The subject of multiple sclerosis and weight loss is of great concern among patients suffering from the disease and food-related issues.
Multiple sclerosis weight loss can occur in a number of different contexts. For instance, a patient may lose weight because a loss in appetite has prompted him or her to eat less food than normal. Because the body’s metabolic needs are not being met, the body burns up the energy reserves stored in the body as fat. It is only natural to look into the reasons why MS patients would suffer appetite loss. By determining whether such appetite loss is a direct or indirect result of MS, one can learn how to better manage multiple sclerosis and weight loss.
Does Multiple Sclerosis Cause Weight Loss Directly?
The development of multiple sclerosis lesions may be directly responsible for patients’ loss in appetite and their consequent weight loss. Multiple sclerosis lesions may occur in regions of white matter that are involved in the regulation of metabolism. When this happens, patients’ appetites can be affected.
Another way in which the disease influences patients’ weight loss is by making it difficult for them to eat. Some MS patients have great difficulty swallowing. This condition is called dysphagia, and reflects changes in the functioning of the tongue (which happens to be a muscle) and of the other muscles that are involved in swallowing. Dysphagia in MS patients can be tied directly to MS lesions in the parts of the nervous system that regulate swallowing.
Dysphagia causes patients to cough when they drink fluids or to choke when they eat foods of particular textures. As a result, the patients are at risk of inhaling the food and drink into their windpipes and lungs, where and drink actually makes it to the stomach. The patients are consequently undernourished and dehydrated. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that such patients endure weight loss. Multiple sclerosis and weight loss are inextricably intertwined in this set of circumstances.
The Indirect Association of Weight Loss and Multiple Sclerosis
Multiple sclerosis and weight loss are indirectly associated in other instances. One of them involves patients’ use of medications that cause them to lose their appetites. This side effect may be a consequence of a combination of medications or it could be triggered by just one of them. Whatever the case, it is a problematic side effect because it can discourage MS patients from maintaining a regular, healthy diet. As MS is worsened by malnutrition, it makes for a negative prognosis.
