Health Issues of Morbid Obesity

Morbid obesity, also termed severely obesity happens when the BMI crosses 40. All co-morbid conditions or medical issues that arise out of this extreme obese condition start off when the BMI is between 35 and 40 for most implying that an obese person need not essentially cross 40 BMI to get it. Generally speaking, co-morbidity or health issues arising out of being severely obese is any additional disease or disorders that occur alongside a primary disease or disorder.

Health issues arising out of morbid obesity are enlisted and discussed below.

(1)    Breathing problem – This is the first problem anyone who is severely obese encounters. The normal breathing does not happen in a flow. We can often observe that they strain to breath.

(2)    Sleep Apnoea – Because breathing itself becomes a tad difficult, the severely obese person while sleeping sometimes stop breathing briefly and this can lead to sleep apnoea. When it happens our brain may not get enough oxygen. Depriving the brain of oxygen can lead to complications like headaches high blood pressure, and sometimes it may also lead to stroke or heart failure which has the potential to be fatal.

(3)    High Blood Sugar / Type 2 Diabetes – Diabetes is quite common among people who are severely obese. In India, diabetes definitely affects the obese. We all know that this morbid obesity in itself has been caused only by consuming large amounts of sugary junk food. So the pancreas would have got exhausted secreting insulin to keep the blood sugar level under normal. That is why people who are morbidly obese are invariably diabetic.

(4)    High Blood Pressure – The heart needs to do that extra bit of work to pump the blood to all parts of the obese fat-laden body. As a result the pressure of the blood has to be higher than normal to achieve better circulation. This on a long term is detrimental.

(5)    Stroke – Blame it on high blood pressure. Sometimes if the blood pressure shoots beyond a point it leads to stroke.

(6)    High Bad Fat in the blood – The blood of a morbidly obese person would definitely be very high in such bad fats like Triglycerides and LDL (low density lipo proteins).

(7)    Heart Attack – When the blood has high amount of bad fat or bad cholesterol, it is a recipe for blocks in the arteries. If even one block arrests the blood flow, the obese person can suffer a heart attack. The worst part is even resuscitating the morbidly obese is very much challenging.

(8)    Metabolic Syndrome – If the morbidly obese has high blood pressure, high blood sugar, high triglycerides and LDL in blood, then it is termed as metabolic syndrome.

(9)    Certain Cancers – Sometimes the morbidly obese can also get cancer. The cancer can happen in liver, gallbladder, pancreas, kidney, prostrate, uterus, rectum, cervix, etc.,

(10)Less Interest in Sex – Invariably all morbidly obese person would be less interested in sex because performing sex itself becomes difficult. Since layers and layers of fat also inhibit the transport of sex hormones, making sex is difficult. Erectile dysfunction is common among males.

(11)Fertility Related problem – Infertility affects the moment people become obese. So if someone is morbidly obese the probability of infertility is really very high. Sperm quality takes a nosedive for men. Irregular menstrual period is quite common among obese women.

(12) Other problems like non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, osteoarthritis, etc, also affect the morbidly obese.