What Is Cachexia?

Cachexia is derived from the Greek words “kakos” and “hexis,” which mean “terrible state.” Cachexia is a “wasting” disorder characterized by rapid weight loss and muscle wasting, as well as body fat loss. This syndrome affects persons with terminal illnesses such as cancer, HIV/AIDS, COPD, renal dysfunction, and congestive heart failure (CHF). Cachexia is also known as a paraneoplastic syndrome, which refers to symptoms induced by compounds produced by cancer or the body’s response to cancer.

Cachexia is distinguished from normal weight loss by the fact that it occurs inadvertently. In this situation, you lose weight due of circumstances beyond your control, not because you want to. At the same time, your metabolism changes, causing your body to break down too much muscle. Inflammation affects your appetite and causes your body to burn more calories than it should.

This condition is one of the body’s natural defense systems against illness. When your nutritional reserves run out, your body turns muscle and fat into energy to keep your brain going. As a result of your vulnerability, you become especially susceptible to illnesses. Increasing your calorie or nutrient intake will not help you recover from your illness.

Categories of Cachexia

Cachexia is divided into three categories:

Precachexia

This is when you lose about 5% of your body weight as a result of a known ailment. Loss of appetite, changes in metabolism, and inflammation are all symptoms of this category.

Cachexia

Without attempting to reduce weight, you drop more than 5% of your body weight in 12 months or less. Reduced appetite, inflammation, weariness, and a lack of muscle strength are some of the other symptoms.

Refractory Cachexia

When you have cancer and lose weight, muscle, function, and have a poor response to treatment, this happens. Cachexia affects over 80% of persons with advanced cancer, and a third of those who develop it die from it.

Causes and Risk Factors of Cachexia

Cachexia is caused by a variety of factors. When you have the condition, your body has abnormally high levels of certain chemicals. As a result of this imbalance, weight loss and muscle wasting occur. The presence of these chemicals in the body is one of numerous factors that contribute to cachexia. The way they make you feel, as well as why they’re in your body in the first place, are both significant factors to consider. They aggravate the situation in a variety of ways when they interact, including:

• Causes inflammation
• Increasing the metabolic rate
• Muscle growth prevention
• Increases muscle breakdown

Insulin resistance develops as a result of the liver’s inability to respond to insulin. This means your body’s ability to use blood glucose as an energy source has reduced. While more research is needed to determine why this occurs and the other possible causes of cachexia, specialists have established a link between cachexia and cancer.

Risk Factors of Cachexia

Cachexia is a common complication of severe illnesses. A person with one of the following conditions should speak with their doctor about how to avoid cachexia from developing and how to treat it if it develops:

• Cancer
• Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)
• Renal failure
• Congestive heart failure
• Crohn’s disease
• Cystic fibrosis
• HIV
• Rheumatoid arthritis

Symptoms of Cachexia

The first sign of cachexia is muscle and fat loss, which makes you appear emaciated. While some persons appear to be of normal weight, they may exhibit symptoms of:

• Loss of appetite
• Albumin protein levels are low
• Anemia
• Inflammation at high levels
• Muscle atrophy and a loss of strength
• Fatigue which makes it difficult to enjoy the things you enjoy
• The fat-free mass index is low
• Low protein levels in the blood that causes fluid to accumulate in body tissues, resulting in swelling or edema

How to Diagnose Cachexia

Despite the fact that the symptoms of cachexia are frequently discovered later in the course of illness, we’re finding that the mechanism that leads to muscle wasting begins soon after a cancer diagnosis. As a result, cachexia is frequently evident prior to any weight loss.

Cachexia can be assessed in a variety of ways which include:

Body Mass Index (BMI)

BMI is a metric that not only measures relative body weight but also provides additional information about a healthy weight. A formula based on height and weight is used to compute BMI. However, because BMI does not account for the proportions of muscle and fat in the body, it cannot be used alone to assess cachexia.

Lean Muscle Mass

Body composition measurements can assist determine the ratio of lean muscle mass to body fat.

Food Intake Diaries

Keeping a food diary is an important activity to do if you want to avoid or manage cachexia. At the same time, it’s crucial to remember that cachexia can occur even with a sufficient calorie intake.

Blood Tests

White blood cell counts (WBC), serum albumin, transferrin levels, uric acid, and inflammatory indicators like C-reactive protein (CRP) are all valuable lab tests in determining cachexia.

Treatment for Cachexia

There is no single therapy plan or drug that can cure cachexia. This is due, in part, to the numerous factors that contribute to its occurrence. Since modifying your food alone will not help, the best way is to combine several methods of therapy. You might also think about the following.

Incorporate the Act of Social Eating

There’s something special about sharing a meal with friends and family. Repositioning your emotional, social, and psychological relationship to eating by focusing on social eating rather than the amount of food you eat can assist. For the benefit of your mental health, it will also make you look forward to family mealtimes and make you feel less alienated.

Using Appetite Stimulants

Medications like dronabinol, megestrol, and glucocorticoids can help with appetite in specific diseases and situations. Eating more, on the other hand, will not stop the symptoms from worsening or improve muscle atrophy. An increased appetite can help a person feel less alone and participate in family and social meals, which is good for mental health.

Eat Small, Frequent Meals

Cachexia patients are more likely to tolerate eating high-calorie meals in tiny portions throughout the day rather than three large meals at a time. In addition, nutritional supplement drinks are available to help you get more calories in between meals.

Providing Emotional Support

Families of patients with cachexia should be aware that as an underlying disease proceeds to its latter stages, people may lose their desire to eat. Friends and family members should not force the person with cachexia to eat once they reach this stage. Whether a person with the illness eats or not, muscle withering and weight loss will persist.

Encourage Minor Exercise

Exercise can assist grow muscle mass if the person can tolerate it. However, there is no evidence that exercise is useful in the treatment of cachexia.

Complications of Cachexia

Cachexia causes substantial fat and muscle wasting, which can increase morbidity. Cachexia plays a role in about one-fifth of cancer-related mortality. Cachexia has a number of complications, including:

• a reduction in quality of life and the inability to live independently
• therapeutic response is hampered
• decreased immunity
• a worsening of the underlying chronic condition’s symptoms
• a shorter life expectancy as a result of the underlying disease

Now that you Know…

Cachexia is usually a symptom of a more serious medical condition, therefore the key to preventing it is to keep the underlying chronic illness at bay. Some diseases, such as COPD and HIV, are potentially avoidable. Other illnesses that cause cachexia, such as cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, and Crohn’s disease, are usually unavoidable. It’s crucial to be your own advocate in your cancer care, as it is with so many other situations. An active lifestyle combined with a well-balanced diet can help to lower the chance of developing a chronic illness that can lead to cachexia.