Symptom 5: Reduced Appetite and Weight Loss
Losing one’s appetite doesn’t always stem from a conscious decision to diet or skip meals. With Crohn’s, the diminished desire to eat is often a direct response to the ongoing inflammation and the discomfort it brings. Meals no longer become moments of joy but potential triggers for pain and distress.
This reduced appetite is multifactorial. The abdominal pain and cramps, frequent bouts of diarrhea, and general digestive distress can all turn meal times into daunting experiences. Over time, a pattern emerges: eat less, suffer less. But this coping mechanism, while understandable, comes with its downsides.
Weight loss, often rapid and unintentional, follows. With reduced food intake and the body’s struggle to absorb nutrients due to inflammation, weight loss becomes an inevitable outcome. This isn’t a healthy shedding of pounds but a result of malnutrition.(5)
