# Unexplained weight and appetite loss **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 2, 2015, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexplained-weight-and-appetite-loss/739217 "2015-12-02T15:47:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2015, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexplained-weight-and-appetite-loss/739217/41 "2015-12-04T01:38:26Z")
Hence my link to [“_ **unexplained** _ weight loss.”](https://www.google.com/search?q=%22unexplained+weight+loss%22&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8) ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2015, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexplained-weight-and-appetite-loss/739217/42 "2015-12-04T02:35:43Z")
Some years ago, when I lost 10 lbs without trying, my doctor gave me an appointment the next day, rather than the usual three months wait. Anyone, especially health professionals, who are dismissing unexplained weight loss are being grossly irresponsible. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2015, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexplained-weight-and-appetite-loss/739217/43 "2015-12-04T02:53:46Z")
I was at my primary care physician today, and while I mentioned the weight loss, we were both distracted by a more urgent concern. Tuesday I went into the “urgent care” clinic feeling light headed and nauseous. My boss essentially ordered me to leave work because my coworkers were telling me I looked what as a sheet and sounded like I was gasping for breath. They did a bunch of blood tests and didn’t find anything alarming, but my blood pressure reading was alarming – to me. It was 107/64, which is the lowest reading I recall in nearly 40 years of monitoring it. Today in her office it was even lower, 91/61. Being hypertense, my history of readings had always been in the 120-130 over 80-90 range. She reviewed my meds. In the last couple months since I’ve seen her, I’ve seen cardio, kidney and neurology specialists and gotten tons of tests from them. However, the encouraging test results have led to and unexpected outcome. Because my results have been so good, each separate doc has increased the dosages of one or more of my meds, judging that I was healthy enough to tolerate more aggressive treatment of my bp. So I’m now being dosed with 4 times the amount of Carvedilol that my doc initially prescribed, and twice the dosage of 2 other drugs. So now the plan is to step down the meds and reassess. And I have to agree that this, for the moment, is more important than the weight loss, since I’m not even getting through my workday without problems. And BTW, I am diabetic too, but it’s about as mild as it can get. It is well controlled and monitored. My thyroid is a bit more problematic – it’s not pumping out as much thyroid juice as it should, which may be contributing to my feelings of tiredness and lightheadedness. That med is the only one being increased, one of the bp meds is being stopped altogether, and another is being cut to a third of what it had been. I’m going back to her in another couple of weeks to assess the med changes. and I’ll bring up the weight loss again. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2015, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexplained-weight-and-appetite-loss/739217/44 "2015-12-04T03:02:17Z")
I was going to mention diabetes–I lost 25 pounds in 2 weeks when I became a diabetic. Good to hear the doctor’s up to speed on the whole “concerned” thing… ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2015, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexplained-weight-and-appetite-loss/739217/45 "2015-12-04T03:08:51Z")
Keep us posted. We care and besides, we like you. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2015, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexplained-weight-and-appetite-loss/739217/46 "2015-12-04T03:13:38Z")
Light-headedness and nausea are also symptoms of dehydration, a common issue with diabetes. I think dehydration also results in low blood pressure (it does for me at any rate). I’d wonder if you might not need to adjust or diet or tweak the medication you’re taking for the diabetes. (If I were a close personal friend, and then I’d still tell you to push the issue with your doctor.) ---
**Author:** ![usedtobe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ec9cab/32.png) [@usedtobe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/usedtobe)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2015, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexplained-weight-and-appetite-loss/739217/47 "2015-12-04T05:32:23Z")
I hit 185 - not a good weight. Under stress (economic and medical), I started to lose weight - without trying. I mentioned this to a total of 4 MDs with nothing but an acknowledging nod in response. I dropped to 127. I am now gaining back weight at a rate of 3-4 lbs/month. I am certainly NOT trying - my idea of a ‘good’ weight is 130#. I have blown past that, and am getting worried. I wish I at least knew the mechanism of this yo-yo. ---
**Author:** ![The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecc23a/32.png) [@The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_wind_of_my_soul)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2015, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexplained-weight-and-appetite-loss/739217/48 "2015-12-04T20:24:19Z")
> [@Carryon](#): > > Dieters are told to lose 2.5 pounds a week and not more than 5 pounds per week. So that puts you well within the acceptable range for dieting weight loss. I don’t understand how there can be such a one-size-fits-all maxim like this. I presume that a morbidly obese person could safely lose a good deal more weight in a week than a normal weight person could. (Sorry if this is a bit of a tangent. I realize the OP isn’t dieting, but it seems relevant to the larger question of weight loss. Seems to me there should be some sort of table, like if you’re within such-and-such weight range you can safely lose such-and-such amount of weight in a week, but I don’t know of any such table.) ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2015, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexplained-weight-and-appetite-loss/739217/49 "2015-12-09T04:05:09Z")
**Boyo Jim** , how are you? Any info from a visit to the doctor? ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2015, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexplained-weight-and-appetite-loss/739217/50 "2015-12-09T04:14:20Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > **Boyo Jim** , how are you? Any info from a visit to the doctor? Thanks for your concern. This particular problem has taken a back seat to another, which might be related. > **[I'm kinda freaking out about my blood pressure.](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=777446)** > > I’ve been hypertensive and on meds for it most of my life. I was hospitalized for it a couple of months back and they put me on a new regime of meds. Unfortunately, several of the specialists I saw decided to treat my bp more aggressively, and... [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexplained-weight-and-appetite-loss/739217.md?page=2)