make you lose weight is because without carbs, your body can't digest the fats and proteins, and they go right through you. On the Atkins diet, you can consume a dozen eggs and a pound of bacon every morning for breakfast, and eat another 3,000 calories for lunch and dinner, and as long as you limit your carbs, you'll just keep losing weight-- I did!

I also lost way too much weight once, and it was getting dangerous, so to put it back on quick, I ate cabbage fried in mountains of pure bacon fat, washing it down with lots of white bread---got my weight back up real fast that way. Probably not the best food choices for those with Crohn's or other digestive conditions, but you get the idea.

 

[hugh]

I still want to know what set you off?
While you are paleo (?) you might want to go low FODMAPS for a while:
http://www.eat-real-food-paleodietitian.com/support-files/Paleo-FODMAP-food-list.pdf

I second the starchy food such as rice, potatoes, etc.

.
We’re all different, but potatoes had a bad effect on me!
Potatoes can be difficult for some.

Before i heard about paleo , during a bad flare (loosing weight, black liquid stools ect) i ate nothing but rice, lamb, avocado and lemon for almost six weeks,
Bleeding stopped and i put weight on, so ,moral of the story - rice is ok by me!!!

Don't forget that the reason low carb diets make you lose weight is because without carbs, your body can't digest the fats and proteins, and they go right through you. On the Atkins diet, you can consume a dozen eggs and a pound of bacon every morning for breakfast, and eat another 3,000 calories for lunch and dinner, and as long as you limit your carbs, you'll just keep losing weight-- I did! .

.
Not so, body weight tends to go down on Paleo if you are overweight, and up if underweight.

I also lost way too much weight once, and it was getting dangerous, so to put it back on quick, I ate cabbage fried in mountains of pure bacon fat, washing it down with lots of white bread---got my weight back up real fast that way. Probably not the best food choices for those with Crohn's or other digestive conditions, but you get the idea.

.
Swap the bread for rice and you’ve got a winner