Morbid Obesity as a Chronic Disease

Morbid obesity is also called ‘clinically severe obesity’. The definition of morbid obesity is when an individual has body weight of 100 lbs. or more over ideal body weight. Obesity turns ‘morbid’ when the risk of obesity-related health conditions or serious diseases increases significantly. Morbid obesity is considered a serious chronic disease because its symptoms build gradually over a period of time.

Dangers

With morbid obesity life expectancy is reduced. There are some common obesity-related health conditions, and the commonest ones are diabetes and high blood pressure or heart disease. When people become morbid obese, they become resistant to insulin. Hence they have high blood sugar, and this causes diabetes. The heart is also strained when the body is excessively heavy. That is why morbid obesity causes hypertension, which in turn causes strokes and damages the heart and kidneys.

The excess weight also affects the bones and muscles in the back causing disk problems and pain. All joints too start paining, especially the knees and hips causing pain and inflammation. This could result in osteoarthritis. Morbid obesity causes fat deposits in the tongue and neck, and causes discomfort during sleep as air passages can be blocked.

Due to morbid obesity the valve at the top of the stomach gets overloaded and hence the stomach acid moves to the esophagus. Acid indigestion becomes common with such people, and some patients even develop slight heartburn. All these symptoms can cause emotional depression to morbid obese patients. Besides, they have to experience discrimination, disapproval and remarks from people.

Infertility is a common danger of morbid obesity for both males and females. All normal cycles and functions get disrupted by it making it difficult or unable to conceive. Even menstrual irregularities are common and there is often increased pain during the cycle.

Causes

There may be many causes of morbid obesity and the sudden overweight may be due to the person’s genetic make up, metabolism, culture, environment, socioeconomic status or behavior. Illnesses can also be the cause of morbid obesity. Sometimes it can be depression or other neurological problems and the intake of steroids and some antidepressants can bring about all types of obesity.

Surgery

If there is a chronic obesity problem, morbid obesity surgery is definitely a cure for an obese person. It can improve the health and lives of many morbid obesity patients. Of course a distinct set of complications are often related to the surgery, but if you consult an experienced and qualified obesity surgeon, you will receive the right advice and the right treatment.

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