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Dr. Andrew Rynne
MD
Dr. Andrew Rynne

Family Physician

Exp 50 years

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What Are The Possible Causes Of Weight Loss In An Elderly Female?

Respected sir,

My mother aged 64 years. She lost 10 Kg of weight from 1.5 years. We have shown to a Doctor recently, as per Dr. suggestions Master Helth check is done last week. All lab reading is normal except ESR.

ESR count is 135.

Doctor suggested to go for lot of tests like CRP, Montox, Elctro pobosys, PET scan for cancer.



Please advice on how to proceed now.

Is this could be a cancer?

IS this could be a Tuberclosius

Etc


nk,m.,
Fri, 22 Jul 2016
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Dietitian & Nutritionist 's  Response
Welcome to HealthcareMagic,
Calm down, you are over-reacting to tests that haven't even been completed. Besides, ESR or Erythrocyte sedimentation is frequently elevated in the older patient who has a high degree of inflammation, arthritis, anemia, some cancers, auto-immune diseases. . .so, you see it could be a number of things creating an elevated ESR and your doctor is teasing out all variable to find the source of the elevation.

How to proceed? You have the most control over her nutrition. She has lost too much weight, too much muscle. If she will take it, you could buy her a high calorie (350 calorie or so per can) and try to get her to take that between meals. Since ESR can be elevated in kidney disease, I hesitate to say anything about high protein, but she needs a minimum of .8g/kg body weight for protein daily.

Encouraging her to keep easily prepared meals in the freezer to heat in the microwave might help. Cheese sticks or high protein snacks that she can easily grab out of the refrigerator might encourage her to eat.

In summary, try to get her back on track with good nutrition, calm down and wait for the doctor's tests.

Regards, Kathy Shattler, MS,RDN
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What Are The Possible Causes Of Weight Loss In An Elderly Female?

Welcome to HealthcareMagic, Calm down, you are over-reacting to tests that haven t even been completed. Besides, ESR or Erythrocyte sedimentation is frequently elevated in the older patient who has a high degree of inflammation, arthritis, anemia, some cancers, auto-immune diseases. . .so, you see it could be a number of things creating an elevated ESR and your doctor is teasing out all variable to find the source of the elevation. How to proceed? You have the most control over her nutrition. She has lost too much weight, too much muscle. If she will take it, you could buy her a high calorie (350 calorie or so per can) and try to get her to take that between meals. Since ESR can be elevated in kidney disease, I hesitate to say anything about high protein, but she needs a minimum of .8g/kg body weight for protein daily. Encouraging her to keep easily prepared meals in the freezer to heat in the microwave might help. Cheese sticks or high protein snacks that she can easily grab out of the refrigerator might encourage her to eat. In summary, try to get her back on track with good nutrition, calm down and wait for the doctor s tests. Regards, Kathy Shattler, MS,RDN